The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Generation" in Cyprus

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THE POETS OF DISSENT: THE "1974 GENERATIONn IN CYPRUS

Introduction

by

Yiannis E. Ioannou University of Cyprus

CYPRUS HAS NEVER experienced any organized movements, whether philosophical, cultural or social movements. Notable exceptions are the student demonstrations of the 1955-59 period which were nationalistic in character, rooted in the ideological currents of the day, and certain isolated efforts undertaken by -young intellectuals of the 1960s.l It did not experience the ideological, philosophical, and cultural ferment experienced by other European countries which, in most cases, took the form of an initially marginal but subsequently generalized dissent that led and still leads to the appearance of various forms of cultural avant-guardism. University campuses were unknown on the island. It required the painful experience of the Turkish invasion before the prevailing ideological currents could be questioned. Until 1974 youthful dissident activity was wholly absorbed by the unresolved ethnic problems facing the country. Ideological, philosophical, and cultural life, slow-moving and conformist, 2 was limited to the transposition of formulas, with a lag of several decades, from Greece and England.3 ·

It is hardly strange therefore that movements such as dadaism, cubism, futurism, surrealism, existentialism and the absurd, the Nouve® _ Roman, and the Beat Generation that left a permanent mark on the history of art in Europe and worldwide failed almost completely to reach the island. Neither is it strange that confusion with regard to such movements

317

318 Yiannis E. Ioannou

became so deeply rooted that to this day Nikos Vrahimis continues to be regarded as a surrealist4 merely because he happened to depart somewhat from the traditional mode of writing, introducing elements expressive of an existential anxiety and a search for something new. Two exceptions are typical of the case in point. Tefkros Anthias and Pantelis Mechanikos who, despite the partial adoption of elements of dissident writing. prove the rule rather than exemplify a particular school of thought or artistic trend. 5 The more so, given the fact that the transition from the nationalist fervor of the 1950s to the period of independence, despite the truncated and to this day controversial6 choices of 1955 to 1959, took place in an almost smooth manner, with the carrying over of the same institutions and mechanisms from the one period to the next, for example: "The English School provided the administrative executives required by the colonial government and these executives remained in place in the newly-created state." 7 In addition, at the beginning of the 1960s, despite the conventional fashion in which the Cypriot state was constructed, certain attempts by young intellectuals of the day led to the appearance of dissident nuclei, some of which, indeed, played an important role in the effort to revamp poetic writing in Cyprus. The magazine Kwpt..aKa XpovtKa (Cyprus Chronicles) 1960-72, published by a group of young intellectuals who challenged not only the artistic establishment but also the solution to the Cyprus problem arrived at in the London-Zurich agreements, is worthy of special mention. This group included Takis Hadjidemetriou, Yiannis Katsouris, Hebe Meleagrou, Alecos Constantinides and others.

The boite 'A1r64>aaT) (Decision) set up jointly by the painters Christoforos Savva and Glyn Hughes (1963), and the boite Ol KV!<Aoc. (The Circles) (1968, established by the poet George Moleskis, Andreas Papadopoulos, and Tassos Angelis played an important role in the dissemination of new ideas. These boites were, particularly during the period of dictatorship in Greece (1967-74), centers of serious democratic activism against the juntist regime, boosting and encouraging cultural and even po litical resistance activities. Nevertheless, these exceptions confirm the conformist and conservative nature of the first years of the post-colonial period.

The literary "1960 Generation," or the "Independent Generation," was formed in a climate of intense division regarding the London-Zurich agreements. At the same time it reaped benefits from Cyprus' elevation to an independent state through senior appointments in the state administration which led to intellectual and social recognition. The attainment of an established literary position in a climate of intellectual self-sufficiency was the result of isolationism, and reflected a limited exploratory range, a neutrality of style, and a lack of boldness of technique.

Cypriot thought reproduced various cliche phrases and often carried into literature the prevailing political slogans of the day, embellishing

The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Generation" in Cyprus 319

these with pulchritudinous adjectives evoking either the Greek revanchist expansionism of the 1920s and the emotional desire for {vwau: (enosispolitical union with Greece), or the romantic vision of a classless socialist society. This is not to deny, however, the existence of a few prominent literary figures . 8

We shall not yield to the temptation of exalting Cypriot poetry, a trend that derives either from a certain collective sense of guilt on the part of the mainland Greek center towards the Cypriot cultural "periphery,"9 or from the desperate search for the field of poetry which might provide an outlet for the research of the literary and academic center. It is a fact that some pioneering interpretations and initiatives on the part of leading Greek scholars, such as G. Kechagioglou and F . Demetracopoulos, have by now satisfied the latter demand. However, the issue of the responsible study of Cypriot poetry, its evaluation within modern Greek poetry as a whole, still remains open. 10

• • • • •

The year 1974 gave rise to a new generation of poets, and a few years later of painters, radically different from the "Independence Generation." This was the first generation in Cyprus which did not operate against the psychological and ideological background of a victory, of the achievement of a political goal, or of a state of heroic national fervor, and which ceased to function exclusively in relation to a national or social desire or ideal (enosis - socialism). For the first time in the history of Cypriot literature an entire generation appeared which, overcoming the literary formulas imposed at one time or another by the ideological and political phenomena of the day, acted against the background of national and social disillusionments, protested, and strove to rise up from the ruins and reconstitute a system of defense, a mode of expression, and a value system as independent of prevailing ideas and ideologies as possible. It would not be an exaggeration to draw a parallel between the generation of the 1920s and 1930s in Greece and the Cypriot generation under review. 11

It was plain by now that in the eyes of a number of young artists, writers, and intellectuals the previous generation had failed not only on a political level but also on an intellectual level. 12 Signs of dissident writing had already appeared, particularly during the 1970 to 197 4 period, in the work of a category of transitional poets, such as P. Mehanikos, Ph. Stavrides, A. Lykavgis, and G. Moleskis whose, work incorporated significant modernist elements and foreshadowed the aesthetic style of the "1974 Generation."


Ideological Background

The particular ideological and social background which emerged immediately following the invasion of 1974 played an important role in the formation of the aesthetic style. Its constituent elements were derived from a plethora of important albeit isolated trends, groups, publications, and artistic-recreational centers, expressive of a strong questioning from within, both of the prevailing ideological and social background, and its literary and artistic values. With this dissent as their main driving force various marginal groups emerged and started castigating, provoking, mocking, and rejecting, at times the previous generation, at times the traditional social and political establishment, Cyprus' amateur etatism, the petitbourgeois class of Cypriots involved in tourism or manufacture, or the conservative Cypriot Communist Party (AKEL).13

After exercising intense, caustic and often extremist criticism, these groups attempted to articulate their own political and social mode of expression and, by extension, promote a dissident artistic system operating beyond and outside the background of established forms and values. Such groups were: EDEK's .AptcrrEpf, Tlrtpvya (Left Wing) within which some intellectuals of this generation operated; its associated publication .EcxnakcrrL.J01 'EK¢paUTJ (Socialist Expression); the EDEK party itself; and the various anarchist groups which appeared in Nicosia and Limassol. The latter gained notoriety for their provocative slogans, such as "Out with all bases and all armies, out with the Special Action Squads, and the last one to leave close the door behind him"; "Irene (a play on the proper name but which also means "peace" in Greek) I love you"; "All mamas out of Cyprus"; "Besides love we want weapons as far as Kyrenia"; and, of course, the well known and much commented upon "Come sweetheart, let's increase the number of Greeks by one tonight."l4

During this period the first street book shop appeared in Eleftherias Square 15 while important gathering places, usually combining artistic, recreational, and political features were established, particularly in Nicosia's Old Town. These were either set up by young artists and intel lectuals or served as a focus of attraction for them; the EvwnK6v 0LVOlTVE\J~aTLK6v To ALya(ov (Unionist Social and Intellectual Association The Aegean) (1982 - ) featuring a book shop at the entrance, the Prolatis (1980-82), the cafe-theater Evauae (Successively) (1984 - ), To TdoTioTdov (Teashop) (1985), 16 Ta 'ETim ITTEp6EVTa (Winged Words) (1989) on the site that had previously housed the teashop-gallery Iridanos (1987). The Nicosia book shops Ta OxTw~pLava (October Events) (1975), established by the film director Thecla Kittou, and 0 KoxMac: (The Snail) (1982), established by the poetNiki Marangou, offered the reading public a significant variety of material. Both Greek and international literature became available to the Cypriot public simultaneously with their appearance in Greece.


An analogous range of activities could be found in Limassol during the same period, with gathering places such as Hxw 75 (Echo 75) (1975), re cently renamed IIpciaLVTJ Hxw (Green Echo), the cafe-theater Ta IIE-pLe (Events Around and About), the galle ry book shop 9E~AI.o (Foundation), the Aj.i.opy&; (Amorgos) book shop and others. Besides their contribution to the dissemination of ideas and to an ideological and artistic fermentation generated either by lectures, theme events, and discussions, or by the recreational activities which they offered, these gathering places also played a significant role in publishing, given that in most cases they were owned by writers, artists, and intellectuals themselves, or by lay persons with an interest in these areas. Publications were issued either by groups congregating around the above establishments, or by the owners themselves, as a result of the educational and recreational initiative which they had undertaken. During the 1980s, in particular, publications appeared, such as the serious literary magazine H 'AJ.La'a (The Carriage) and the near anarchistic To Tpalvo (The Train) in Limassol, 17 and OpuJLar86<: (Uproar ), Avro&a~07J (Self-Determination), Evrck rwv Taxwv (Within the Walls), and 'Evwou; (Union ) in Nicosia.

In the winter of 1989 three of the most important representatives of the "1974 Generation" undertook the publication of .Ax-rij (Shore ) a periodical of literature and literary criticism with panhellenic aspirations. This initiative constituted one of the most significant publishing efforts ever undertaken in Cyprus in literature and criticism. Beyond its initial threemembers the editorial committee increased to six members as of issue number 7. .AJcnj appears to have attracted representatives of the "1974 Generation" on the Cypriot side and representatives of the "1970 Generation," on the Creek side without however excluding others. The magazine's predilection for the Creek "1970 Generation" is recognizable in that the very first issue featured poems by Lefteris Poulios in a special supplement entitled f:J.J.T]IIOJLOUO'Eiov (Greek Museum ) (Winter 1989).

It must also be noted that hard on the heels of the 1974 events fol lowed the first attempts to challenge state monopolies such as 9EaTptK6c:: OpyavLaj.l.OC Kimpov (The Cyprus Theater Organization) (THOK) and, later on, Pa8Lcxl>wVLK6v 18pvj.i.a Kimpov (Cyprus State Radio-Television) (RIK), with the establishment of amateur and private theater companies. l8 Furthermore, vocal protests against the RIK monopoly eventually led to the passage of the 1990 legislation permitting the operation of private radio and television stations. At the same time young civil servants were refus ing to conform to the colonial structure and the mentality of bureaucracy, preferring to resign, with the consequent loss of financial and social benefits but with the certainty of preserving their intellectual and artistic integrity.19

In the mid-1980s, under the unbearable pressure generated by the mania for tourist development and the consequent destruction of the natu-


ral environment, the first environmental movements appeared in Cyprus, operating outside the confines of the prevailing ideological and party political background and setting as their primary goal the protection of the environment, thus linking Cyprus with the most contemporary disside nt ideological trends in Europe.

In early 1991 representatives of fourteen environmentalist organizations gathered at the IIpd<rLVTJ Hxw in Limassol and set up the O~o<rlTov8(a IIEpL~a>J..ovnKwv OpyavwaEwv (Federation of Environmental Organizations). This confirmed and formalized the increased sensitivity of the Cypriots towards the destruction of the environment, and their perception of the need for an alternative type of economic development no longer relying exclusively on a profiteering tourism sector. 20

It should also be noted that seventeen years after the events of 1974, and following a few isolated cases of dissent both with regard to the government's arms procurement policies and to conscription, 21 the first pacifist ideas began to circulate, proposing the unilateral dismantling of the national guard and the transformation of the unoccupied areas of Cyprus into a demilitarized zone.22

At the same time Nicosia's Old Town was gradually being transformed into a major center for the dissemination and expression of such ideas. The creation by the Nicosia municipality of the cultural facilities at Famagusta Gate (1980) was a cultural altemative23 to the bouzouki joints, cafes, and fashionable nightclubs of bourgeois Nicosia. Efforts to create a similar alternative were also under way in Limassol. This fact is of special significance since, for the first time in Cyprus, there emerged an integrated geographical and cultural field of activity, similar to analogous fields of activity in large European cities. Such activity served to bring together a large number of artists, intellectuals, and lay persons, who were now able to mount a tangible challenge to traditional urban fields of activity and blatant consumerism. A plethora of heterogeneous ideological, artistic, and aesthetic trends found a basis for expression, along with an alternative form of recreation, significantly enhancing the cultural life of the city.

The ever-growing group of ideologically homeless voters which emerged after the 1985 legislative elections, questioning not only specific traditional ideological or party political groupings but also the very phenomenon of organized political activity itself, must also be seen as a result of the above ideological ferment and upheaval. An indication of the intense questioning of traditional political and ideological groups taking place was the attenuation of the traditionally "quadripartite" structure24 of Cypriot political life in favor of new small parties and movements.21S

It is self-evident that the organized appearance of these political movements was the result of a tendency towards ideological dissent which already existed within the traditional political parties and was cultivated during the 1980s, or even earlier in some instances.


The 1974 Generation, matured in the context of this ideological, socio-cultural ferment, with a mobility and conflict that was unique in the annals of Cyprus. The writings of this generation arose from an initially timid but ever more dynamic trend towards the liberation of thought and artistic creativity from patrons of all kinds. In contrast to the isolated attempts of the 1950 Generation, many successfully avoided ending up in the confines of a political party or ideological group. That trend was to promote individuality as the most significant of all values, capable of leading, not to salvation of any kind, but to a lone wandering and a constant search for a form of happiness not determined by factors outside the self, but governed by a strictly and exclusively personal system of values.

Transitional Poetry

Introducing the Second Panhellenic Poetry Meeting in Thessaloniki which featured a number of Cypriot poets, George Kechagioglou noted that the two generations of the Republic of Cyprus "are lined by a unique ... solidarity and unity of purpose." He went on to elaborate that "The traumatic experience of the coup and invasion, instead of dividing, setves to unite these two successive generations (in such a way as to lend the work of the older poets a depth and illumination very close to those characterizing the poetry of the younger generation), but also to in spire and nourish the art of poetry.''26

By contrast, in the introduction to .A.v8o>.oyla ~(ryxpoVTK Kvrrpwld,c TJo{TJOTJC (Anthology of Contemporary Cypriot Poetry), 27 Lefkios Zafiriou writes of the "Invasion Generation" of poets: "What distinguishes them from the 'Independence Generation,' is their critical stance towards the concatenation of events which led to the critical summer of 1974 as well as to those events that followed it. Even on the linguistic level we obsetve the use of a completely new code.''

In 1983 George Kechagioglou, returning to the subject, amended his previous views: "Poetic tone, intensity, subject matter, and expressive modes are frequently the same as before, but in other instances differ sub stantially from those of the previous creative generation: social criticism grows sharper, language becomes crude and non-conformist, and the tone oscillates between melancholy and an injured tenderness on the one hand, and radical and condemnatory revolution on the other.''28 Michalis Michael, in a recent article 29 speaks of "the conflict between two generations in contemporary Cypriot poetry."

Conflict or unity of purpose? The question is complicated and cannot be answered simply. However, several factors underscore a significant difference between the second generation and the first.

This difference is found on the ideological, thematic, and aesthetic levels Nadia Charalambidou,30 appears to agree with Lefkios Zafiriou, not -


ing, howeve r, the difference between the Cypriot and Greek "Generations of Dissent." She writes on the subject: "Nevertheless, even if Zafiriou is right in noting these characteristics as factors distinguishing the younger generation of Cypriot poets from the older, this does not mean that the na ture of this critical attitude in Cyprus is the same as that in Greece ."

Beyond this position the ideological and, by extension, aesthetic conflict be tween the two Cypriot literary generations is intense . Young intellectuals and writers such as Savvas Pavlou, Lefkios Zafiriou, Prodromos Prodromou, George Kythraiotis, Ch. Papacharalambous, and Andreas Pantzis have repeatedly attacked the literature, and art in general, of Cypriot etatism, that is, the literary "1960 Generation," which in one fashion or another agreed to conform and abide by the rules of the game in a civil-se rvant-dominated and bureaucratic society. In an extremist text entitled "Anti-manifesto on Cypriot Literature," we read the following: 'We accuse Cypriot literature of the preservation of ugliness in the ugliest possible way, because it continues to be incurably bucolic in an era in which terror gnaws at the structures of tradition."31

Despite the extreme position of the above text, it manifests clearly the clash between a particular group of intellectuals of the "1974 Generation" and traditional Cypriot literature, a clash which is sometimes expressed between the lines, sometimes theorized about, and rarely becomes polemic. Dialectically speaking, it would have been difficult for the younger Cypriot literary generation to proceed hand-in-hand with the older, because, in the view of many younger people, the "Independence Generation," which continues to control and determine the course of the country administratively, socially, and politically, bears the main responsibility for developments in Cyprus between 1960 and 1974. These reasons suggest that the "1974 Generation" benefited from the literary achievements not only of the "1960 Generation" but also from the older literary body of work on the island; but, in a spirit of dissent, it has advanced beyond these achievements, conquered its own literary realms, new means of expression, and new themes to a degree which renders it perceptibly different from the previous generation and, frequently, brings the two into conflict.

Textual analysis reveals that the traumatic course of the 1960s, the uncertainty, upheavals, amateurism and vacillation, clumsiness, errors and consequent skepticism were already apparent in poetry before the events of July 1974. Some transitional poets introdllCed into their work elements which foreshadowed the themes of the "1974 Generation," confirming the special quality and prophetic nature of poetic sensibility. Aside from the confusion created by his political choices, Pantelis Mechanikos is considered one of the most important poets of the "Independence Generation," and is indeed referred to as a transitional poet. Referring to him as "an escapee from his times," Lefkios Zafiriou adds that: "P. Mechanikos repre -


sents an exception (to the conformism of the "1960 Generation"), his poetry, in particular his last anthology Kara8HTf1 (Deposition) published in 1975, effectively destroying the bridges connecting him with his own generation, and bringing him closer to the poets of the current generation,"32 and: "The bitter sense of betrayal issues through the cracks of a harsh world."33

Mechanikos's poem "Ode to a Murdered Turkish Boy," written in 1964, included in his last anthology is particularly significant with respect to the above observation. 34 This poem transcended both historical and political expediency during a particularly difficult and sensitive period, in which ethnic fanaticism was gaining more and more ground within the two communities.

