This thesis examines the emergence and development of Greek ‘autofiction’ from 1971 until 1995, through the selected works of six writers: Kostas Tachtsis, Melpo Axioti, Vassilis Vassilikos, Vassilis Alexakis, Yiannis Kiourtsakis and Michel Fais. I have chosen to employ the term ‘autofiction’ (first introduced in 1977 by the French novelist and critic, Serge Doubrovsky) in order to define a specific type of autobiographical fiction that also discusses the process of writing. In autofiction, the extratextual author is identified with the narrator and a main character, who is a writer that explores the act of writing the self and the act of writing in parallel. My thesis is divided into two parts; the first covers the early period of Greek autofictional writing (1971-1975), while the latter focuses on the early nineties (1993-1995). During the first period of ‘autofiction’, which preceded the official coinage of the term, Tachtsis, Axioti and Vassilikos produced texts that do not simply employ autofictional techniques (such as the splitting of the subject) but also implicitly argue for the existence of Greek autofiction avant la lettre. The 1990s saw a new generation of novelists (Alexakis, Kiourtsakis and Fais) that surveyed new possibilities in identity construction. A staple of their writing is the construction of ‘dual’ identities within a postmodern context. They resulted in producing texts that present the authoring consciousness oscillating between two distinct cultural or even religious and linguistic identities. The ultimate aim of my dissertation is to put forward a term for the study of texts that have been vaguely labelled by Greek criticism as ‘autobiographical’ as I seek to prove that autofiction existed in Greece before the establishment of the actual term. By identifying its key characteristics and its divergences from its French counterpart, I argue for the existence of a textual category that fuses autobiography and fiction through postmodern strategies of 'self-reflexivity'.

This doctoral thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the novels of Kazantzakis‟ maturity in relation to Modern Greek literature. The extent of Kazantzakis‟ reading is explored as well as the views that he expressed in letters, essays and interviews on texts from the epic of Γηγελήο Αθξίηεο up to works of the Generation of the Thirties. When Kazantzakis wrote his major novels, he had a wide knowledge of the Modern Greek literary tradition and contemporary literature. The fruits of his engagement with Modern Greek literature are found in his own literary production. The novels that are studied are Βίνο θαη Πνιηηεία ηνπ Αιέμε Ενξκπά, Ο Υξηζηόο Ξαλαζηαπξώλεηαη, Ο Καπεηάλ Μηράιεο (Διεπηεξία ή Θάλαηνο) and Ο Σειεπηαίνο Πεηξαζκόο. The analysis detects the intertextual markers and illustrates the methods that are employed linking the novels‟ characters, themes, settings and stories with previous Modern Greek texts. A wide range of literary works is evoked or organically incorporated into the plot of the novels: folk poetry of the Akritic cycle, Cretan folk songs, the literature of the Cretan Renaissance, the poetry of Solomos, Palamas and Sikelianos, the ethographic novellas and short stories of Kondylakis and Vizyinos, fiction by Myrivilis, Prevelakis and Kosmas Politis. Kazantzakis‟ novels hold a pivotal place in the history of Modern Greek literature and, as this thesis proposes, it is also the Modern Greek literary tradition that constitutes an essential component of his fiction.

Η παρούσα εργασία επικεντρώνει το ενδιαφέρον της στην προσέγγιση των διηγημάτων που περιέχονται στα Κείμενα Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας της Α΄ τάξης του Γυμνασίου. Η προσέγγιση αυτή γίνεται με βάση τη «στρουκτουραλιστική εκδοχή» της Αναγνωστικής Θεωρίας και συγκεκριμένα τη θεωρία του Γάλλου σημειολόγου/αφηγηματολόγου Claude Bremond. Γίνεται μια προσπάθεια ανάδειξης της σύνδεσης ανάμεσα στην Αφηγηματολογία και στην ερμηνεία κειμένων που διδάσκονται στο Γυμνάσιο. Η εργασία οργανώνεται σε δύο μέρη. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο του πρώτου μέρους εκτίθεται η προβληματική της έρευνας, οι στόχοι και η μέθοδος που ακολουθείται. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο εκτίθεται αναλυτικά το θεωρητικό μοντέλο που προτείνει ο Bremond για την ανάλυση κάθε είδους αφηγηματικών κειμένων. Βασικές έννοιες του μοντέλου του είναι οι ρόλοι δρώντων και πασχόντων υποκειμένων και οι διαδικασίες, οι οποίες συνδέονται μεταξύ τους αλλά και με τους ρόλους. Στο δεύτερο μέρος γίνεται η ανάλυση του λογοτεχνικού υλικού, το οποίο περιλαμβάνει δέκα διηγήματα, σύμφωνα με το θεωρητικό μας εργαλείο. Τέλος, με αφορμή τα συγκεκριμένα διηγήματα γίνονται κάποιες προτάσεις για τη διδακτική αξιοποίηση του μοντέλου του Bremond στο Γυμνάσιο. / The present work focuses on the approach of short stories contained in the Texts of Modern Greek Literature taught at the first class of the Greek High School. This approach is based on the “structuralist version” of the Reader-Response Theory and, specifically, on the theory of the French semiologist/narratologist Claude Bremond. An effort has been made to show the connection between Narratology and the interpretation of texts taught at the Greek High School. The work consists of two parts. In the first chapter of the first part the research problems, the objectives and the used methodology are analyzed. In the second chapter, Bremond’s theoretical model for the analysis of all kinds of narrating texts is examined thoroughly. The basic concepts of his model are the roles of the agents, the roles of the patients and the processes, which are connected with each other as well as with the roles. The second part includes the analysis of the Literature material, which consists of ten short stories, using the theoretical tool. Finally, having in mind these particular short stories, certain suggestions for the educational use of Bremond’s model at the Greek High School are made.

Στην εργασία διερευνάται η παρουσία και η πρόσληψης ιατρικών θεμάτων που αφορούν σε αρρώστιες και στη θεραπεία τους στο πρωτότυπο πεζογραφικό έργο του Αλέξανδρου Παπαδιαμάντη. Συγκεντρώνονται στοιχεία και καταγράφονται πρώτα συμπεράσματα, τα οποία θα μπορούσαν να οδηγήσουν στο μέλλον σε μια συστηματικότερη ανάλυση της σχέσης της λογοτεχνίας του Παπαδιαμάντη με την ιατρική. / This paper investigates the presence of medical issues relating to diseases and their treatment in the original prose of Alexander Papadiamantis. There are recorded first conclusions, which could lead to a more systematic analysis of the relationship of Papadiamantis'literature with medicine.