Narrative experimentation in difficult times: the development of post-war Greek women's fiction

This thesis aims to discuss and analyse the fiction produced by authors from the first post-war generation of women writers, namely Mimika Kranaki (1922-2008), Margarita Lymberaki (1919-2001) and Tatiana Gritsi- Milliex (1920-2005). The focus is placed on the way they use narrative experimentation in order to explore and come to terms with the difficult times of the post-war period; the experience and legacy of war-both Second World War and the civil conflict-as well as the challenging post-war years, the political turmoil and the ideological debate along with the consequent polarisation. Living abroad for long periods of their life these authors were exposed to developments and new trends in arts and philosophy in the first post-war decades and often introduced them in Greece. They also employed these innovative techniques in their novels in order to explore the individual perception of war, conflict and post-war politics. Through the high degree of experimentation in their works and the foregrounding of the individual, they often challenged the emphasis on the community or the ideological constraints and the polarisation which prevailed during most of the first post-war decades. Their novels, though, did not always receive much attention in studies or discussions about post-war literature, as they tend to be at odds with the politicised nature of post-war Greek fiction or they are categorised as lyrical prose. The major contribution of this thesis is to rehabilitate the work of these three women authors and explore the experimental ways they deal with the representation of war and the difficult post-war decades. It also aims to highlight their development as writers over the years and demonstrate their distinct contribution to post-war Greek fiction which has been largely ignored by critics and literary historians previously