ODE TO A MURDERED TURKISH BOY

Stetson! you who were with me in the ships at Mylae! The corpse you planted last year in the garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?

T.S. Eliot: THE WASTE LAND

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ME cl>lpaTE a' aVT6 To 8p6f!o ME cl>lpaTE a' aUT6 To TlXoc;. EuxapLOTW aac; 8LKoUc; KaL ~lvouc;." 40

fll f!oul Ko(f!TJal Tov y>..VKa, VaVOUplaEV TOV. rla a{va

T) cpwvf] TOV TTOL TJTD pwTan KaL TTa>..t EcplTo< TOUt; €flTT6pouc; TWV TT€Tp€M(wv Kal TOUt; aTTOlKlOTEt; TWV TTTWflGTWV,

pulTGfl TOV };TlTaov:

'To KOVcpapl TTOU €cpUT€tPE< TT€pal j.Llaa OTOV ~TTO crou apxla€ Va ~MUTaEL, 6' av6(crn €cpETOC;"

This lush verdant plain stretched out before me adorned with the yellow of the daisy the red of the poppy the smile of the violet this plain open beneath the warm bright rays of the sun this plain gently caresses our soul

45

1

5


showing us the road of spring 10

on this plain that praises the Lord and the soul of man praises the body and murmurs the song of mankind on this plain 15 lies dead a Turkish boy

a convulsed face caught in the midst of pain a bloated youthful mask carved out in eternity asking if the place was really too narrow

in the festival of spring asking if there are nations among the peoples of the daisy and of which nation is the green grass The sun warms the roots and the earth Love overflows like dew among the leaves and flowers of the soul of man in the open sincerity of the plain and a bloated terrible mask of a child who moves his lips under the bright light of the sun and speaks: "I thank you You brought me to this road and to this end. I thank you kin and strangers"

Earth, Lull him into a sweet sleep. For you

this year once more the poet's voice asks the oil traders and the colonizers of corpses

20

25

30

35

40

asks Stetson: 45 "that corpse you planted last year in your garden, has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?"

(Pantelis Mechanikos, Kani0E01J [1975], p. 3-4; S. Stephanides [trans.])

328 Yiannis E. Ioannou.

The fact that as early as 1964 Mechanikos was inspired by the mur der of a child of Turkish rather than Greek origin in itself speaks of the overcoming of bipolar political behavior and nationalism in favor of a uni versal theme. The title is indicative of this, but lines 18-28 demonstrate it explicitly, especially lines 26 and 28 . Mechanikos's lyricism is not the resuit of a romantic ideological or political commitment, but of an authentic attitude toward life which does not tolerate murder, evil, and injustice .

For this reason he eschews the usual poetic pathways (keen, mourning, political protest, conflict between Greeks and Turks), in favor of an orgy of images. And images are "the fleeting result of conscience"35 He hints, however, at the role of the British and of various other self-serving interests.

In the first part of the poem (lines 1-18), the repetition of the demonstrative pronoun "this" six times in combination with the preposition "on," defines the location, insisting particularly on the divine beauty of the plain and nature. That beauty is conveyed in an escalating fashion through a series of categorical definitions which visually complement this image, abounding in adjectives and nouns expressing colors (lines 1-4).

The image of nature is subsequently (lines 6-10) enriched through the gradual evocation of emotions of warmth and caring which establish a relationship of communication and mutual influence between the external and internal worlds. It should be noted that these emotions are introduced subtly and gradually increase in intensity (line 6, 9, and 10). The emotions of warmth and caring are supported by the presence of sun and light, which, in addition, determine the choice of adjectives employed. In the next five lines (11-15), the crescendo follows its course with the discreet personalization of the plain while a tone of liturgical celebration is pervasive-"praises" (lines 12, 13) "song" (line 14).

The steady repetition of the almost proverbial, "this plain" "on this plain," suggests from the beginning a sense of opposition which, as we read through the poem, serves to tantalize our curiosity and increase tension. The use of rich alliteration and rhyme complete this glorifying image aurally. The tragic antithesis between life and death is rendered in three words constituting three clipped lines. The reader, won over by the glorification of life, is thunderstruck by the image of death. The full stop, the first punctuation mark, cuts off the flow of words just as the child's life has been cut off.

The abundance of words, the celebratory tone, and the richness of sounds come to an abrupt halt, giving the single-word images of death time to establish themselves and shock the consciousness of the reader.

In the second part (lines 19 -29), lines 19-24 render grief in detail through crude images. The past participles "caught" "carved" introduce


the idea of a violent interruption, while adjectives and adjectival participles express pain in a figurative way (lines 19 and 20, etc.) The term "mask" (line 22) flanked by three strongly negative adjectives introduces the feel ing of pretense while the series of rhetorical questions in the lines that fol low (19, 22, 25) suggest the poet's view, the violation of the laws of nature and life. Lines 27 and 28, though profoundly shocking, are two of the most beautiful lines in Cypriot verse, their universality conveys the poet's true inspiration and constitutes a significant achievement in Cypriot poetry.

In the third part of the poem (lines 29-47) the contradiction between the celebratory picture of spring (line 32), the poet previously defined it in lines 10, 25, 27, 29--connecting it with the idea of rebirth and the glorification of life- and the death of the child becomes direct while the term "sincerity" (line 32), attributed to the plain, is a response to the term "mask" and by extension to the insincerity of man, an idea later developed in the words of the dead child, assuming dimensions of tragic irony (lines 36-39). The poet lends his voice to the dead boy, resurrects him for a brief while to allow him to express his thanks for having been deprived of life! This confession is tantamount to the voice of society's conscience.

The voice of the poet, expressed in the third person is no longer only the voice of Mechanikos, it is the voice of every poet raised in terms charged with indignation and revulsion in opposition to the voice of the merchants (lines 44-46). The charged emotional atmosphere is also rendered through the increasing use of punctuation marks.

With this poem, Pantelis Mechanikos introduces the notion of the collapse of ethnic prejudices, while other poems in the Katathesis are characterized by irony, self-sarcasm and denial. In his article "Cypriot Comedy Viewed Through P. Mechanikos's Katathesis"36 K. Vassiliou maintains that of the three parts making up the poem, only the first should have been retained. This view is not without merit, although, in this author's opinion, only the last nine lines pose a technical problem. Also in the Greek version, line 7 is weakened by the excessive use of the adjectives "warm" (line 6) and "bright" (line 7), and in particular by the placement of the second adjective.

The ideological approach of the "Ode" extended to the work of other poets, with the gradual attenuation of the constituent elements of national identity (flag, fatherland, hero, heroism, history, and patriotic behavior). For the "Independence Generation" (P. Galazi, A. Pastellas, and others) these symbols retained a powerful and functional content, providing an emotional charge from the direct connection between this generation and the climate of the 1955-59 period. Over time, however, one observes in a certain category of poets a de-mythification of these symbols, and a ca.Sting off of ethnic romanticism and rhetorical idealism. The use of adjectives and other descriptive embellishments diminshes while the language be-


comes harsh and realistic. A sense of doubt, uncertainty, and scepticism pe rvades their work, for example:

"Ar: JlfJ JlLAoUJlE ma )'La TJpWlUJ..I.O o\. AETITOJlEpELEC &v €ewwvovraL

JJ.€ Jllclv OafJJ.J.OVTTJ t<Aw<J-n1 <nW"lTflc:

KL acpou 8€ BwxwptaaJ.J.E -ri}v Tip<lQ, aTio To TLJl~Jla ToD d(JlaTor: Kat Tov 6avaTou JlfJ pwTilTE va aile; 1TOW 1TOL6c; v00,ae-·

wapxn 1TQVTQ lva KOJlllUTt 'Y1ir: I X 2 )'Lei TOV Ka6€va.

Let us not talk about he roism any more the details are not outweighed by an insignificant thread of silence

And since we did not separate the act from the cost of blood and death don't ask to be told who won there's always a piece of land 3 x 6 for everybody

(Phoevos Stavrides, ITou)JJara [Lamaca, 1972], p. 30; M. Margaroni [trans.])

Self-interdiction and negation occupy a dominant position in the poem, serving as the foundation for its entire development (lines 1, 2, 4, 6). The objects of negation and interdiction include the most important values of the rhetoric of the 1950-70 period-heroism and victory. In addition, the idea of failure is reinforced by adjectives and nouns also charged with a sense of negation (lines 3, 5). Beyond the generally negative tone they evoke, the above values are presented as being closely tied to catastrophe, "blood and death," while the use of the term np:ry11a (cost) adds a moral dimension and, subtly, a sense of guilt. The only positive line, the last, reinforces the sense of negation through the adoption of a human and universal approach.

Stavrides shuns facile heroics and idealized ethnic rhetoric. His writing, wounded by the uncertainty which it projects at every turn, goes beyond the subjectivism of the traditional configuration of "the victor - the vanquished" and the concepts deriving from it ("heroism," "hero," etc.), and shuns devices characteristic of traditional rhetoric (metaphors, similes, adjectives, etc.) He conveys simply and crudely the essence of a troubled and uncertain era.

Anthos Lykavgis, who adopted a critical attitude towards political events, could be described as one of the forerunners of the "1974


Generation":

Kat l3aBl(w f.LEO'a OToiK KalTvoiK n'j'.:; f.LGX'fll= f.L! Tk lT6pv€.:; Kat Tk lXLBV€£; Kat l3a8l(w f.LEO'a crn1v Aa<J'1lTI fiE KOf.Lf.LEVa TT68La Kat lTp6awlTa a&Lava Kat xopTalvw TOV lT6vo TWV lTaLBLWV Kat 1rlvw -ri)v Bp6ao Twv Brucpvwv Kat Tpayov&i O'Ta xapaKWf.LaTa.

And I walk in the smoke of battle with the whores and the vipers and I walk in the mud with dissected legs and empty faces and I feed on the pain of children and I drink the dew of tears and I sing in the trenches.

(Anthos Lykavgis, Oua{f [Cyprus, 1971], p . 30; M. Margaroni [trans.])

The first person motif37 on the one hand frees Lykavgis's poetry of simple descriptive emotionalism and on the other poses the problem of the poet's place and mission in a world convulsed by violence. The repetition of the copulative conjunction on the one hand adds to the scenes being de scribed a repetitive durability, which in turn supports the dramatic ele ment, and on the other lends the epic-lyrical element a discreet biblical dimension. The first person singular, as opposed to the plural used by Stavrides, indicates an intense individuality and a missionary attitude in Lykavgis. Nevertheless his first person singular is multi-voiced. The internal contrast between it and the second person plural derives, not from the rift between "I" and "we" which can be observed in the "1974 Generation," but from the poet's need to shoulder personally, in the name of the people, the obligation to express the collective tragedy.

The presence of verbs in the present tense alone is not only expressive of the tragic duration of painful experiences but also signals the repe tition of these experiences through time. The mannered vocabulary and intensity of the metaphors, lend Lykavgis's poetry a dimension of nobility which supports the missionary attitude of the poet. At the same time, he proceeds to strip the world naked through the use of a vocabulary which underscores injustice, suffering and provocation, and describes pain in an


explicit manner-whores, vipers, dissected legs, empty faces, etc. Despite all this his subversive attitude is expressed more on the

level of ideas than through language itself. The language he uses is intentionally aristocratic, and linguistic forms which might vulgarize the vocabulary are avoided. This kind of subversive vocabulary and vulgar expression does not occur until the appearance of the 1974 group of poets, and the permanent rift regarding use of the first person singular and the second person plural.

Often in Lykavgis's poetry the antithesis between language and attitude serves to intensify the sado-masochistic quality he ascribes to the world, discreetly suggesting the irrationality which was to dominate the Cypriot political scene a few years later (lines 7-9) . In the same collection of poems, Lykavgis says:

'1Imoc; dmiTT)af TToL6v;

Qt ~pKOL E~ac;; 'E~fLC: ToUc; lipKotJ<;

Ta livnpa l~ac;; 'E~dc; lKdva;

"Who deceived whom? Our vows us? Or we our vows? Our dreams us? Or we them?"

(Lykavgis, Ibid., p. 33)

In this instance the fust person plural, representing an entire gen eration, is used to express, not a catholicism of goals and ideals, but one of betrayal and fraud. In the midst of a turbulent period and three years before the disaster of 1974, the poet, on the cusp of two literary generations, adopted a mode of writing which could have post-dated the 1974 events. It was the period in which some were shouting slogans and writing verse or articles imbued with the usual idealized patriotic phrases, ethnic fanaticism, or naive romanticism associated with the supposed reorganization of society to come. Lykavgis, however, was by now sure of the fraud being perpetrated. The questions he posed had to do with a search to identify the "error." At the same time, however, he considered himself a participant in this error, a fact which forced him to seek a solution on the metaphysical plane, maintaining an enigmatic tone in his verse--dreams and vows do not lie, people dol

George Moleskis, another transitional poet, also dealt with the provocatively hypocritical attitude against the tragic nature of Cypriot history with a discreet, bitter irony.

noPil-1


t/Jr)A.acp((oVTaC: T' axvapLa TWV V€KpWV.

rLOpTCiUUtJ.€ TllV €lTET€LO

OT]tJ.ULOOTO>..t(oVTac; TOUC: 8p6tJ.OUC:

KL €KcpWVWVTaC: >..6youc; lTUTpLWTLKO(Jc;.

Xapi)KatJ.€ TllV OtJ.opcpui Tllc; T€AETi)c;

TTapatJ.Epl(oVTac; tJ.EPLKlc; tJ.ava&c; lTOU tJ.aC: TQ xa>..ovuav KAa(OVTUC: TO yL6 TOUC:.

CELEBRATION

We walked through burnt forests fingering the footprints of the dead We celebrated the anniversary hanging flags out in the streets and delivering "patriotic" speeches We enjoyed the splendor of the ceremony pushing aside mothers who spoilt things for us mourning for their son

(George Moleskis, 0 ilp6!-LCX: [Nicosia, 1970], p. 7; M. Margaroni [trans.])

The poem was written in 1966. The critical attitude of the poet to wards the exploitation of the concept of the fatherland, 38 and towards pretense, is expressed by the adjective "patriotic," with the quotation marks providing a sense of tragic irony completed and expressed in the final strophe. The antithesis between the pain of the mother who has lost her son and the gaudily celebratory social events "to commemorate and honor" dead heroes, suggest as early as 1966, the poet's alienation from and skepticism towards the tum of events and their exploitation by the ruling ideological system. It must be stressed that Moleskis did not challenge the genuineness of the self-sacrifice of certain heroes of the 1955-59 period. He is one of those left-wing poets who often wrote poems inspired by, for instance, the figure and sacrifice of Gregoris Afxentiou, despite the fact that the official Left did not participate in the struggle of E8vucT, Op'YaVWOl"l KulTp(wv A'YWVtUTwv (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA). On the contrary, he used the behavior of society at large to stress the vac uum of sentiment and meaning in patriotic speech and writing, removing pain from the content and neutralizing its constituent elements. In the poem above the carriers of pain, the mothers, are shunted aside because they are disturbing the social and celebratory character of the ceremony, meaning that the content disturbs the formality of a well-organized anniversary celebration.


The numerous anniversary celebrations in which the sociability of Cypriots found expression, had, in reality, no purpose, since the real focus of everyone's interest was not the dead hero ostensibly being honored but the social import of their own attendance of the event. The use of the first person plural allows the poet to pretend that he does not consider himself innocent of this kind of behavior, thus tempering his critical stance somewhat. It is nevertheless clear that the second person plural lies behind this ambivalence. In this way Moleskis's protest is presented in a disguised and discreet fashion. It is clear that we have not yet arrived at the final rift, the clash between the first person singular and the second person plural, which is found in the poets of 1974.

After 1974, poets such as the ones mentioned above intensified both their ideological and aesthetic inquiry, moving closer and closer to the position of the so-called "1974 Generation." In an excerpt from EprriuTpLEC: (Tank Threads), 39 Lykavgis confesses to the failure and bankruptcy of an entire generation to which he belongs by virtue of the year of his birth but also, in part, in literary terms. The following dialogue with his son speaks to this point:

... "Ilamk rroLO( l'v(KT]aav ot "E>J..T)VfC:;"

'TLl ~otJ,

'AvaBE~a ~f

'Ava&~a o-n1 yEvLa ~ov T( va aoil rrw;

T( va lTW o-n1 'YfVLa aov; TI va lTW an'! 'YfVLa aac:; ci>Tva€ ~f

cllTOOTf ~ac; ... .

"Father, who won? The Greeks?" ."Son, Damn me Damn my generation What can I say? What can I tell your generation? Spit on me Spit on us."

(Anthos Lykavgis, Epm)OTpLEC' [Athens, 1974], p. 19; M. Margaroni [trans.])

Behind these lines we once again discern Lykavgis's view on the mission of poetry and of the poet in a place given over to the political blows

The Poets of Dissent: The "1 974 Generation" in Cyprus 335

of the time and the paradoxes of history. The poet takes up the burden of guilt of the one generation towards the other, transforms himself into a witness, and is ready to submit to the consequent punishment weak, disarmed, and unable to live up to his role as mentor to the younger generation. The dialogue between him and his son is essentially the dialogue between his generation and the next. Not only does it not answer the questions but also drives the poet to a tragic confession of responsibility, self-castigation, and self-humiliation. Tradition is bankrupt and unable to offer logical answers to the tragic heritage it has bequeathed to the younger generation. The affected rhetoric of the early Lykavgis gives way to an altogether everyday vocabulary characterized by violence and an intense de sire for self-punishment, such as "damn," "spit," etc. while the question "who won? The Greeks?" looms mockingly in the face of disaster.

