An Approach to Understanding Nationalism in Modern Greek Literature

Abstract

Why does a group always tell itself the same story? This article seeks an answer through nationalism and Benedict Anderson’s notions of imagined community and print capitalism. The literary perspective of the article enables readers to consider the role of nationalism in literature and the inverse. Various linguistic notions including a national language and a prestige dialect prove relevant to modern Greece and the katharevousa-dhimotikidebate which took place between purists and demoticists.