Rethinking the Greek legacy: Dorians in modern Greek fiction

The West has come to consider Greek Antiquity as the cradle of Western civilisation. In fact, this Greek legacy is largely an Athenian legacy only. Enlightenment never considered the Spartan/Dorian side of the Greek legacy as universally relevant. This makes it possible for Greek writers to claim it as a part of their national heritage, and to use it as a vehicle to express resistance against Western civilisation in its hegemonic dimension. In two novels by leading modernist authors, Kazantzakis and Karagatsis, the Dorians play the typical role of the ‘primitives’ of modernist literature. In both cases, the Dorians offer a possibility to describe aristocratic forces, working against, in Kazantzakis’ novel, a civilisation without ideals, and, in Karagatsis’ novel, an equalising society. Moreover, in Kazantzakis’ novel their power and violence are shown to form a prerequisite for the ‘Greek miracle’