As stated earlier, the "1974 Generation" was the first literary generation in Cyprus not to be inspired by or derive its material from a national or social ideal, operating instead within the context of a psychological and ideological system of defeat, betrayal, collapse and bankruptcy. The prospect of union with Greece dissolved in machine-gun fire during the coup and invasion. Poetic sensibility, which formerly swelled with pride at the mention of the Parthenon and Acropolis, was crushed beneath the ruins of bombed-out towns, beneath the relentless reality of treason and betrayal. On the other hand, the prospect of a socialist transformation leading to equality, peaceful coexistence and a classless society loomed like a scarecrow amidst the ruins. No one was able to forestall the disaster. The almost religious faith placed by the Cypriots in the protectors of the small and the oppressed proved without foundation, while the sense of tragic mistakes and false promises shocked leftists, rightists, centrists, and the indifferent alike. The revolution was lost forever, while national ful fillment was transformed into national amputation. The period 1970-74 may have been marked by an intensification of ideological conflict and violent political confrontation. At the same time, however, the consciousness of poets had grasped the decadence and the impasse towards which the country was headed. The following demonstrates this consciousness:

OL C1T)IJ.a(E'C: lruiJ.aTlCow av<ilro8a IIovvaL TJ rraTp(8a; IIovvaL oL i)pWE:C:; OL C1T)IJ.a(E'C: lyLvav UKL<iXTpa

UTa XWpaci>La TWV AaWV va TpoiJ.dCow TT)V E'AE'VSE'pla IIovvaL TJ rraTp(8a; IIovvaL oL i)pWE:C:;


Epij~

OL <TT)~ale-c; <TT)~w.Jvovv <TTJtPaL~la .

TO THE DILAPIDATED ENSIGNS

The ensigns flutter upside down Where is the fatherland? Where are the heroes: The ensigns became scarecrows in the fields of the people to frighten off liberty Where is the fatherland? Where are the heroes? Devastation The ensigns signal septicemia.

(Doros Loizos, l/lwJ1{ KaL E>.cu8cp{a [Nicosia, 1980], p. 34; [M. Margaroni [trans.])

Loizou wrote all his poems before the events of 1974, since he was murdered by the EOKA Bin August of that year in central Nicosia without anyone caring to arrest and punish the assassins. 40

The bankruptcy of ideology is conveyed both by the title and by the reversal and vulgarization of the flag (lines 1, 4), which is transformed, from a symbol of national pride and noble national ideals, into an illu sion-"scarecrows." A relentless and all-devouring ideological vacuum makes its appearance, expressed by two interrogative lines (2-3) which are later repeated (7-8). In reality these are questions which expect no answers. They simply respond with a measure of tragic irony to the epigrammatic statements and observations contained in the preceding and following lines. The poet is crude and the fact that he adopts the tone of an observer (simple description) while we know that he is a participant, 41 reinforces even more the desire for self-punishment. The term "fatherland" and its meaning are rendered vulgar, reduced to a mere "field" and essentially neutralized. Finally, the only answer to the various questions posed is provided by the strongest word in the poem, "devastation," and the poem ends with an exquisite as well as tragic association tellingly developed through the alliterative use of "r" in the preceding lines.

Loizou observes, records, poses questions, and provides answers with an assumed indifference which underlies his critical attitude towards the generation which constitutes the social and political establishment. Imprisoned in a sense of decline he allows no room for the pursuit of new ideals. Flags, fatherlands , national fervor of all kinds, and idealized patriotic speeches had proved to be nothing but a fraud. Loizou must be considered the first representative of the so-called "Invasion Generation"42 the


first to convey poetically manner "a truth that was in the air." 43 The sense of decline is expanded upon in an impressive way in the poem "Modern Day Hellenes."

NEOEAAHNE~

ITAT]'YW~EVOL Kl d8ALOL S>..L~po( an6TJXOl ~lal;' napaT<>VLU~VTJI;' jJ£>.wS(a~;"

TTpOOTTa8oUjJ£ va ~L~T]8oU~E d>..Aovc; Kalpo{K; TTEp<lU~lvouc;

6nou ~E'YEAa~KajJ£ AaTpEVOVTal;' d&!Aa,

&o{K; ~LCEpouc;, LEpEk EK4>u>..Lu~lvouc;.

IlouvaL, a&>..q,l ~ou, T<> apxato uou KAloc; Pru..i.ay~lvE avE~6~u>..E TTJI;' MUK6vou, novvaL Ta 4>TEp6. uou; AL ya(o, AL ya(o, TOUTOC 0 >..a61;' WI;' TT6T€ ea u' ayvod;

ata, at a, <fmlvl 9€€' 0 T6TTOC uou PTJ~dCnal Kal uV, KaK6 xp6vo vaxnl;', EpWTOTpOTTdl;' jJ£ TOV Ep~i);

MODERN-DAY HELLENES

Wounded and wretched painful echo of a dissonant melody attempting to mimic times gone by when deluded we worshipped idols, destitute gods, degenerate priests. Where, my brother, is your ancient glory? Broken windmill of Mykonos, where are your wings Aegean, how long will these people ignore you? Zeus, cheap God your land is falling to ruins, and you, curses upon you, philander with Hermes?

(Loizos, Ibid., p. 44; S. Stephanides [trans.])

The all-pervasive decline is initially expressed through the use of the first person plural in the first strophe and subsequently through the orderly syntax dominated by passive participles and strongly negative adjectives (wounded, wretched, destitute, painful, dissonant, past). The vocabulary is negative while the alliteration of consonants such as "6 ," "p," "~," and of consonant clusters (iTA, OA, 01T, Tp, K<l>, OT, etc.) in combination with rare but effective punctuation adds a musicality, and a quiet and melancholy tone.

The poet's indignant outburst is expressed in the second strophe, in which the vocal tone is raised spectacularly. A series of questions in the


second person makes its appearance and dominates the entire strophe, while punctuation becomes more frequent, in keeping with the continually increasing tension in the text. The symbols of a past grandeur are unable to provide any answers, empty of meaning, forgotten and deserted. Anxiety and indignation reach a peak in the last three lines where decline also as sumes a moral character. The poet curses the once almighty god who, indifferent to everything, now cares only about his dealings with the god of commerce, Hermes, an excellent way to castigate the decadent materialistic mania afflicting the modem day Hellene. It should also be stressed that the poem stands chronologically at the heart of the seven-year period of the Greek junta and belongs to the period during which Cyprus was convulsed by the actions of illegal groups, soon to lead it to disaster. Friends of the poet have said that Loizou wrote the poem in Rhodes, when tourism had begun to deveiop. His work is crude, rough, penetrating and, in the final analysis, subversive, since his choice of words, sounds, and juxtapositions is made with the vulgarizing power of each of these choices in mind.

In the spring of 1974, Elena Rebelina Toumazi published her second collection of poems under the title Liturgy of the Dead Present (drafts and poems). 44 This collection represents a watershed in Cypriot poetry in that it introduces a totally new aesthetic based not so much on political dissent but on an individual revolutionary attitude. Despite the fact that Zafiriou considers Loizou to be the harbinger of the "Generation of Dissent," it must be stressed that Toumazi preceded, in publication terms at least, Loizou with a multi-faceted body of poetic work. She introduced poetry based on a subversive mode of writing, not limited to political dissent but extending to the psycho-social and even existential planes later crystallized in the work of other younger poets.

Through the use of elements pertaining to psychoanalysis or to a rejection of traditional male domination and the explosion of an individuality full of experiences, wounds, and sensual pleasures, Toumazi broke with traditional poetic forms and experimented with a search for a personal style, capable of conveying her volcanic, psychic world, even though the result was not always of high standard.

'0 &toe: Bl TO Coila€ KavovLKa <Tn')v TT6AT) Twv TTpof3chwv ~ Tk aVTlK€C: a'ri)v Kap8u~.

~f TOV Kapte(vo xa~T)M ~f 'ri) cf>L>.EvaBC ma UTa KAE'cfrra Kat To am TaKL Tou

Kat To cf>ayaKL Tou Kat TO yuvaLKouMKL Tou

Uncle Vito lived routinely in the city of the sheep with his antiques at heart


with cancer in his lower parts with a little girlfriend on the sly and his home-swee t-home his tea and his little old wife .

(Elena RebelinaToumazi , AEtroupyla roO IIEKpoO rrap611To<;

[Nicosia, 1974); M. Margaroni [trans.])

Her mocking attitude towards traditional male pretense, social conformism, and hypocritical and expedient domestic bliss is expressed by means of a poor parody of traditional rhyme, reinforced by a series of diminutives which make a mockery of petit-bourgeois hypocrisy. The use of indirect speech in combination with the repetition of the possessive pronoun "his," backs the poet's sarcastic attitude. The "city of the sheep," a rather obvious metaphor, defines in general terms the characte r of the small developing Cypriot town, while Uncle Vito, a respectable Cypriot gentleman with a wife and a mistress, personifies superficial and imitative "modernization" and the deadening of feelings and values. This deadening has a dimension of psychological (line 2) but also of bodily (line 3) illness.

The "city of the sheep" recurs frequently in the collection as a central motif and characteristic background. Toumazi's poetic tone was, for its time, quite novel. Although simple, the vocabulary is free of traditional forms and models, the images are often unexpected, while a sense of a painful personal history lies behind the verses. In the poem below, the commercialization of the most fundamental values of human existence (art, love, light, virtue) is rendered through economical repetition occasionally accompanied by some successful images.

To TipoLov TiouAI.€TaL 8€Ka ut:X!vta To 1TpOLov dvat lva ~L~X!o IJ.aTWIJ.EVWV lTOLTIIJ.<iTwv To Tip<iLov uTotxlCt:t Buo MP£< To 1Tpo·Lov t:tvat IJ.La dTit:AlTLUIJ.EVTI 01JV01J.LMa 11€ To ljluxlaTpo (IJ.La 'i)Al6La UWOIJ.LAla)

uoil 1Tpouq,fpw n'}v dyalTTI IJ.OU 8taAUI!fVTI Kat 01JIJ.1T'UKVWIJ.EVTI u' lva yuaAI.UTt:pO v61J.LUIJ.a "1: alrro TO xwpo lxowt: UTpayyaMut:L firrouAa TO dVTlKpuuiJ.a Toil f/>wTOc:

The product is sold for ten shillings The product is a book of bloody poems The product costs two pounds The product is a desperate talk with the psychiatrist (an idiotic talk)


I offer you my love melted and concentrated in a shiny coin In this place they have cunningly strangled the reflection of the light

(Toumazi, Ibid., p. 8; S. Stephanides [trans. ])

Punctuation is non-existent in the poem and is rare ly indeed in the entire collection. With the exception of the fifth and eighth, the lines are autonomous, a fact that imposes a pause at the end of each one, with the exception of the fifth and the eighth- which pause effectively introduces implication. The sense of pain, although introduced by a few terms such as the effective image "bloody," "desperate talk," "idiotic talk," e tc ., is in real ity allowed to function through implication.

In her illustrated collection Ta awJlaTa rr,t: Xpva68cJ1T;t: (The Bodies of Chrysothemis ), 45 she strips love of myth, effectively laying bare the erotic instincts and fantasies, particularly those of the male:

To a~a ~c: lva aEaTpo ~UOluAELO CJll~rm.uv Tfjc: 'YlJVULKaC: TTLKpO &uTEpo TlmW~a

IIavayui f) tr6pVT) TO l8LO

My body a theater mausoleum of signs a woman's second bitter edition

Madonna or whore the same (Elena Rebelina Toumazi, Ta CTWJ.J.aTa T17'= Xpw6lkJ.J.T]l: [Nicosia, 1977], S. Stephanides [trans.])

Using the female body as the main object of her poetry, Toumazi was the first woman poet to articulate a female anti-patriarchal, feminist mode of expression, which for its time was notably daring. The female body in her writing is no longer just the hedonistic or erotic body but also a symbol of individuality and oppression. The body is a traumatic experi ence, a painful reality, but above all the locus of the construction of an erotic anti-mythology. Toumazi is one of the few poets utilizing ancient or other religious or biblical sym bois, always connected in some way to female history. However, these symbols are systematically used as anti-symbols. In Toumazi's poetry provocation operates mainly in relation to the traditional view of virility. However the elements of dissent generally characterizing her generation are also present.

In this brief approach based entirely on some representative excerpts, an attempt has been made to stress the tendency, resulting from the paradoxical and contradictory process of events, which gave rise to a poetic


discourse that adopted modernist e lements contrasting with dominant traditional tendencies--existentialist anguish, doubt, skepticism, irony. Cypriot poetry is still largely linked to current political events. This is to a certain extent understandable considering that since the early 1950s, political events have determined the values and visions of life in Cyprus. The '74 generation still remains, to a certain degree, closely linked to political events. At the same time, however, as a consequence of the bankruptcy of traditional values and ways of thinking, the '74 generation introduces e le ments to poetry that in other European countries and in North America have played a significant role since the early 1960s.

The "1974 Generation"

The main characteristics of the "1974 Generation" are: 1) The rejection of any kind of compromise (social, political, or

moral), and by extension the abandonment of bourgeois conformism. 2) The rejection of affectation and idealization on the patriotic and

ethnic level on the one hand, and of romantic socialist writing on the other. 3) The documentary historical and political element, which, in ear

lier generations, constituted an important source of inspiration, after initially expressing political protest in a dramatic and provocative way, tends subsequently to generate an entire system of poetry rather than remain a mere point of reference as was the case earlier.

I believe that this brief and highly selective account sufficiently highlights the trend in the 197 4 Generation of sensing early on the paradoxical and contradictory course that events were taking, and incorporating them in their poetry elements which were novel in terms of the established poetic tradition-existential anxiety, doubt, skepticism, irony. Cypriot poetry remained in most cases bound by current political events, since from the early 1950s it was political events that served to determine the values and visions of Cypriot life. The "1974 Generation" itself was also bound by political events. At the same time, however, because of the bankruptcy of traditional values and ways of thinking, was to a large degree to introduce into poetry elements which had played a determining role in the poetry of the West as far back as the early 1960s. Let us proceed with a more detailed examination of this generation.

The "1974" poets continued to be affected and inspired by political events, without however submitting to them or adopting any particular political position. They ceased to be naive and became harsh critics. This trend, toward the end of the 1974-90 period, was to lead gradually to the dismantling of the rather colorless traditional aesthetic system, and to the appearance of a revitalized form of poetry represented by poets such as Nasa Patapiou, Takis Hadjigeorghiou, and Mona Savvidou.

The collapse of 1974 was so complete that no reason remained for


continuing with the poetic status quo. Nearly everything was replaced by a rejection of the submission to any particular system, by a provocative ness and economy of style totally in contrast with the verbose style of the previous generation, and lastly, by boldness and an overall attitude of criticism. G. Kechagioglou wrote characteristically: " ... the criticism waged by the younger generation of Cypriot poets against established ideologies, values, institutions and attitudes is usually expressed in a language and in a crude and non-conformist manner analogous to those used by the '1970 Generation' in Greece." In recent years this trend has been reinforced by the parallel activity of some commentators on contemporary Cypriot reality, some non-systematic and as yet unperfected proclamations and manifestos, and by certain periodicals. 46

The flight into safe areas of poetic activity which secure the recognition of poetic effort in advance, e .g., mythology and its associated personalities, ancient tradition, the symbolic use of persons and elements from the long Hellenic tradition, became rarer or disappeared completely. 47

The exceptions to this were few and are to be found, directly or indirectly, in only a few poets (E. Toumazi, N. Orfanides, etc.). But in these instances the use of established symbols usually works negatively. This phenomenon underscores the sense of insecurity, uncertainty, and searching which characterizes the entire generation.

The need for social or literary acclaim which in the "1960 Generation" was immediate and intense, became secondary for the "1974 Generation," since the institutions and values able to offer such acclaim were being questioned. Poets of the latter generation now wrote about their inability to bear loneliness, betrayal, collapse, bankruptcy and uncertainty, because they are under siege by alienating elements (the occupation, the angst of war, the environmental degradation brought about by tourism and consumerism, etc.). The blow of 1974 combined with the popularization of knowledge and the rise in educational standards gave these poets an additional sense of worth and self-knowledge, unlike the "1960 Generation." They imposed an economy of style which meant also an economy of publishing activity, each poet rarely publishing more than three or four collections, in contrast to the generally inflated production of the "1960 Generation." An intensely critical attitude was now manifested by the poets towards their own work, which was to be expected since they also questioned and denounced the "slap-dash nature" and "mediocrity" of the literary output of the previous generation.

The pompous, mannered style, the patriotic romanticism which projected a vision for the future (union with Greece - socialism), drawing its material from the heroic or politically oppressed social and political past, now took second place as the young Cypriot poet used writing primarily to express his indignation and bitterness, in many cases using it as an outlet for extremely intense emotions without caring about aesthetic, stylistic, or


other literary qualities. Zafiriou explains: "There is still painful material in this poetry which often gives the impression of having been written on the run, without any polish, panting to become public, and one can discern a hint of uncertainty regarding the future ."48

One of the basic characteristics of the writing of the "1974 Generation" is its anti-militarism. Its poetry contains no war-loving, heroic cheers; on the contrary it often mocks or ridicules militarism:

KaL I!H<i ~peav OL I!E'Ya>.Et; avaCJTanoont: KaL Ta L8aVLKU. "Ell lTp6<: 'YLa TT]V lTaTp(8a, €1! lTp6c; lTaL&<il ... " KL 6Tav av8pat; avBpnw!!fvoc;

I!ECTTW<Ja ~p<l KaL 'yw TO 8p6110 I!O'U 1!' lva uaKOlJM a&LO.

And then the great thrills came and ideals. "On for the fatherland, march on lads!. .. " And when, a manly man, I came of age I took my own path with a sack; empty.

(Michalis Zafiris, excerpt from "AvTo~LOypacp(a," Av(}o.>..oyla l:vyxpoVTJ£: Kurrpw1dJt; IlolryOT]<' [Athens, 1985], p. 23; [M. Margaroni [trans.]) .

M. Zafiris bitterly mocks the standard heroic cheers (onward for the fatherland, etc. ), considers them empty words and gives the impression of having himself been an object of exploitation. The isolexism in line 4 (manly man) speaks of a desire for self-mockery (the import of bravure is later sarcastically neutralized by line 7). The monotony and verbosity of an entire linguistic code is made ridiculous by means of this device, which conveys the redundant and verbose meaninglessness of patriotic speeches and military vocabulary while at the same time confirming the sense of ideological vacuum for which this kind of "patriotic" rhetoric is precisely to blame.

The figure of Gregoris Afxentiou constitutes perhaps one of the most important exceptions to the rule of avoidance of personalities or motifs drawn from history, tradition, and mythology. Quite a few poets of the "1974 Generation," as well as older poets, were inspired by this hero, perhaps because he was the most innocent of the Cypriot freedom fighters . Beyond this, it must also be noted that the way in which he sacrificed his life was in itself sufficient to render him a source of inspiration.


Nevertheless, patriotic rhetoric and literary excess, celebratory commemoration speeches, and the exploitation of his name, succeeded not only in altering the message of Afxentiou's sacrifice but also in reducing the impact of his personality, even as a symbol. The poets of the "1974 Generation," in contrast to their predecessors, were uot interested iu extolling his "heroic" death, by repeating slogans and obvious truths which in all likelihood would serve particular ulterior motives and goals. They fo cused instead on the tragedy of the betrayal, the tarnishing and the bankruptcy of the ideals for which the hero sacrificed himself, as well as that of the supremacy of pretense and formality over tmeaning and substance . .50

l'TO rPHrOPH A r:a:ENTI OY

'0 rprry6pTJC: A~€VT(ou KaT£13a(vn dvd1J£cra <JTtc; !J>"My£C: "f) 1T6All yu~J.v"f! TVA( ynaL TO cr6l~J.a Tou 1T6lc: va TOV ~poil~J.€

llfaa <JTk lpTJ~J.fC: 1TMT€t£C: Kat <JTO\.oc: yA61J.1TOUC: TIOV 1')>..£KTpLKWV 1TOU ~J.ciC: 01J<JKOT((ouv. rup((n Kat Ka8HaL <JTO <JKOTWIJ.{Vo 4>£yya~ 1TOU 1TUp1TOMLTaL.

TO GREGORIS AFXENTIOU

Gregoris Afxentiou descends among the flames the naked city enfolds his body how shall we find him in the deserted squares and in the electric light bulbs that put us in the dark. He turns and sits on the slaughtered moon that sets itself on fire

(N. Orphanides, Ta TpayoU&a 17JC liEpaE<f>6vqt:. llon1J1aTa [Nicosia, 1979], p. 41; S. Stephanides [trans.])

The vocabulary of the poem reverses the traditional pompous style given that the noun "hero" and its derivatives, leading into moments or scenes of heroic fervor, are entirely absent. On the contrary, the figure of Afxentiou is presented totally starkly. The poet sustains the most tragic


image of Afxentiou's life "among the flames" expanding it and lending it duration through the use of the prese nt tense (all verbs are used in the prese nt tense ). Afxentiou is a living, burning symbol, a symbol of pain and suffering, who transmits his tragic expe rience to the whole city. Eve n then, however, the hero is alienated; lost and without a home, he re turns to the moon, not the romantic symbol of love and beauty, but a dead moon which dissolves in the flames. Gregoris Afxentiou is an anti-he ro who returns, betrayed, to the inhospitable, hostile country for which he sacrificed himself.

The vocabulary used is economical and simple. In te n lines one comes across only two adjectives (deserted, naked) and an adjectival par ticiple (slaughtered). The style is bare and stripped of all affectation while negative terms and images are prevalent: flames , naked, deserted, dark, slaughtered. The poem deals a direct blow to the rhe torical hyperbole which came to surround the heroes of 1955-59. At the same time, however, it attempts something more substantive; it destroys the system of heroic mythology on which the established aesthetic rested . This attitude is of particular interest in that it was adopted by many poets of the "1974 Generation" independent of ideological prove nance or stance . It is met with in G. Moleskis, L. Zafiriou, 51 N . Orfanides and others . It would be worthwhile for scholars of the period to extend their research to the an -thropological basis of the style, and to the psychological make-up of the 1974 poets.

L. Zafiriou's position towards the themes generated by the figure of Afxentiou is even more provocative.

DECLARATION OF GRIGORIS AFXENTIOU'S MOTHER SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH: or CHANTING BIRDS WING OVER ATHENS

To the memory of the Cypriot student Giorgos Tsikouris. He was killed by a bomb explosion in 1970 outside the U.S. Embassy. He brought the bomb to Athens by car from Italy.

fi.T}Nflvw VTTEvOuva

lTUK 'YL« TO 8LK6 IJ-0\! XaAL EvOvvo~J.aL 1J-6VT} E''YW Tl ~J.apa(w~J.lVT} AVTovvov ITLEp~ AveEVTLov. 1:€ AL~a8La avvBpa Tl atr6yv~ IJ.OV a€ a6~J.~J.«TT}~ E'lTOxD~ E'LKOOL T€Tpawpa AaiJ.lTE'L. IIaAL6TEpa

0 xp6V~ U€ IJ.Vpw~va 'YL«UE'IJ.La €Ka0€TO\!V K«L Twpa €VV6T}Ua TL q,p(KT} avayAv<tnl KOVpVLa(€L

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IJ.EUa IJ.OU Ka66TL ~66yyoL CEKOAAUV£

a1r6 'T1'l y N.f1uua IJ.OU

Allll6XWUTO< KEpuvna

Jl£VTa8cfKTUAOC: JlEpLUTEpwva

MLa MT]ALci

15

Ku6pla 20 T( KoTul'J~w 1rapBaM IJ.OU AlT£ 1TWC: lTEpvav£ 1ravw a1r' 'T'TlV Afhlva;

Bou>..La(EL o T61Toc;.

I solemnly declare 1 that I am solely responsible for my sad plight I the sorrowful Antonia Pieris Afxentiou In arid pastures 5 my despair shines in the days of a blind epoch Formerly Time in scented jasmines sat and now I realize 10 what engraved horror perches within me for cries are pulled out from my tongue Famagusta 15

Kyrenia Pentadactylos

Peristerona Mia Milia

Kythrea 20 What motley blackbirds you say fly over Athens? The place is sinking.

(Lefkios Zafiriou, A.vOo).oyla ~vrxpoVf1C Kurrp!aK'ljc TlolTJCTr]t; [Athens, 1985]. p. 30-31; S. Stephanides [trans])

The first "apparent" contradiction derives from the juxtaposition of the subject and figure of Afxentiou and the dedication to the hero Tsikouris. Many of those who invoked ad nauseam the memory and heritage of Afxentiou simultaneously praised those whom the second hero,


Tsikouris, attempted to fight against. An indirect relationship is estab lished between the two heroes who, in the political circumstances in which the poem was written and in accordance with the intervening exploitation of their respective myths, should properly be in two rival camps, fighting one another.

However, the words of Afxentiou's mother could also be those of Tsikouris's mother. The heritage of pain, suffering, and sacrifice of each mother carries the same value and is recorded equally in the bulletin of the struggle of the people.

This subversive attitude permeates the whole poem, which is characterized by a gap between apparent meanings and underlying meanings . Apparent meanings serve as a simple pretext for the development of the poem. The underlying meanings constitute the hidden sense of the poem. The writing is explosive, designed to reveal intense opposites and contrasts-"arid pastures," "my despair pastures ."

These contrasts are truly "schizophrenic" as is the reality to which they indirectly though clearly refer. The whole technique of the poem rests on the juxtaposition of opposites; 52 i.e. he says something to mean something else. On a primary level one detects a strong tendency towards irony and self punishment (lines 1-4). They contain a statement which no one would ever make, much less the mother of a hero-become-symbol. But the poet's goal is precisely to put in Antonia's mouth those words which the prevailing ideology ought itself to have confessed to. Zafiriou challenges this ideology through the reversal of the heroic symbol par excellence. In connection with this he said in an interview: 'We didn't arrive at the present pathetic state of affairs by accident. And we shouldn't blame it all on imperialism and Turkish chauvinism."53 The vocabulary of the poem contains elements of subversion and ideological vulgarization-sad plight, blind epoch, horror.

The poem is characterized by an attempt at synthesis and a striving for quality on the aesthetic and technical levels. The following syntactical and semantic configuration is exceptionally successful:

in arid pastures my despair shines

in the days of a blind epoch

The subject "my despair" together with the verb "shines" in them selves compose an original and effective image. It is a fragmented image, however, because the main poetic word "despair" stands at the beginning of the second line and at the center of the whole concept, and the verb at the end, with a long time interval separating the two. The image is a frag mented one, just as dreams and ideals are fragmented, a fact which constitutes a response on the poetic level to the immediately preceding statement


by Antonia Pieri Afxentiou. The metonymic images which serve to bring off the poetic concept in the context of a multi-faceted metaphor, allow the poet to achieve lift-off, and render the verses effective on multiple levels. The traumatically glowing despair in the poem is framed, yoke-fashion (see diagram above), by two reference points, one in place and the other in time, so that the sense of place and that of time merge. This despair does not re fer either to a specific period or to a specific place. The adjective "blind" simply confirms the traumatic and continually repeated experience related in the poem.

The fragmentation of the image is part of a broader phenomenon whereby the poet presents isolated excerpts of situations. In the following lines (lines 8-10), this phenomenon is reinforced by the element of the unforeseen.

To begin with, the normal rules of syntax are broken while over leaping "sat" reinforces the poet's tendency to present excerpts of situations. In addition an element of contrast in the first person appears unexpectedly in this line. The objectivity of the previous line contrasts with the subjectivity of the following one "I realize" and is effectively canceled out, allowing subjectivity to take precedence, since the remainder of the poem up to "Kythrea" flows out of this subjective attitude. All these contrasts, the isolated and unconnected images, the unexplained painful experiences, lead to an impasse, but not a cathartic one; rather, a thoroughly depressing one. The only thing Antonia Pieri Afxentiou succeeds in comprehending is the horror nestling inside herself. Once again an unexpected paradox, apparently unrelated to everything that has gone before, brings the poem to a close in the last three lines .

Contrasts therefore cancel each other out, or clash, indicating the presence of intense psychological emotions, the writing is fragmentary and continually implies the existence of an anomalous situation, while the elements of the unforeseen and the paradoxical serve to emphasize another important element: the incomprehensible, which at the same time, is all too comprehensible.

Just as national and ideological symbols are bankrupted, mocked and subverted, party political power structures and hierarchies are rejected. Truth is no longer a decision adopted by the collective party organs, but becomes relative and a matter for the individual. Loyalty and obedience to collective organizations and mechanisms collapses as the poet turns provocatively to the only truths which can convince him, setting up the now imperative need to protect one's spiritual, moral, and erotic integrity, against the danger of collective party political machinations. The poet seeks pleasure, erotic freedom and liberation from political and ideological groups, mechanisms, and prejudices:


MA'fffiAEIO

Tov lpc..rra ~ou

TOV pf}~ae€ TJ LUTop(a TOV €EO'KLO'aV

Ta ypava(La

Twv ~TJxavwv.

0 lpwTac; ~O'U

KOL~aTaL V€Kp6c;

KaTw aTI6 Ta TINiva

Twv K€VTpLKWV Em TpoTiwv

KaL TWV Tio>.L TLKWV fpacjl€(wv

TouMxLaTov Mapyap( Ta €ATI((w 0'€ alva.

MAUSOLEUM

My love 1 was wiped out by history was tom apart by cogwheels

My love is sleeping dead 5 under the projects of Central Committees and politburos. At least Margarita, I hope in you.

(Costas Makrides, in AvOo..\oyla ~urxpoVT'Jt: KvrrptaiO]t: llolT]CTT]l: [Athens, 1985], p. 56; M. Margaroni [trans.])

Reversing the dogma of the all-correct and all-powerful "party" as dictated by the Stalinist model, Kostas Makrides poses the most precious individual value, Eros, as his central theme, seeking and confirming its legality and uniqueness. The poet's hopes no longer lie in historical knowledge, party political and ideological security, a vision of any kind of social change, or, external decisions .

Historicism is presented as an element inimical to individuality and its par excellence mode of fulfillment, Eros (lines 1-2). The poet sets historicism, collective socio-political events, against Eros as a value. Hope is now an · individual matter which is no longer hidden but rather flaunted provocatively with the aim of irritating those with a love of party political authority. Hope lies in Eros and pleasure.

Repressive impersonal hierarchies and the leveling values and mechanisms which they contain are not found in party political and ideo-


logical groups alone:

0 ME-yac; f1.a(oxwTf~· XptOTOC

fiE fiLa woi3QMoooa XELpoVOflla aVa(T)TOWE ~avLwSWc TO O'Taup6 TT)V wpa lTOU o aa8L<JTi]c; lTUTEpac; 9EOC xa~oyEAOWE

Christ, the great masochist with a compelling gesture obsessively seeking the cross at the moment when the sadist God the Father was smiling

(Frosoula Kolosiatou, Karoxt~af Errox7f [Athens, 1979], p . 9; S. Stephani des [trans.])

In another era Frossoula Kolossiatou might well have been excommunicated (see the case ofT. Anthias). In the above excerpt what is being questioned is not faith in God or in a higher power in itself. The poem questions the specific behavior of the various forms of religion as codified and transmitted by religious tradition. The sado-masochistic nature of this behavior is reflected in the behavior of people who, in the belief that they are doing their duty, accept passively the deprivation of their right to life and to worldly pleasures which ultimately constitute an essential part of their own nature. In terms of current events at the time of writing let us not overlook the hints which might refer to the sado-masochistic behavior of the Cypriots during the coup and afterwards. The supposed nationalists of the junta under the banner of Hellenic Christian ideals organized EOKA Band, acting in the name of lfpuaft;, staged the coup that led to the Turkish invasion and occupation of the northern part of Cyprus.

In the excerpt which follows, ideological confusion, inconsistency of theory and practice, and unreliability on an individual, social, ideological, and political levels are dealt with crudely and provocativelyon a conscious level:

Tpd.a(vo~aL

yLaT( OL 1Tpo86TEC: 1Tl<JT€VOtJV,

OL cPUO(<JTEC: e:ve:pyo(Jv 8LaAEKTLKU

KL oL j.lap~L<JTEC: !Jiaxvovv va l3povv TOV Avn -Map~

I'm going crazy because the traitors believe the facists act dialectically and the Marxists look for anti-Marx

(Kolosiatou, Ibid., p. 31; M. Margaroni [trans.])


These verses, written before 1985, apply to the ideological reordering destined to come about not just in Cyprus but worldwide, particularly after the rise to power of Gorbachev and the collapse of applied socialism. Let us examine in detail the entire text of a poem by Frosoula Kolossiatou.

MAAEME

~ Ov~~~Ka OTO rrapaNoyo rr~VO

va pt.$OKLV8VV€U£Lt; TT) (~ 00\!

OTLt; KVpLaKQTLK€t; rrap€MO€Lt;.

Twpa oL ct>L>.OL ~at: arr6xTTJoav ov~6n£t: .. .

IJaL8La

~Xlrra~ TOUt; eav6o{Jt; 'AyyNovt; OTO VT]O( ~at;

va rra(pvovv TO rrpwCv6 TOUt; rrMC CJ'TT) ad>.aooa.

HTav ay€>.aOToL KL £~k Tpo~dCa~.

T6T£ ~La pL ~ avl~ov ~at; ~p€ OTO Tae(& TWV KaTaLy(8wv.

AvnKaTorrTpLo~Ka~ ont: XEvKlt: £mcl>dvn£t:

teaL ~ya>.Woa~.

~TO ~00 KQrrOV TO\! OXTQWpOV

aya'ITTJ&fJKa~.

MALE ME

1

5

10

I remembered you in that absurd shot 1 risking your life on Sunday parades Now our friends have picked up habits ... As children we used to watch the fair Englishmen on our island 5 having their breakfast by the sea They were severe and we were afraid Then a blast of wind took us on the voyage of storms We were reflected on the white surfaces 10 and we grew up. Somewhere in the midst of these eight hours we fell in love.

(Kolosiatou, in AIIOo>.orla Evrxpovry: KvrrptaKljt: UolryC17Jt: [Athens, 1985], p. 46; M. Margaroni [trans.])

From the aesthetic point of view the poem illustrates a more general characteristic of this generation, in combination with what has been


discussed above, that is the liberation of poetic writing. It is a kind of writing which does not, either in part or as a whole, come under a particular artistic movement or school, but ranges freely between realism, symbolism, and fragmentation .

This freedom, in the particular instance above, is expressed through the combination of images drawn from the personal memory and life of the poet. Childhood experiences are revived and during this process various scenes succeed each other like cinematic frames without any time continuity or connection. The development of the lines is particularly interesting since from the starting point of a personal recollection the field subsequently broadens to cover Cypriot historical and political experiences. It finally diverges, by means of an impressive spatial and temporal expansion to a surprise ending, into a declaration of love. The images are characterized by a "precision of metaphor" supported by the curt and somewhat severe tone of the past tense. The use of the past tense is quite marked and contributes to the rapid succession of images, which takes place in much the same way as in the cinema, at the same time lending a certain harshness to the transmitted emotions. The use of opposites (line 7) is equally direct and precise while the combination of lines 4 and 5 reinforces the succes sive cinematic-style surprises in the poem. The rapid succession of frames and images eliminates the sense of the flow of historical time, reaching a peak in lines 11 and 13 where the verbs "grew up" and "fell in love" are subject to at least two different interpretations. On a realistic plane the latter could refer to the shadows cast by the bodies on the beach. On a symbolic plane however and in the context of the rest of the poem, the reflection in question could refer to the "white surfaces" of memory. The verb "grew up" in the past tense and as the result of the reflection, could thus mean the coming-of-age as a result of becoming conscious of the per sonal and by extension the historical memory of the place (lines 6-8). The closing of the poem with the dry and bare declaration "we fell in love," could be interpreted in the same way.

The recourse to individualism or, at best, to a small marginal group, essentially represents an answer to the bankruptcy of collective national or social visions and ideals. This shift amounts to the search for a certainty no longer subject to unstable and changeable political circumstances and expediencies. In his valuable introduction to "Contemporary Greek Poetry, 1965-1980"54 Alexis Ziras makes some opposing remarks and observations regarding the style, themes, and ideological basis of the "Generation of Dissent" in Greece; and, as mentioned before, relations between the Cypriot poets of 1974 and the Greek poets of the "Generation of Dissent" have been and continue to be close. Most Cypriot poets of this generation studied in Athens and became politicized through various st.udent groups, participating actively in the struggle against the dictatorship, the Polytechnic uprising, and the demonstrations which followed the 1974 in-


vasion in Cyprus. In most cases the relations between the Cypriot and Greek poets were and remain intimate or friendly. Many of Ziras's comments regarding the Greek poets apply to the Cypriots as well. However, in the case of the latter account factors particularly characteristic of Cypriot society must be taken into account, such as the invasion, defeat, and occupation, the collapse of a world, and the absence of future prospects. These factors result in the poet's finding himself alone at the center of a society which is fundamentally hostile and anti-poetic and which, unable to overcome collective uncertainty, seeks refuge in ephemeral consumerist satis faction. The poet rejects, condemns, denounces, and internalizes, but at the same time attempts to create an almost exclusively private poetic system of his own that will allow him to live apart from social expediency, in the company of his own visions:

9a~aL 1TaVTa lvac; €Maawv lTOLTl-rfJc; 0a lTOA€~ TO )(p6VO, TTlV KU~lPVTlU'Tl• TLC: KA€L8apL(c; a· aaxo>..Tlaouv ~aCt ~ou

€KdVOL lTOU aa po\Hfl~eouv TO T€AfUTa(o ya(~a

Kl Ucrr€pa 0a ~ Kaljlouv ~ TLC: avlK8oT€C: au>..>..oylc; a· aacf>UKTLW 0a UlTapTapw 0a €Kp~yvu~aL

~a ad~aL 'Yla 1TaVTa lvac; €Maawv lTOLTl-rfJc;

xwp(c; cf>aVTaXT€p6 ~l>..>..ov.

I will always be a minor poet I will fight time, the government, locks those who will suck the final blood will be concerned with me and then they will bum me with the unpublished collections I will suffocate, I will wriggle, I will explode but I will always be a minor poet without a bright future

1

5

10

1

5

10

(L. Perentos, in AvOoA.oyla Iurxpoi/TI<' KV7TpLaKJjc llolryary: [Athens, 1985], p. 93-94; S. Stephanides [trans.])


The central position of the poem is self-knowledge (lines 1-2), and at the same time the determination to subvert established institutions. This self-knowledge becomes provocative in light of the subtle irony of the closing lines of the poem "without a bright future." Louis Perentos for instance feels the need to dissociate his position, declaring and laying claim to his modesty. The future continuous, reinforced by the adverb "always" (lines 1, 10) creates, sometimes through the use of successive objects (lines 3-4) and sometimes through the ascending tendency implicit in repetition (line 9), a psychological and intellectual system of combative protest which brooks no compromise. The peculiar contrast between his combative protest against prevailing literary attitudes and the poet's equally combative claim to modesty, indeed insignificance, constitutes an original yet effective personal system of defense against the establishment. His confession of lesser status is in reality a self-accusation tantamount to a refusal to be identified with the major poets, an eventuality which is unwelcome, in that it would oblige him to accept a comparison with some major poets whom he evidently rejects.

But the question which arises is: which of the major poets does the minor (but surely noteworthy Perentos) set himself against? Is it valid to assume that it could be those of the previous generation, many of whom appointed themselves major poets, but who often usurped the pen, seeking recognition through frequent and numerous publications or through an exhibitionist display of facile flattering phrases55 rather than through the quality of their work?

The refusal of the poets of the "1974 Generation" to be identified either with prevailing values and models or with the direction taken by the social and architectural environment in the wake of the 1974 events constitutes one of the major thematic and aesthetic features of this generation. In particular, the contemporary city appears alienating and alienated:

... nML OTa vavnAI.aKa ypa<j>Eta 11)< n6;\.T)c; 1TOV &v TaeL&OCL ma 1TOV & xaoqJ.E'p€L &v mrl.(EL nov Tllc; apvf]fhl!<av Ta 'Y'f1paTna 11)<

'YE~a€ 1TpOKTOp€c;' ~aLTE'c;' ~paE'VTEc;' yvvalKE"t:; EVTpo~E"c; 1TOV ~6vo va t/Jwv((ovv etpovv ...

... next to the shipping companies of the city who is no longer traveling who wastes no time and does not play who was denied her old age who filled with agents, brokers, mercedes

The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Generation · in Cyprus 355

terrified women who merely know how to shop ...

(N. Marangou, Apxrf /v8{KTOV [Nicosia, 1987], p. 36; M. Margaroni [trans.])

The city has lost its identity. Its chief characteristic is the anomaly resulting from total commercialization and an all-leveling consumerism (lines 1, 5, 7) . The traditional tranquillity of the Cypriot city (line 2) is lost in the fear and angst of consumerism (lines 6-7).

9EPIITE};

Ac 1..1.dvn ll lTpawchWOTJ TOtJ ovdpov TEXEtJTala lTpc{JTa va y(vn To ~l'IBlv KaL o ~eavlvac 8oo~eoXoL O'VVTpo4><>L ~aCL Tovc va lTEpaaov~ ~c a1r' T' a6paTa clsl~aTa l'ILa va Bou~ 1rpo Tou TtXovc &xnKd, Tl'IV l~ Tou KaKou 1rov ~ac

8lpvn .

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KaL 6a KpU~OVTQL KaXAWTLKd, KdTW alT' TTl O'KAl'IPTt €1TLcpdvna TWV

AEC€WV. 9a dvaL ll KaTaypacpi) TllC LO'TOp(ac; Em lTOVll - alTdTll Eucpvi)C 'YLQT( WC T6T€ (O'TO ~£>.).ov lTOtJ EpXETQL) 6a CEpDW O'TQ a( youpa

6n Cow a~e6~a oL lpwTEC KaL xalpoVTaL, 1rap' 6>-Ec nc a1ro~Alc KL 6n Ta >.6yLa dvaL CwVTavd - 1Tou>.l.d ~c O'TOVC lTVEu~ovEc

KQL KpaToiJv 0'€ 8(0'KO TO K€cpd>.i. lTOtJ ~Ad - TLC tJ1TOO'XEO'€LC TOVC.

IIEpL~EVW va ~OtJ~€, ypd~~a K€V6 aw~a KX£LO'T6, O'tJVtJTT€V6WOL 6AOL

'YLa Tl'IV dvOO'Tll cp~ EV6c KOO~ou lTOtJ EO'~cpwVT'IO'€ va lTdclsEL va 1rapa~LM.


HARVESTERS

Let the realization of the dream be last first be zero and nobody be difficult comrades with them we will pass through invisible lies so we may acceptingly see before the end, the attraction of the evil that befalls us

I wait for you night and day and breathe strange hymns of Christ's passion for stagnant waters scented sounds that glorify slime

If future historians say that in our time the planet became a huge cesspool and fragments in plots of land they will be mistaken They will certainly be the children of today's torturers of the land They will wipe the fat from their lips On grandfather's embroidered towels They will have profited from the fat intestine of the past and cosmetics will be hidden under the hard surface of words The writing of history will be a laborious intelligent fraud because until then (in the time to come) they will know for sure that loves still live and rejoice despite abortions and that words are living birds in our lungs and that they carry the head that on a tray speaks of their promises

I wait for us to bow down empty letter closed body all responsible for the ugly nature of a world that agreed to stop raving

(Elias Constantinou, KurrptaKb: HOoypa</J{Er; [Nicosia, 1991], p. 21; Stephanos Stephanides [trans.])

The above poem is inspired by a phenomenon which is directly linked to the current phase of global technology-based civilization. The destruction of the environment is no longer just a matter of interest to a few marginal, peculiar dissidents. It is a matter of concern to all people, and, not having any other weapon at his disposal with which to tackle the phenomenon, the poet employs an attitude of cynical sarcasm. The initial strophe (lines 1-4) uses the first person plural which allows the poet to pretend that he fully accepts the direction which civilization has taken. At the same time, however, it highlights provocatively and in strong terms, the consequences of this wholesale adherence to a destructive civilization (lines 3 -5). In addition, it attempts a reversal of values (lines 1-2). The second strophe (lines 6, -8) is formulated in the first person singular, thereby ex-


tending the reversal. The poet adopts an attitude of inaction (line 6) while irony is expressed through the combination of contrasting terms (lines 6, 8) . In the Greek original, the alliterative use of "n," the refere nce to "hymns of Christ's passion" and "scented sounds" create an entirely nega tive audio-visual image that generates a stilling, malodorous and abe rrant atmosphere, which continues in the lines that follow and which corresponds fully to the main subject of the poem.

The third and lengthiest strophe (lines 9-21) attempts a projection into the future and subsequently an evaluation of the present. The condi tional and the future tenses allow for full expression of irony. The poet talks about the future in hypothetical terms in order to describe the pre -sent, pretending to allow some room for doubt, laying all responsibility on future historians who, in reality, will be equally responsible for the destruction to come. The vocabulary used is carefully subve rsive without straying from the vocabulary range of the average re ader : i.e ., huge cesspool, today's torturers of the land, fat intestine, intelligent fraud. Some images are quite effective (lines 13, 21), while the stilling nature of the atmosphere is reinforced by others (i.e., lungs, line 20) . The poem is technically skillful, particularly in the zeugma "cesspool and fragments" of line 10, and in metaphors such as those of lines 3, 16, 17, 20. The three fi nal lines confirm what has gone before, rendering responsibility universal and restoring the described situation to the present. The tone becomes sober and the element of irony disappears.

The anxiety resulting in the first instance from betrayal and in the second from the uncertainty of the future expresses the existential angst permeating this generation. We often find that we are dealing with a poetry of "inner space" with characteristics such as the closed dark room/bedroom" etc. The poetic space,no longer nature-loving, becomes closed in and limited in a way that gives the impression of a prison. Often, loneliness and isolation are not imposed by external factors but conscious choices on the part of the poet. Conscious up to a point of course, since the hidden depths of individuality provide the only refuge for the poet living in a generally repellent external environment (huge tourist developments, noise pollution, degradation of the environment) .

KA9APil'TE}.; AI IDHMA TQN

0t. OKOtnn8uipr1&c: TO\J ~EOT)j.J.EplOV

~ac: But>xvouv Tov lrrrvo. 'EVTOIJ.a 01. IJ.VyEC: TTov Ka6oVTaL OTov LBp~lvo Touc: NIL1J.6 Ka6Wc; KaL Ol TTETaAov8( TO'EC:

j..l£ Ta TTo:A!Jxpw~J.n aL0'6fuw.Ta. }.;Ta u( yovpa 61J.WC: TTpoTIIJ.W

1

5


avric:; Tile:; vuxrac:;. To TtiJ.lo & I.J.E EAKUEl Ka(:)Wc:; Kal Ta 1TaL8La TO\J 1TO\J I.J.Vpt(ow aVEK1TArlKTa. 11Tapxw AOL1T6v yLaTt EmMyw, KaL 6XL E1TLAE'YW 000 V1TQpXW aK6I.J.ll, aK6Aov8oc:; I.J.((EpwV cpopTllyC:w OTO KaTa~l.EGf~lEpo,

8LaK6movmc: I.J.EOTJI..l.i3pLVOOC EpaOTEC: I.J.E Tl1TOTEVLOOC 8opu~ovc:; MaKpoo AOL1T6v a1T6 TOV otKTo I.J.OV KaL a1T6 avr6v 1TOV 1Tponl..l.<l TOV L8pwTa TO\J aK6Aov8ov,

1Tapa TO\J Epa<JTf]. ME Tpoi.J.a(ow 6A.a avroo 1TOV dvaL 1TEpa a1T6 Til A.oyucf, I.J.OV.

SCAVENGERS OF FEELING

The midday garbage collectors disturb our sleep Insects the flies which sit on their sweaty neck as are the little butterflies with multi-colored feelings . For sure though I prefer the butterflies of the night. The decent does not attract me Neither do his children who unsurprisingly stink I exist therefore because I choose and not I choose for as long as I still exist a follower of shabby trucks at high noon disturbing midday lovers with petty noises. Keep away then from my pity and from him who prefers the sweat of a follower to that of a lover. All of this frightens me It lies beyond my logic.

10

15

20

1

5

10

15

20

(M. Agathocleous, H8ovo{3A.Et/llac [Limassol, 1988], p. 17; M. Margaroni [trans.])


The subversiveness of this poem is total. It is no longer mode led on aesthetic beauty but on ugliness. Diction is based on elements that subvert traditional aesthetics and includes terms which in general vulgarize subjects such as love, habitat, etc., effectively rendering emotions of rejection against a background of ugliness: garbage collectors, flies, sweaty neck, shabby trucks, petty noises. The only instances where a conventional vocabulary is used in accordance with established aesthetics are in lines 5 and 6. However what we are dealing with here is a metaphor in which the traditional romantic symbol "butterflies," the similarly romantic "multi-colored feelings," and the tenderness which under other circumstances would emerge from diminutive "little," is compared with another totally "antiaesthetic" image and ends up being ridiculous. The reader is overwhelmed by feelings of revulsion which almost lead to nausea. The "sweaty neck" in association with insects and flies is an ugly and extremely precise image which stimulates the senses in a negative fashion . It almost smells bad!

A little further down we discern the search for a new provocative, ugly, subversive aesthetic confirmed in lines 9-11.

Agathocleous's verse has a tendency towards self-refutation: The poet is not a lover but a follower, the trucks are shabby, all this is immersed in the unbearable heat of "high noon" (lines 14-15 when "midday," not "nocturnal," lovers are interrupted and not by anything important but by "petty noises" (lines 16-17). It is clear that the poetic system employed is constructed on the basis of total rejection. Traditional moral, aesthetic or literary values are subverted, while the absence of any future prospect creates a sense of surrender, of resignation. The only positive element, which however also operates via rejection, could perhaps be said to be the provocation and provocativeness which at the same time constitute the poet's sole active attitude. The entire poem avoids the use of active verbs or terms, resting on the passive or middle voice. We find an analogous poetic system, in this case dealing with the theme of the city, in Lefkios Zaflriou.

E(~aL <JTl]V TTOAL Tda Tou T( TTOTa

Eva< aA~Tl]< Tl]< VVXTa<--Tl TT6ATt 8(xwc; TTOAE08o~LK6 oxlBLo

I am in the city of nothingness a vagabond of the night--the town without town-planning

(Lefkios Zafiriou, '0 MLyd8at: "'AyyEAot: [Nicosia, 1980], p. 47; S. Stephanides [trans.])

One should not of course limit oneself to traditional thematic social critique or "militant poetry" as this has come to be known. The poetry of


this generation goes beyond these stereotypes, even though at times, failing to sustain a high level of quality, is reduced to cliches. In all other respects, however, Mulatto Angel constitutes a wonderful example of wholly subversive verse:

E"liJ.aL b IJ.L ya8ac; ciyyE"Aoc; Twv qrrwxwv IJ.f T6 uovyLa UT6 XEf>l. b &apP'DKTT)c: TOO 8T)1J.6mou XP'DIJ.aToc; TTOU teaTOUpa€L UTa 1J.00Tpa TOO 8mXw1J.aTT)' lxw j3( TuLa Uapunc; Tpu4>€p6TT)Tac; IJ.lua ~v l'}M6La 1'}6Ltc'D ToO teaTavaXwTLUIJ.OO

UTa IJ.<ina IJ.ou Mtepua dTT6 T'Dv llaXaLUT(VT) tea( T'Dv KliTTpo <rna6(CoVTac; T'D fkxvaoo6TT)Ta

TWV T)IJ.E"pWV IJ.O'U--diJ.aL d>..-DTT'lc; dTT(6ava ~patoc; ~ VE"teP'D TTOAL Tda TWV V61J.WV b ua>..Ta86poc; TTou Ill T'D u4>€v86VT) n;c; TT(tepac; TTapa~ya(vn UTa Tavtec; d4>av(CoVTac; T'D 8nMa, b tpa~c; yvvaLteWV UT6 tep€~TL TWV aVfiJ.WV. EtiJ.aL 'f) cf>wna tea( T6 o1Jvv€cf>o diJ.aL T6 aUWTO TpayoU8L TTOU ~u(Cn UTo(Jc; tepoTacf>ouc; TOO xp6vov

EXPOSED (Excerpt)

I am the mulatto angel of the poor with a penknife in my hand the usurper of public money who pisses on the diplomat's face I have vices, peaks of tenderness in the idiotic ethics of consumerism tears in my eyes from Palestine and Cyprus fencing with the vulgarity of my days -I am a tramp incredibly handsome in the dead city of laws the house burglar

1

5

10

15

1

5

10


who with the catapult of bitterness 15 confronts the tanks annihilating cowardice the lover of women In the bed of the winds I am the fire and the cloud I am the prodigal son that hums in the temples of time

(Zafiriou, Ibid. , p. 47-48; S. Stephanides [trans.])

20

Zafiriou proclaims his intellectual, social, ideological and moral identity by repetition of the verbs "to be" and "to have." He is that which others are not able to be. He dissociates himself intensely and consciously from the social whole, proclaiming and almost singing of his taboos, fan tasies, and vices (lines 3, 4, 5, 12, 15). His technique is based on synechdoche and identification, systematically avoiding similes. In this way he proclaims the boldness but also the power of his vision. The text is pe r meated by a relationship of tension, almost violence, between the poe tic subject and the external world, a fact which liberates the aggressiveness of the non-conformist poet towards the conformist social and moral orde r. The images are characterized by an explosive attitude (lines 5, 10, 12, 20, etc.) while at the same time through a play of contrasts the poet neutralizes the conventional mode of operation of words: "mulatto angel. .. with a penknife," "a tramp incredibly handsome .. . dead city of laws," "catapult .. . tanks, etc.

The finale of the excerpt reveals an eschatological attitude towards the world (lines 15-22) "I am the fire and the cloud," "I am the prodigal son," etc. The poet no longer has anything to lose by revealing his real self. He liberates his soul and his imagination to the limit, destroying even the established mode of operation of the linguistic code of traditional wellbred rhetoric.

The first person singular contrasts with the first person plural of the previous generation. The "we" poet expresses the universal collective. In fact in many cases the first person plural expresses the poet's sense of being part of a great whole, a sense flowing from the certainty that this whole personifies the rightness of the cause which the poet espouses and in the name of which he writes. In this way the first person plural helps the poet justify his work, claim a more general validity for it, and demand its acceptance since it represents something collective. This happens with traditional militant poetry as well as with ethnic poetry. As J. Kristeva writes, the "we" poet "assumes that he is the whole world."56 It is precisely this "we" in all its variations (indirect speech, etc.) that disappears spectaculary in the "1974 Generation," and is replaced by the first person singular , by "I," underscoring the permanent rift betwee n the individual


and the whole, and the clash between individuality and the collective. The poet is alone, and alone attempts his revolution, claiming and

proclaiming his independence and individual existence. And in this instance it is no longer the idea which takes precedence and de termines the form, that is the choice and function of poetic diction. On the contrary it is forms that constitute ideas, come into conflict with each other, and give rise to a poetic system no longer based on idealistic expression whose goal is the conception and development of ideas, of meaning, using words basically as a simple means to this end. Here forms determine meaning, or rather, meanings.

A New Style in Poetry

Revolutionized forms bring to light revolutionized modes of consciousness. To determine this better we could attempt to discover the central idea of a poem by following the traditional method of analysis . We would then realize that there is no central idea, but multiple meanings operating on many levels which generally spring forcefully from word combinations, which mutually reinforce or neutralize each other, and which have as a common goal the destruction of the traditional bourgeois aesthetic system and its replacement, not by another model this time, but by a liberated poetic writing which does not seek to disseminate its own messages alone but which is also capable of continually incorporating new elements it derives from the environment. Odysseus Elytis writes: "The work has its own life and, in some way, incorporates after the event those things witnessed by a third person, thus proving that they exist."57 It is precisely on the basis of this ability that one may judge, from a few years' distance, whether a work is viable, whether it is a real work of art or a simple configuration of verses. Revolutionized (but not revolutionary) poetic form is a living form, a consciousness in motion, and is lived in the same way that it itself lives places and events. Referring to vulgar speech, Roland Barthes writes: "These vulgarities meant nothing but they signaled something. What? An entire revolutionary situation. Here therefore is an example of a kind of writing which aims not only at communication or expression, but also at the imposition of something 'beyond language' which simultaneously represents history, and our place within it."58

This kind of writing has a purely revolutionary power, which does not reveal explicitly, as in the case of "militant poetry," but which shouts its purpose out loud, revealing everything. What is immensely important is not what is said but what is implied. The reader is transformed into a participant in doubt, stripped bare, and wants to hide in order to avoid the pleasure of provocation or heresy, without success. Because as soon as he becomes familiar with the provocativeness and crudeness of the writing, he immediately becomes subject to the sensation revealed through the secret


life of the words, he feels pleasure, but an almost sado-masochistic pleasure, which springs discreetly from the tendency to self-punishment, from traumas and grief, aiming directly at the collective unconscious, expressing the fantasies of each one of us, those fantasies to which we never confess . In contrast to traditional "militant poetry" which lays out injustice, oppression, etc., before the reader, this generation assaults him from within, by telling those things he does not wish to hear.

'ApayE eEVTUVOVTaL lTOTE Ta trpayf!aTa

KaTL 'YPT)Ec; KapaKaeEc;

K<fTL TpEAO( OTOUC: 8p6f!OUC:

Kat OL dAMe; Ol TplJij>Eplc; atraO'fJ.EVEC: atr6 TO xp6vo j..I.OVaXLKEC:

Ol Kaf!tTOUpEC: \J'TTT)pETpLEC: lTOlJ eEij>AolJ8(( OlJV ~LaO'TLK<f O'TO

8p6f!O TOUt; Kaprro(lc;

Kat Touc; KaTa~pox9((ovv Aa(f..Lapya

apayE eEVTVVOVTaL trOT( OL av9pWlTOL

Ta avToK(VTJTa Ta aaavatp TTJAEopdanc; aEporrMva ot Alene;

Do things ever strip old crows lunatics in the streets and other women tender broken by time lonely hunchbacked servant women hurriedly peeling nuts in the streets and gobbling them up greedily do people ever strip and do cars, elevators, televisions, airplanes, words

(Toumazi, in AvOo>.oyla L:uy;xpovw: KurrptaK?jt; TlolT]OTJt;' [Athens, 1985], p. 98; M. Margaroni and S. Stephanides [trans.])

In traditional "militant poetry" the attitude towards "old crows," "lunatics in the streets," and "hunchbacked women servants" would have been a certain tenderness, that tenderness due to the weak and the wronged. Here, the attitude is one of cynicism, constructing the poem on personal weaknesses, systematically avoiding any reference to social factors which might justify their behavior. The poet is not protesting against a supposed injustice, but rather observes, wonders, and reveals. Adjectives function denigratingly while the use of Kan (lines 2, 3) to specify human beings not only reveals the poet's wish to denigrate but also reinforces her cynicism towards and aversion of beings incapable of undertaking any kind of effort. This is the phenomenon referred to by French critics as chosism (from chose, thing).59 The era of ready-made answers is over. The individual now stands alone with his doubts, questions, and queries.

Style in general expresses, among other things, the text's unconscious nature. "Language," Roland Barthes writes, "lies deeper than litera-


ture . Style almost lies beyond it.''60 He then elaborates by stati ng that language embodies above all the writer's relationship to the social whole, through which relationship the creator experiences his familiarity with history. Style on the other hand is that level of language springing from the secret personal mythology of the writer, his personal past. This is precisely why style is found to be so important in this generation: because it represents the means par excellence by which individuality is fulfilled . Language in its general form can be a kind of camouflage, particularly whe n we study generations which never rebelled but almost always compromised. In the "1974 Generation" what marks poetic writing is personal style, because the common linguistic code which provided a safeguard for the previous generation had collapsed together with its associated national or collective ideals. Poetic language is now expressed through the provocative, deliberate liberation of individuality, and by extension of personal style.

0 ITEvra&ixruAoc; XOpEVEl (€t~lTEKlKO OTTJ MaKap(.ou <l>ol..}Lapn xao{at yEXWvrac aav lTaL&

Pentadactylos dances zeimbekiko in Makarios Avenue and smokes hashish laughing like a child

(Savas Pavlou, Ta 1TOI.~J.I.aTa TT]i: Mapuiwa~ [Nicosia, 1981])

- "What are you doing?" p,{rrT)aav OOT€pa OL Toup(an-t; - "Aov~1T€V 'ApTLO"Tt;" 8r)N.00a~ T6T€ €~(d

- "What are you doing?" asked the tourists "Lumpen artists" we then declared

(Costas Charalambides, AIIOo,\oyla XVy)(POVf1~ KIITTpta/Of~

llolT]CTT]~ [Athens, 1985])

'1I A€KaVTJ ~ou, a~auxr1 (T)Ta VEO 1TO(T)~a i) Tae(8L O€pLV6"

- My pelvis, restless demands a brand new poem or summer journey"

(Adriana Ierodiaconou, Tr]t: KwJJ.ry.; AL ruz,\ov [Nicosia, 1983])

AuT6t:IKaL 1Tapavo"LK6t:/KaL ava~.'YllTat:IOa QO"€Ayf)an/€1TaVELAll~~lvwc;/

aTO aw~a ~OU.


He/paranoid/inviolate/wi ll violate/ repeatedly/my body. (N. Patapiou , T6 t/JwvifEv DiiJJ.a [Athens, 1988])

'EpxollaL arr' EKE"l rrov CEK(vrwav!KarroTE oL KaTaL"y(&t;

'AypLOt; KL ajlapaVTOt;/j.J.€ ~jlj..I.Eva Ta j.J.aAI.a j..I.OV K6KKLVa

Kaj.J.lva arr6 nt; aCJTparrlt;.

I came from where the storms once came Wild and unwitheringlwith my hair dyed red Scorched by lightning

(Takis Hadzigeorgiou, na TTl JlLK'plj /('QL JlQK'pLVJj Axoucivm [Nicosia, 1987])

With the use of a liberated vocabulary, the poets of 1974 create, not simply a new style but also a new ethos in the behavior of language in poetry, a kind of behavior which breaks from traditional logic, startles and surprises as it opens up new horizons of thought and imagination:

0 jJ.ClVLQO}lEv{)(;' alpac: 6a T)XEL

aav ~a Eeatma EpwnKT, ~vf.a

The maniacal wind will sound like a splendid erotic symphony

(K. Makrides, 'Au101011 A.o>.LfX/>Oopcic; [Cyprus, 1987])

The above is an aural simile par excellence, made up of two traditionally contradictory parts. According to traditional aesthetic values "the maniacal wind" could not be acceptably likened to an "erotic symphony," and less likely to a "splendid" one. Normally it should form part of a negative, even nightmarish, decor suggesting not love but at the very least the absence of love. The poet however rejects the traditionally normal, consciously abandons established aesthetics, and attempts an association which in reality is the result of his personal subversive choices. 61 Individuality wins against external factors, and alone determines its own aesthetics . Besides, the maniacal air is a natural element and as such can be both posi tive and negative, or even neutral. An "erotic symphony" is always "splendid," but according to the criteria of simple sentimentality or conventional romanticism it could not be likened to a "maniacal wind." According to the criteria of modern music, however, it could well be.

To crrf{Joc: TTlC: frrav jJ.ClNIK6 aav axM&

Her breasts were


soft like pears (P. Anayiotos, l:wnpJ1ol [Limassol, 1986], p . 36)

Something analogous is occurring here also, and it should be noted that the verse is reminiscent of Paul Eluard's well-known "The earth is blue like an orange."62 The simile is not characterized by the logic of the "academic simile,"63 as Elytis dubs it, but once again attempts original combinations which moreover function on multiple leve ls and creates a chain of successive interdependent images. The breast might be soft, but not like a pear, since the pear is rather hard.

breast -------- soft -------- like a pear pear ---------- hard ------- like a breast Consequently, the poet succeeds by means of synecdoche to render

the simile in the first instance sensual (touch: soft, taste: pear) and to hint discreetly at the erotic kissing of the breast. From the point of view of technique the simile is successful because instead of operating via academic logic (hard as a pear) the poet employs the opposite term (soft) and thus succeeds in lending both qualities to the breast. The rest is up to the reader. However, traditional aesthetic values have already been subverted. The associated elements function independently and forge new relationships among themselves, and new images along with them. In reality we are dealing with a new language in Cypriot poetry.

"AvaToAI.Ka TTJC: vilxTac: ~a ~pa K6&Tat"

"East of the night a day vertical"

(Colosiatou, Karoxuoj nroXJf)

In these lines images are placed beyond the reaches of everyday language-a fact which increases their poetic potency-and at the same time beyond the limits of traditional poetic imagery. The association of place - time (east - night) does away with the logically insurmountable barriers between these two dimensions and lends substance to an image which only a daring imagination could discern, while the second line completes the cycle, defining the day in geometric terms. But let us note the exquisite play of opposites, which leads precisely to their being superseded (east - vertical, night - day). The poet feels the need to express her sensitivity outside the confines of common sense, and, ultimately, to create a private region of space-time, where her poetic conceptions can germinate freely. The images are poetic, independent of whether the terms in themselves are poetic. It is the associations which create the essence of poetry, and the forms which lend this essence material substance. In his by now


classic work Structures de language poetique Jean Cohen claims that "We ought to say that things are only poetic when they are active, and that it is up to language to convey this action in practice ." 64

The poetic imagery and poetic style of this generation, subverts the aesthetics of the 1950s and 1960s, yet at the same time carries a freedom springing from the contradictions of this period, seeking the place and means that will allow it to surge forward and conquer an ideologically and aesthetically systematized form. Moreover, as we will observe below, some poets have already succeeded in formulating a kind of writing which lies beyond provocation, derision, protest, and subversiveness:

"Thv XOpl(W TQ evpt.~VQ J..LOV 6vnpa"

"I offer you my shaved dreams" (M. Agathocleous, H8ovo{3M¢;lac, p. 26)

This line, provocative and faintly comical, is characteristic of the attitude and style adopted by many poets of the "1974 Generation." The gift given to "Syne"- the poem's title- is neither a piece of jewelry, nor a dress, nor a bottle of perfume; it is not even a simple beautiful dream, if we ignore the material nature par excellence of the normal present suggested by the verb "offer." It is an anti-poetic dream, anti-aesthetic, anti-romantic, and a host of other "antis." The image is comical, but in a non-conformist way, and requires the complicity of the reader to work. The entire system of aesthetics of the romantic petit-bourgeois Cypriot poetry of the last sev eral decades is subverted by this image (the reader will find that the entire poem functions on this model) that seeks not only to be different from previously used images, but also to exist exclusively by virtue of its own uniqueness. The images employed by the "1974 Generation" are built on the principle of uniqueness and the poets do not hesitate to violate established aesthetic values in order to achieve this uniqueness. They do not seek acceptance according to the norms of the commonplace system of acceptability, but rather impose it through their own denial and negativity. Referring to contemporary writing Roland Barthes says, among other things: "There is, then, in all existing modes of writing a double goal: there is a movement of rift and a movement of approach, there is the shape itself of every revolutionary situation whose fundamental lack of clarity lies in the fact that the revolution is obliged to find in that which it is seeking to destroy, the very image of that which it is seeking to conquer.''65 And as we shall see below this generation indeed achieves its aesthetic maturity through the destruction of the conventionality and neutrality of traditional writing.

In general therefore we find that the aesthetics of the "1974 Generation" shift consistently from the general to the specific, from the


collective ideological whole to the marginal group, from collective compromise to an explosion of individuality, and finally from traditional com -monplace imagery to an artificial and irrational one. Through the questioning and deriding of the traditional aesthetic, it seeks to forge its own aesthetic identity, one based on the multidimensional fulfillment which the liberation of individuality brings with it.

Aesthetic Maturation and the Triumph of Individuality

Through the progress of the "1974 Generation" one can discern, beyond that generation which is strongly linked to political developments and which has its roots in national and social betrayal, a category of poets who early on progressed beyond the historical and political element and intense protest. These poets assimilated the traumas of recent Cypriot history and formulated a kind of poetry that lies beyond dissent and current reality. One might say that they never regarded either "ethnic" or "social" poetry as the starting point for their own work. Operating beyond such concepts they either sought from the beginning or mastered gradually an integrated form of poetry which was in a position to imbue their poetry with those permanent values constituting the particular nature of Cyprus, always within the framework of contemporary Hellenic aesthetics. Such poets include Mona Savvides, Nasa Patapiou, Takis Hadjigeorghiou, Yorgos Moraris, Andreas Makrides, Eleni Theocharous and perhaps a few others.

Four of these, Hadjigeorghiou, Patapiou, Moraris and Theocharous have published only one collection of poems each, and that rather late in their lives, a fact which suggests intense selectivity and a quest for aesthetic perfection on their part.

The work of these poets differs radically from that of the category of poets examined earlier. One can easily discern an intensely aristocratic attitude towards language as well as a fairly advanced quest for aesthetics and form. This poetry "is no longer written on the run,"66 the verses are thoroughly revised, dense and profound, clothed in luxuriousness and brilliance. Some of these poets ignore the political and ideological confusions and ambivalences experienced by previous generations of poets and subscribe to an ideology of reconciliation based on a revitalized and fundamental Cypro-centrism, a manifestation of the Hellenic character of Cyprus, as well as of the island's existence through time.

"EC11aa ~ Ta Blvrpa Mlaa at j.UO. <l>otVLKta "EC11aa KaL tr€6a.va ~ j.LLO. >.El.Ka T6v ~pu.rra

T6v l.moxwpL<TIJ.6 "EC11aa KaTw atr' T6v K€8po

The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Generation» in Cyprus 369

KL ixrrEpa Tf)v KL Tpo~J.TlALa 'IY)v av~VT'lOll 'IY)v Kcl& QVOler, T6v €pxo~J.6 'IY)v tOTopta 1Y) xapovm6., Tf)v lu<rud.a "E(11aa l!l Ta BEvrpa KL OK~ (w l!laa a€ ~!La po&a

I lived with the trees within a date-palm I lived and died with a poplar-tree love separation I lived under the cedar tree and then under the Seville orange tree memory each Spring arrival history carob-tree, acacia I lived with the trees and I still live in a pomegranate tree

(Mona Savvidou Theodoulou [1986], p. 43; Stephanos Stephanides [trans.])

The poet's love for nature is not conveyed descriptively but through her identification with trees and the natural cycle of life and death. This identification leads to the existence, through time, of memory, history, and love, but also of natural phenomena.

'H «PvXIl TOU lTOL'fTrll iqlcpL6EaTpo KAaacn.K'f1c; ElTOxf'jt: Kal TQ Sp6p.aTa V' &.AM( OlJV OKTlVLK6 Kat lTpoounrf'i:a Ka~ptv<l.

The soul of a poet amphitheater of classical times and the plays changing scenes and characters daily

(Ibid., p. 48; Stephanos Stephanides [trans.])


The poet's quest for form and technique is conveyed through the use of identification in place of simile: "The soul of a poet I amphitheater" and not "the soul of a poet is like/rese mbles/etc." This identification contributes to economy of expression and intensifies the generation of images. In addition, it rids the verse of elements of common sense (resembles, is like, etc.), leaping spectacularly from the domain of the "soul" to an "amphitheater of classical times." The domain of the poet's soul is presented as limitless and inexhaustible in which all kinds of dramas are played out. The expansion and universalization of dramatic time is achieved through the aid of the adverb "daily." The dramas which occur are not set solely in the classical period, but have made up the poet's daily experience for thousands of years. The zeugna "changing scenes and characters" though not original in this specific semantic framework proves functional.

Poetic expression of a mature and ripe individuality which plunges forcefully into the most hidden feelings and emerges brimming over with memories, life-situations, and experiences takes shape in the collections of Takis Hadjigeorghiou, na 771 JlLKpry KaL JlaKpLVJj AKovdvra (To Little Akouanta Faraway), 67 Yorgos Moraris, ~wavaarpo¢>h: ~Lwmjc (In Company with Silence ),68 and Nasa Patapiou, T6 tl>wvijcv ~WJla. JlOLJjJlara (Vocal Body. Poems ).69 These three collections represent a watershed in Cypriot poetry of the 1980s. All three poets clearly belong to the "1974 Generation," and, despite the fact that they are in their thirties and forties, have only ·published a single collection each. This fact is not the result of any kind of deficiency but rather confirms the intense selectivity and demands made by some poets of this generation both of poetry and of themselves. The poetry of the above mentioned poets is conspicuously mannered, and the verses carefully written and raised; and two of the three collections are characterized by an admirable coherence of theme, form, and structure.

Individuality triumphs, imposing a fulfilled way of life, liberating a condensed memory that functions through time, seeking not just its existence or identity but the right to be what it is without compromises, without prejudices, and with an eroticism which, despite its boldness, is sustained on a noble level.

Individuality then, with its traumas and pleasures of the flesh, its urges and fantasies, is the only area of fulfillment, and therefore expresses and lays claim to its sensuality and permanently ceases to exist outside itself in relation to any others. It exists solely of itself and for itself, identified with its own particular Cypriot world, and the Hellenic world as a whole .


HEN AEYKO

El3yaAa TO &~( lJ.OU XEpt. Kat TO 1TET~a CJ"TllV rrp&n, -lTpWTll auAiJ VEpEVta .

Kat TO (e-pl3( lJ.OU XEpt. arr6&ua <JTO TfAEtJTa(o Kat lJ-6VO -lJ-6Vo cj>uMKtO.

Ta 8u6 lJ.OU rr6&a ~txaua ll lJ.TtrrWC: txaua; <J ' EKflVT"J TTl A£\Jid) A£1A<l'l awoootCt.

Km To KoplJ.l lJ.OU To rra¢111ua <JTo Ko{xf>o.Ao e-v6<: BEVTpou. rELa uou KUp<i EXLa

Kat TO <JE1TT6 KE<fx'.W, lJ.OU <JTllV llii>J) e-~68ou Tlxrrr)ua. rELa uou KUp BamAI.a, TT)C: ~EXaopkvrJc; KL arrapTT)C: -arrapTT)C: rr6X11c:.

ET<Jt 'Y\JlJ.VOC Kat Xcirre-poc; hm AEU<6c: uav &irre-poc: 9€6c; <JTov KOOlJ.O e-l3yf]Ka KL a6pCITOC: El!f ).fTaa Tl1t: 'Yl1t:

TO\J rr6vou TO lJ.OvyKaVT"JT6 TO cj>ol3fp6 aYKOlJ.axnlJ.a KaL TOU OavaTOU 6:Kotrya, TO 1To8o~Al1T6.

THE ONE IN WHITE

I pulled out my right hand and threw it into the first -first watery yard.

And my left hand I placed into the last and only -only sentry-box

My two feet I forgot

372

or perhaps lost? on that white white seashore.

Yiannis E. Ioannou

And my body I forsook in the hollow of a tree. Hello mistress olive

And my venerable head I raised at the exit gate Hello master King, of the forgotten and unconqueredunconquered city

Thus naked, all bonds cut off thus white like a second god in the world I came and, invisible, I studied earth the bellow of despair the horrible gasps of death, I heard, and the hoofs of his mare.

(Takis Hadzigeorgiou, na TTJ J.I.LKplj Kat J.l.aKptvrj AKoucivTa [Nicosia, 1987], p. 38; M. Margaroni [trans.])

In a climate of festivity, of liturgical praise almost, individuality rules over space, time, and nature on multiple levels . It does so without clashing either with social or ideological entities, or with other factors beyond the self. It exists triumphantly and in harmony with the elements of the physical world. Beyond this fact however, the poet's striving for quality of language and technique leads to a noteworthy result.

The interwoven leaps in the poetry, assisted frequently by certain repetitions, do not create a rift of any kind, either on the level of form or of meaning. On the contrary they contribute towards a smooth synechdocical development of the verse (lines 1-6, 9-10, 17-18 etc.). At the same time the carefully employed alliteration, the internal rhyming structure, and the use of similar terminal syllables support the pure musicality of the text. The intense sensuality of the poem is expressed through the poet's need not just to identify with the physical world but to dissolve his body in order to be able to proceed with a separate act of identification regarding each of its parts: "my right hand," "my left hand," "my two feet," "my body," "my venerable head," etc. This identification personalizes the elements of the natural world "mistress olive." Hadjigeorghiou literally dissolves in nature, identifies with it, experiencing moments of exaltation. His poetry, anthropocentric, nature-loving, and permeated with a lyricism which often


recalls Elytis, arrives at a deification of human nature through its identification with the sensual pleasures of the terrestrial world.

ETat A.Euc(x; aav &lrr€pcx; 9E:(x; UTov KOOIJ.O e-~'Yll<a

Thus naked all bonds cut-off Thus white like a second god in the world I came

(Hadzigeorgiou, Ibid. )

The verses are constructed, on fertile images which do not hesitate to move through space and time in order to arrive at truly improbable asso ciations:

ITEpTTan) KCIL IJ.a{L IJ.OV N.KVL(EL 11 e&.aaaa I walk and with me the sea rocks

(Ibid., p. 14)

EpxoiJ.aL arr' fKd 1TOU efKLvrwav KQlTOTf OL KaTaL'yl&< I came from where the storm once came

(Ibid., p. 15)

TJMKLWIJ.fVo< au..Svat; aged century

(Ibid .• p. 16)

These images are not descriptive, but serve to externalize exceptionally intense and dense sensations, which explode, creating their own poetic language:

Avot~a TO 4>tVLO'TplVL Kat Kohaya TT) M.Aaaaa Eva KOpl TO'l - TTpo< 8Eov 6xt Tov Koo~J.ov nolrrov -Kaet TTTTEV€ Ta K{,paTa KaL 11€ A\J'YIJ.OOC KaL KaTcipE< EAaiJ.VE TOV ovpav6.

I opened the porthole and looked at the sea a girl I swear, not of this world riding the waves and sobbing and cursing steering the sky

(Ibid., p. 16, Stephanos Stephanides [trans.])


The "normalization" of verse, its enrichment with a psychological profundity and a more sophisticated means of expression, the abandonment of raucous protest and the dominance of individuality constitute significant achieve ments in contemporary Cypriot poetry. Yorgos Moraris succeeds in creating poetic situations which lie beyond the usual limits of Cypriot ve rse .

TO ITAfOMENO fEYMA

ITooo ~ucroVv-rat To efpow aTT6 Ta Koupacr~va Tou< ayKaAt.6.crj.Lam Kat alT' TTJV aTTOOTr<><Pfl TOOC yta TO TTayWj.LEIIO 'YE~a. X>rav KaTaTTvtyouv To TT6.Boc Tou ~6vou Kt a<Pflvow 6;\11 TTJV a.Al1Bna va cpavd aTov cp6vo Tou TT6.Booc

TOOC. Kat a~1lvow oi311a~vo TO <t>wc; Twv ataEh'laEwv K6.Tw alT ' TO TTEvBtj.LO xaGj.LOUpl1T6 TTJC: viJxrac:. ITota KUj.LaTa TTapa~O:(ow TOV EaUT6 crou aTo 1-LE'YaAo TTapaAJlPJlj.La. To 6.TTEtpo &v wav 0 1Tat86ToTT6c: crou; 9a xaanC: yta TT6.VTa TO TTat yv{.& j.LE TTJV atWVt6TTJTa.

THE FROZEN MEAL

They know how much they hate each other by their tired embraces and by their repulsion for the frozen meal When they stifle the passion of murder and leave all the truth to appear in the murder of their passion And they leave the light of the senses switched off Beneath the mournful yawning of the night Which waves violate the sky. Cowardice that you did not confront yourself in your great raving The infinite was not your playground You will forever lose the game with eternity

(Yorgos Moraris, ~wavarrrpo</Jb: ILwm?t: [Nicosia, 1991], p. 12; S. Stephanides [trans.])

One can easily discern the poet's concern to achieve a poetic result which, while drawing upon a critical approach, simultaneously succeeds in overcoming it, creating a space where gestures, sensations, and images are harmoniously articulated and thus generate a situation which is poetic in the absolute.

The pace of the text is slow, since it is dominated by terms which suggest languor ("tired," line 2, "switched of," line 7, "yawning," line 8) .


Words of intense meaning are neutralized by passive participles, so that the sense of deadening contained in the poem is developed gradually: "tired embraces," line 1, "rozen meal," line 3, "stifle the passion," line 4, "mournful yawning," line 8. The extremely successful transposition occurring in lines 4-5 expresses the poet's subtle critical irony towards those who hate each other and know it but do not dare admit it. Moreover, the term "cowardice" is also used later in line 10. Love is lost forever, and its delirium with it.

Moraris's images are very carefully constructed on a system of aesthetic transparency which employs combinations of abstract terms, gestures, or sensations (lines 7, 8, 9, 12, 13). This transparency lends lightness to the text. The introduction of the terms "sky," "raving," "infinite," "eternity" as objects (lines 9, 14), as locus determinants (line 11), and as predicates (line 12), gives an impulse to the poem and expands the parameters of both place and time within it. More particularly the successful images of lines 13 and 14 bring to light the poet's caring attitude towards, and familiarity with, the concepts of the infinite and of eternity, that is with the dimensions which function as a second reality, since anything that relates to the reality of the poem (lines 1-8) has already become deadened.

Nasa Patapiou attempts a real departure with her daring and sensual language: "The central thematic axis of the book is the 'speaking body' of the heroine/woman, which constitutes an integral whole with the earth of the Karpass, of Cyprus, and of the Hellenic world at large . ../. .. The body of the heroine and the natural world of her birthplace are linked via a twoway dialectical relationship."70 The poet herself describes her own poetry as "of the body"71 and it is a fact that underlying the sensual language one can discern a deeply dense substratum of pain, which is in the first instance personal and by extension historicai.72 However, Patapiou's work extends to a level beyond history or politics, in a strictly and exclusively personal field of space and time. If Patapiou's work can be characterized-and it can be-as mature, original, and pioneering, this is mainly due to the fact that her poetry springs from these two limitless sources of inspiration, as well as from knowledge; and pain and sensual pleasure define very accurately the nature of the Cypriot world.

KATAmrH

ITrryG(w 'Arr6 Tflc XEpaovfp-ov Kaprraotac To ~ KL EK~ OT6 u~a ~ov Mlua ~0\J ot m8aKEC

Kat TO Al.~va(ovra t&tTa El&.Wx ~lua OT6 VEp6


~Llc; C1T6 KOooVO al~ 'AvmtryELEC T6 1TpwL Kt ~c T6 l3p6:& Nd 'pen b "Ayy{>ux Ml n1 p0l.l.rj>aia Kai vd X~EL Tf] &~td ~ou n'lv 1TX.n¢ Nd <J>{ryn T6 at~a Nd lTArl~uplUEL T6 VEp6

'A<J>pWS11 K4uzTa Nd ~ lTEpl TUAL~OW <I>Wc: vd <J>avEt T6 oxi\UI aou Td Bptd aou vd xap<IKTow lliv 1TpWTa KL em' Tci im6pxoVTd ~ou Nd ~VEL ~6vov f) <J>wvf] El.~aL T6 voi)~ov <J>UT6 1:Ta a1TO<Pll~va Ti)c vf]aou Kirrrpou

My source The peaks of the Karpasia Peninsula And I flow out into my body Within me jets And still waters Idols in the water Shadows in red blood Refractions of light in the morning And others in the evening Let the Angel come With his sword And mark My right side That the blood may flow And the water overflow Foamy waves To enfold me And light to show your silhouette Marking your outline As before And of my possessions Only my voice may remain I am the thinking plant

The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Cenerationn in Cyprus 377

On the hanging cliff Of the island of Cyprus

(Nasa Patapiou , T6 rpwvfjEv utilJJ.a [Athens, 1988], p. 9-10; by S. Stephanides [trans.])

The alternation of pain and pleasure is expressed through corre sponding combinations of words and lines of verse (lines 8, 12, 13, 14, 15) while at the same time forms part of a structure based on the contradictions characterizing the Cypriot geographical and physical world. This antithetical structure also applies to the relationship between the "body" of Cyprus and that of the poet. What we observe is an internal connection with a clearly erotic basis, which manages to create over the course of the whole collection a strictly personal mythology, a mythology of the female body collocated in pleasure and pain, the two sensations which on a psycho-bio logical level determine feminine identity. The sensation of pain, and the poetry it inspires, are completely free of the social aspects of usual "feminist" writing. It is the text that successfully assimilates and condenses any social ramifications, life situations, and experiences, in such a way as to avoid journalistic or socio-political cliches. If one compares the work with an interview given by the poet to the newspaper Errfxmp17 (Current) 76 one can better understand this relationship. This is the starting point for the successive identifications based on association:

pain- geographical body (Cyprus) life experience love-myth

pleasure-biological body (poet) Patapiou's poetry is based on life situations which possess validity

through time rather than a purely current news value; this fact allows the poet to operate from the very start in the context of a poetic constituted in sensation (pain - pleasure), which wells up from an inexhaustible area of knowledge and experience. This is why, even references to contemporary history, employed by the poet do not prove limiting as in the case of other poets, particularly those of the 1955-75 period, who allow current news events to dominate the content of their poetry; instead these references are couched in such a way as to possess validity through time. However, it is sensations that chiefly transform the essence of movement through time into poetry. Otherwise we would be faced with a flat historical writing which would avoid documentary sentimentality only with difficulty. The economical use of adjectives plays a significant role in the rendering of these sensations, and reinforces, in a manner reminiscent of Calvos, the subjectivity and by extension the familiarity arising from sensation, in contradistinction to the frigidity of neutral, rationalistic, historical writing.

The first and second person singular, together with the frequent use of invocation, add greatly to this familiarity and also to the poetic quality of the work. A characteristic example is the poem "And Save Rumanis,"


pp. 16-17, particularly some of the final lines:

~ xaA.Enooc Kmpooc 'H ENIXLOTf1 cpwv(J ~ou N' OKOOOTEL 'An6 T6 m:i:lj.UI ~ou T6 8Lall£MU~VO XpLOTE KUpL€ B01']fu]TL Tflc: K&rrpou

In hard times My minimal voice To be heard From my body Tom to pieces Lord Jesus Assist Cyprus

(Patapiou, Ibid., p. 16-17; M. Margaroni [trans.])

The use of the first person reveals the poet's state of being and the condition of Cyprus through time (the preceding lines attempt a definition of the island of Cyprus). Beyond this revelation, however, the metaphor extends to create the image of dismemberment, not just of Cyprus, but also of the poet's biological body. Poetic quality stems from this multiplicity of meanings. The use of language, endowed with Byzantine and biblical magnificence and nobility, contributes to the multiplicity of interpretative levels and statements which a poetic text requires if it is to stand the test of time. Indicative of this are the adjectives xaA.Enoc (difficult) and {)...cf

Xl0Tf1 (minimal). The archaic term "xa)...En6c;" adds chronological depth while the use of a quantitative adjective to describe the voice maintains the multiplicity of meaning essential to the functioning of the text as poetry. The participle "torn" now refers as much to the biological as to the geographical body while the appeal for help transcends the individual and ap plies directly to Cyprus as a whole.

It would be an omission not to refer to some details of the poem "The Ancient Cut" which gave rise to diverse reactions, most of them negative, and which, in our view, represents a crowning achievement in recent Cypriot poetry.

H IIANAPXAI A TOMH

Kat ~oil y"AEt<f>ELc; Tf)v TIATJ'Ytl Tf)v ov)...i)


'fllv 1ravapxma ToJ.lfJ Ilou bp!.Cn T6 cpuA.o J.J.ou 8a6UK6KKLVO cpUAAo IIf]yaaoc </>TEpwT6c

IJou L 1TTIEVELC: b&uELc; };Ta t$1 Ilp6c; T6v KOOJlO

'};€ <f>€pEL IJpOEKTElVEL T6 };UJliTaV

Kat AlpEL Tf] SA!.t/Jll

THE ANCIENT CUT

And you lick my wound my scar The ancient cut That defines my sex A blood-red leaf A winged Pegasus Whom you ride you stride To the heights To the world It brings you Broadens the universe And Eases the Sorrow

(Patapiou, ibid., p. 56; M. Margaroni [trans.])

The relation between pain and pleasure is the basis for the construction of a personal erotic mythology which attains a dimension of universality. This poem, and other parts of the collection, can be read on many levels. Patapiou is a learned poet who selects sounds, words, and their position within the verse meticulously, and who organizes her poems with great care. The image of the "wound-scar-cut" is suggested both by the actual meaning of the words and by the sounds contained in the verse. The repetition of the sound [i] (for example in the first three lines generates an acoustic linearity which further serves to project the image of a gash. In addition, the repetition of the [i] fits in with the descriptive immobility necessary for the image to impress itself in the reader's senses. A greater variety of sounds accompanies a greater mobility from line 6 onwards.74


The precision which characterizes the formulation of the images, particu larly those referring to the vagina, in combination with the effective system of metaphors produces a sensual mode of expression that endows it with psychological and intellectual dimensions giving birth to a purely personal poetic style. It would be interesting to follow the gradual development of metaphor and the accompanying developmental expansion of the poem's frame of reference: "wound-scar-cut-leaf-Pegasus-heights-world-universe ."

The vagina is not named but implied in the initial metaphor "wound." The use of this term as the initial object to mean vagina is in dicative of the emphasis placed by Patapiou on the traumatic aspect of the female erotic identity (virginity, motherhood, fertility, etc.). The system of metaphors develops through successive expansions to end in myth: the "wound" becomes "scar" over the passage of time as well as via sexual fulfillment, and this in turn becomes "cut," furnishing an identity for the female sex, and identity which is historically and experientially traumatic but which also encompasses the initial pleasurable sensation deriving from the verb "to lick" and the erotically pleasurable associations that this verb implies . Sex is renamed leaf, expanding the area of reference from the bodily-individual level to the physical (external) world. The use of the adjective "blood-red," in a sexually stimulating way, maintains the relationship between the leaf and the pubis. At this stage, the poem describes the erotic ecstasy preceding orgasm (lines 6-11).

Further on, the traumatic aspect is cast off with finality and the succession of images and metaphors is speeded up strikingly, recalling the final moments of orgasm. Leaf becomes Pegasus, reaches the heights, the world, and extends to the universe. The orgasm reaches its climax via a profoundly exciting ascent, finally reverting to delight and, by means of the conjunction "and," prolonging the final pause. The banishment of sorrow, discernible in the traumatic metaphor occurring at the beginning of the poem, is but the natural result of post-orgasmic delight.

Conclusion

The importance of individuality to contemporary cultural process, and its role and contribution to works of art, constitutes a special subject deserving of separate study. Contemporary civilization, in its general form and mode of expression, differs from traditional civilization in that it is not based solely on a collective adventure, and does not arrive at the speciaVparticular from the starting point of the generaVcollective. The era in which collective social, or national ideals determined the inspiration, style, and content of art and civilization appears to be over. The group creativity characteristic of traditional societies (e.g., folk poetry) has permanently given way not just to eponymous creativity in the context of a commonly accepted code of values, but to something beyond that. Individuality has now


become established as the origin, the source of inspiration, as a particular system which is as integral, legitimate , and acceptable as the collective form of traditional civilization. And if in traditional society knowledge, wisdom, and myth rested on the slow and linear development of time, in the repetitive duration and wisdom of old age, and therefore on the distillation of collective knowledge, in contemporary civilization the tables have turned. Knowledge, wisdom, and myth are now a matter for the individual as a separate, autonomous and self-existent entity within a whole whose constituent elements, similar though they may be, equally project, demonstrate, and cultivate the differences among themselves. And what is sought after today is difference, not sameness. The particular, in the sense of the individual and special, is the key element in the deepening and enrichment of knowledge . F rom this point of view the body of experience arising from the avant-garde movements of the last forty years, starting with the "Beat Generation"75 in the United States through the hippies and pacifists, from May 1968 to the "Polytechnic Generation" in Greece and the "1974 Generation" in Cyprus, has played a determining role. What we are dealing with is a subversive and dissident process, which also embodies the surrealist experience and centers on individuality and individual identity. This perception has developed as a history of world civilization and sue ceeded in bringing about significant changes in attitudes toward art and aesthetics. The refusal of this process to conform with antiquated traditional values, the contrast, or conflict even, between the suppressed and gagged vision of the individual and collective traditional conformism, liberated a new attitude on creativity, no longer dependent on a body of knowledge arising from repetition of experience through time, but on knowledge formulated through a continuous process of subversion. It is of course not accidental that values such as love, carnal pleasure, and fantasy recur so frequently in contemporary poetry. These are the values which contemporary civilization is attempting to comprehend and incorporate, and to which it seeks to lend duration and permanence. However, rendering these values permanent implies and expresses a need to render youth permanent. And this is precisely what serves to distinguish contemporary Cypriot poetry from the poetry of previous generations. The forceful entry on the scene of individuality as a self-existent entity and ultimately the fact that it prevailed, in the face of all opposing external factors and readymade social and moral institutions and obligations, represents a turning point of immense significance, both from the anthropological and the aesthetic points of view. The poetry produced by the "1960 Generation" undertook to assist the setting up of the superstructure of the newly constituted (Cypriot) state by praising the primary or secondary factors which gave rise to it, as well as the sacrifices of the heroes of the 1955-59 period, the EOKA uprising, the vision of the socialist transformation of society and other similar phenomena. The rhetorical 76 aspect of the poetry of this pe-


riod reveals the almost total acceptance on the part of the poet of the mean ing and value of the state . It would be a mistake even in the case of poets who continued to praise Greece, the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and Enosis, in opposition to the Cypriot state, to assume that doubt was being cast on any of the achievements of the Cypriot polity. They simply extended this line of thinking in the direction of the incorporation of one state into an other,77 without disputing the concept of collective authority itself, which was their own foundation. The entire fetishistic system and the symbolism which developed against the background of this conformism did not allow the poet to accomplish the "descent to the structural position of the positivism of language ... "78 so as to be able to liberate poetic expression from the domination of etatist ideology. The relevant observations made by Lefkios Zafiriou reflect reality, to a large degree: "This group was expanded by the so-called 'First Generation of the Republic of Cyprus,' which in one way or another became integrated into the state machinery and which, despite its maturity, in most instances clung to conformism"79

Romantic rhetoric, whether that of the so-called Right which had as its object the 1955-59 period and the vision of Greece, or that of the Left which espoused the socialist transformation of society and the psychological and ideological attitudes associated with it was maintained on an artistically, aesthetically, and ideologically anodyne level. An exception to this were a few poets who attempted to leap further80 and, in some cases, managed to go beyond heroic/social mythology and the fetishism associated with it, with enviable artistic results.

The "1974 Generation" has abandoned etatist ideology and traditional fetishistic systems, has attacked the mythology of the traditional nationalist wing or of traditional socialist literature, and has delved into selfanalysis in search of a complete catharsis, thereby liberating a vital force which had not yet become formalized and established as th~ consciousness of prevailing ideologies. In these poets this force wells up unformed and uncontrollable, finding its form within the flow of current reality, while at the same time placing this reality in the context of the vision and myth of a free and liberated individuality. A new relationship has emerged between reality and poetic imagination, as well as a new relationship between poetic sensibility and its modes of expression, a relationship whose content and orientation is clearly anti-institutional. In the end, poetry has come faceto-face with its own nature and mission.


NOTES

1. Details regarding the historical progress and to some extent the content of some of these luminous exceptions may be found in the lecture delivered by Lefkios Zafiriou at the conference on The Younger Generation in Contemporary Cypriot Socie ty, held on March 4, 1987, published in Evnk Twv TnxcJv, 22 (May 1987).

2. A characteristic case is that of nine-year-old Eleni Efthymiou who, quoting Cavafy, dared to question on television the absolute value of religion and other related institutions. The crude reactions against the child are indicative of the mentality of the establishment.

3 . For purposes of comparison, see the analogous situation in Greece during the decade 1920-30, as described in Mario Vitti , The 1930's Generation (Athens: Hermes Editions, 1984).

4. See "K(mpLOL ~vyypacf>dc;" ("Cypriot Writers") , AvOo).oyla KvrrpwKr5c: AoyoTEXv{ar; (Anthology of Cypriot Literature ), vol. 1 A-1, (Nicosia: Chr. Andreou Editions, 1986), p. 131-37; also K. G. Yangoullis, KurrpLOL TTOLTJTk TOV Jl.EO'OTTOMJJ.ov (Cypriot Poets of the lntenvar Period), (Nicosia, 1987).

5 . In the Av8o).oy{ a KurrptaKryr: AoyoTEXV{ ar: yLa To AvKELO, IlE(oypa¢{a (Anthology of Cypriot Literature, (Teacher's Handbook) published by the service for the Development of Teaching Programs (Nicosia: Ministry of Education, 1990). Costas Nicolaides treats the term "surrealist" with reservation. The choice of texts relating to Nicos Vrahimis is made in such a way as to avoid the term "surrealist."

6. The leader of the Democratic Rally party, Glafkos Clerides, publicly cast doubt on the military option on the RIK current affairs program, see EmKaLpOTTJTEC (January 1991).

7. Lefkios Zafiriou, "H KtnrpLa~ XoyoTE'XV(a KaL To KOLVWVLK6 TT]C: lT>..a(crLo" ("Cypriot Literature and its Social Framework"), interview in EvTor: TWV TetxcJv, 20 (March 1987):18-19. For a more general view on the role of the administrative and government machinery, see S. Pavlou, H KaTarrlEO'TJ TTJC c>J.TJVLKrfr: rAcJuuar: O'TTJII Kurrpo (The Suppression of the Greek Language in Cyprus) (Athens, 1990); andY. E. Ioannou, Mta L&'o).oyLKrf OccJpTJO'TJ TOU r>..wcr O'LKOU Jl.aC rrpof3ArfJl.aTor:) (An Ideological Review of our Language Problem ) (Nicosia, 1988).

8. See Costas Vassiliou, "AL8wc; Apydm ~ Tl ~ovTaovva TOtJ 08ooaea" "Shame, People of Argos - or Odysseus' Face," AKrrf, 6 (Spring 1991):187-94.

9 . G. Kehagioglou, "NE6T€pOL KVlTpLoL lTOLT)TEC: 1960-1982: Eva Ka>..wa6pLa~a" ("Younger Cypriot Poets 1960 - 1982, A Welcome"), Second Panhellenic Poetry Meeting (Thessaloniki, 1982), p . 23.

10. On this the author agrees with the position of M. Pieris, as formulated in the prologue to his book Arr6 TO Jl.EPTLKOV TTJC Kurrpou (Of Cyprus' Portion) (Athens: Kastaniotis Press, 1991), p. 14.

11. Vitti, H rcvtd TOU TpLdVTa (The 1930's Generation) (Athens, 1984), p.


19-83. 12. Savvas Pavlou, KpL TLKd OTJJ.I.ELWJ . .LaTa 1976-1980 (Critical Notes 1976 -

1980) (Nicosia, 1980). In this volume the reader will find texts characteristic of the intense criticism waged against the establishment class.

13. See the magazines Auro8Ld8nrry, 'Ev(iJC1Lt;;, Opup.ay86t;;, Evr6t;; T(iJI/

TcLXWV, published after 1983, particularly in Nicosia's Old Town, which, despite the ideological differences between them, express an intense dissent towards established values and wage highly caustic criticism towards conformist values. Also, Loukas Axelos, "Language and National Identity in Cyprus," Tcrpd8La

(January - April 1985). 14. See Glafkos Christes, "Modem Murals," AA1f8cLa (1/9/1985). Also an

unsigned article published in the weekly newspaper ErdKaLpTJ on 7/411990 with the title "Truth Lauded Slogans." The slogan "Come sweetheart ... etc." inspired Haroula Alexiou, who made it into a song. According the record jacket, she came across it in Limassol.

15. In 1982 by the journalist Lazaros Mavros, who later became chief editor of the newspaper ErrlKaLpTJ (1987 - 1990), whose collaborators were basically intellectuals of the "1974 Generation."

16. It was also used as a meeting place for the environmentalist movement Friends of Akamas.

17. These magazines were published as follows: 086c/Jpayp.a - Tlopda

(Nicosia, 1977); 0 KuKAOt;; (Lamaca, 1980); H 'Ap.a~a (Limassol, 1980); Opup.ay86t;; (Nicosia, 1983); Auro8Ld8ECTTJ (Nicosia, 1985); Evr6t;; T(iJV Tnxwv

(Nicosia, 1985 - 1989); 'Ev(iJaLt;; (Nicosia, 1987); To Tpa{vo (Limassol, 1987); AKnf (Nicosia, 1989); To KatvorJpw (Nicosia, 1988); To }}ryp.dov (Nicosia, 1993).

18. Aa'(td) };Kllvr\ (1974-82), };QTUpLK6 elaTpo (1986); elaTpo 'Eva (1987), E.e.A.A. Limassol (1989) .

19. See the cases of D. Michael, Z. Pafaides, or the theater directors P. Chrysanthou, Chr. Shiopachas, and others.

20. Evrtk T(iJI/ Tnxwv, 23 (June 1987), special report on the environment and ecology.

21. See the case of Yannis Barbas. 22. Proposed by the journalist Stavros Angelides in his column "The Week

in Politics," fPt>.c>.cu8Epot;; (1991). 23. Evr6t: T(iJI/ Tctxwv, 4 (September 1985), special report on Nicosia Old

Town. 24. Lefkios Zafiriou, "The Younger Generation and Dissent," Evrtk T(iJI/

Totxwv (May 22, 1987):17-19. 25. Liberal Party (1986), Democratic Socialist Movement (ADISOK)

(1990), Pancyprian Refugee Party (PAKOP) (199). Signs of ideological and party political dissent and the consequent need for new ideological and party political groupings, became apparent shortly after the death of Makarios. As a result, in 1979, a number of Democratic Center Union (EDEK) cadres were expelled from the party and proceeded to set up the Left Wing. Similar expulsions took place in


1981 and 1987. In 1980 a number of new Democratic Party (DIKO) cadres left the party and set up the New Democratic Alignment (NEDIPA), while in 1982 Chr. Soflanos established the party Pancyprian Liberating Front (PAME). From 1985 onwards there was an intense questioning of the structure, the ideological line, and the mode of functioning of Party of Working People (AKEL). A number of editors of the party organ Xapauytf were removed from their jobs and a little later expelled from the party; in 1987 they set up the newspaper E11 rrpot;; which was a harbinger of the creation of the ADISOK movement.

26. G. Kechagioglou, "Younger Cypriot Poets 1980 - 1982: A Welcome," p. 20 -21.

27. Lefkios Zaflriou and Loucas Axelos (eds.), Av8o).oy{a EurxpoVTJt;; KurrpLaKJft;; Jlo{T}OT]t: (Anthology of Contemporary Cypriot Poetry) (Athens: Stochastis Editions, 1985), p. 12 -13.

28. G. Kechagioglou, "The Form of Cypriot Poetry," Axnj, special report on Cyprus, 236 (1983):48.

29. M. Michael's article published in the Australian literary magazine Avr{rro&t;; and reprinted in the Nicosia newspaper cf>LAEAEu8EpOt;; (317/1989), may contain one or two interesting ideas but it is also characterized by serious inaccuracies, e.g. where he says of Ntina Katsouri, a propos her latest collection of poems, that she "launches a forceful attack against the poetic establishment of the previous generation." Ntina Katsouri is one of the basic representatives of the "Independence Generation." This author asks the reader to forgive the reference to this article, given the lack of theoretical analyses of the subject on hand.

30. See her critique of the Anthology of Contemporary Cypriot Poetry (1985), in the Journal of the Hellenic Dtaspora, XII (1-2) (Spring-Summer 1986), p. 118-24. Charalambidou ventures a brief but interesting comparison of the "1974 Generation" with the "1970 Generation" in Greece on p. 122.

31. Eup.TTTwp.a, 5 (Athens, 1982):64-65. The "anti-manifesto" is signed by P. Prodromou, Ch. Charalambous, and G. Kythraiotis.

32. Zafiriou and Axelos, Anthology of Contemporary Cypriot Poetry, p. 14. For further details the reader may refer to the special report on P. Mechanikos, AKnj, 10 (Spring 1992), particularly the articles by Costas Vassiliou and Lefteris Papaleontiou.

33. Lefkios Zaflriou, H VEOTEPTJ KVTTPLcvoJ ).oyoTEXV{a: rpaJlJlaroA.oyLKO uxEBtauJla (Recent Cypriot Literature: A Uterary Slretch ) (Nicosia, 1991), p. 64.

34. Ibid, p. 65. 35. See Gaston Bachelard, La poetique de l'espace (Paris: P. U.F. -

Quadrige, 1992), p. 4. 36. C. Vassiliou, "Cypriot Comedy Viewed through P. Mechanikos's

Katathesis" AKnj (Athens, 1992):310-11. 37. Adopted after Elytis's To .. A(wv 'Eurl 38. On patriotic rhetoric, see Nikos Stamatakis, "History and

Nationalism: The Cultural Reconstruction of the Modern Greek Cypriot Identity," The Cyprus Review, 3 (1) (Spring 1991).


39. Anthos Lykavgis, EprruurpLEt: (Tank Threads) (Athens: Kedros , 1974), p. 19

40. The poet's father, Byron Loizou, recounted to me in detail his efforts to have arrested and punished his son's murderers who are known. However, all these efforts have run into an inexplicable wall of indifference and silence.

41. D .. Loizou was general secretary of the EDEK Youth Section, EDEN. 42. Zafiriou and Axelos, Anthology, p. 16. 43. G. Pelichos, llfKa 1XJyxpovoL 'E>J..T}VEt; (Ten Contemporary Greeks), in

terview with Odysseas Elytis, (Athens,. 1974), p.28. 44. Elena Rebelina Toumazi, AEL roupyla rou VEKpo{J rrap6vroc (Liturgy

to the Dead Present ) (Nicosia, 1974). 45. Elena Rebelina Toumazi, Ta ut.JJlara T1Jt;' Xpuu6lkJlT]t;' (The Bodies of

Chrysothemis) (Nicosia, 1977). 46. 'A.rrot/11}, 3 (October- November 1982):85. 47. For a systematic account of the use of this kind of forms and symbols

by poets, both modem Greeks and others, see Kimon Friar, Nc6rcp1J EllTJVLiof

llolT}UT] (Contemporary Greek Poetry ) (Athens: Kedros, 1983). 48. Zafiriou and Axelos, Anthology, p. 12. 49. Michalis Zafiris, "Avro~Loypa~(au ("Autobiography"), in Zafiriou and

Axelos, Anthology, p. 23. 50. George Moleskis, Selected Poems, (Cyprus, 1991), p. 7-14. 51. Orphanides' poem closely resembles the Lefkios Zafiriou poem dedi

cated to Afxentiou and is included in the collection ArroJla'YVTJTOr/)(JVT}UTJ (Tape Transcript) (Nicosia, 1978), p. 42.

52. See Gilbert Durand, Les structures anthropologiques de l' imaginaire, (Paris: Bordas, p . 488). Commenting on the style based on opposites, Durand writes: "It represents the stylistic triumph of ambivalent meaning."

53. Zafiriou, "Cypriot Literature and its Social Background," p. 18 - 19. 54. Alexis Ziras (ed.), NEOTEPTJ E.UTJVLKrf llol1JUTJ, 1965-1980

{Contemporary Greek Poetry, 1965-1980), (Athens,1979).

55. Yorgos Kechagioglou, "1:vvlvr£vtT) yLa TT)V K\J1TpLa~ TTO(T)UT),"

("Interview on Cypriot Poetry"), 'A.rrot/11], 3 (October-November 1982). 56. J. Kristeva, LA revolution du langage poetique, (Paris: Editions du Seuil,

1974), p. 91. 57. Quoted by permission from a letter to the author by Odysseus Elytis

dated May~. 1986. 58. Roland Barthes, Le degre zero de l' ecnture suivi de nouveaux essais cri

tiques, (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1972), p. 7. 59. Marcel Cressot and James Laurence, Le style et ses techniques, 12e edi

tion, (Paris: P.U.F., 1988), p. 98-99. 60. Barthes, Le degre ... , p. 16. 61. Elytis, noting the difference between feeling and sensation, writes in

'A.voLxra Xapnd (Open Book) (Athens: 1974), p. 44: "How strange that our senses, which unlike our feelings have no history, should, without being them-


selves subject to change. bring history about and back it up more effectively." 62. Paul Eluard, "L' amour Ia poesie," (Paris, 1966), p. 153. 63. See Yiannis E. Ioannou , 08wolac EMny;· A1T6 TLt; Kam{3oMc Tou

U1TEppEaMOjJ.OU OTLt; EK{3oMt; TOU jJ.UOou (Odys.~eas Elytis, From the Source of Surrealism to the Estuary of Myth) (Athens, 1991), p. 77-90. Also Mario Vitti, Odysseas Elytis, A Critical Study (Athens, 1985), p. 24.

64. Jean Cohen, Structure du language poetique (Paris, 1966), p. 38. 65. For a more general account on this subject see Barthes, Le degre, pp.

64-65. 66. Zafiriou and Axe los, Anthology , p. 12. 67. Takis Hadjigeorghiou, na T7J jJ.LKplj KQL jJ.aKpLvlj AKoudvra (To Little

Akouanta Faraway) (Athens, 1987). 68. Yorgos Moraris, ~wavaOTpo</>{t; ~uJJ1Tljt; (In Company with Silence)

(Athens, 1991). 69. Nasa Patapiou, To 1/JwvifEv 1MJJ.a (The Vocal Body) (Athens, 1988). 70. Lefteris Papaleontiou, "Naoa ITaTatr(ov To 1/JwvifEv 1MJJ.a ("Nasa

Patapiou The Vocal Body,») AKTJj, 2 (Spring 1990), p. 2421. 71 . "The writing of poetry does not come easily," Nasa Patapiou interview

by Costas Georgiou, E1TlKaLpij (February 10, 1990). 72. Ibid. 73. Ibid. 74. Cressot and James, Le style, pp. 29-52. 75. Magazine Utteraire, "La Beat Generation", special report, No. 157,

(February 1980). 76. The reader will find a significant analysis of this subject in Nikos

Stamatakis, op. cit. 77. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, the author would like to repeat

that this does not mean that the "1960 Generation" does not include significant poets.

78. Kristeva, La revolution, p. 81. 79. Zafiriou and Axelos, Anthology. p. 14. 80. Costas Montis, Kyriakos Charalambides, Theodosis Nicolaou, Costas

Vassiliou, Pantelis Mechanikos and others.

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The Poets of Dissent: The "1974 Generation" in Cyprus

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