The Generation of the '30s () was a group of Greek writers, poets, artists, intellectuals, critics, and scholars who made their debut in the 1930s and introduced modernism in Greek art and literature. The Generation of the '30s is also cited as a social movement. The previous Medieval and post-Byzantine Greek eras, which glorified religion, Jesus, and the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, were rejected by modernism. Elements of surrealism and utopianism were introduced in efforts to renew contemporary literature. Most notable among the Generation of the ‘30s is Giorgos Seferis, a Greek poet of the 20th century who instigated the turning point into modernity with surrealism in his poetry. After the Balkan Wars and the disastrous Greco-Turkish War of 1922, literature could no longer boast nationalistic aspirations of the previous generation. Thus, there was a need to establish a new dogma, or Greekness (), that would aestheticize Hellenocentric opinions, attitudes, and symbols, and foster a new national identity. The Generation of the ‘30s enacted this by publishing various art and literature that were autonomous from other foreign models, and institutionalized modern literature to open up new perspectives and explore new ways to understand Greekness.
Literature of the 1920s
Modernism had a late arrival in Greece. While the modernist movement began to rapidly transform Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was not until the 1930s that Greece witnessed the introduction of a new set of practices and formal innovations. The 1920s offered a pessimistic attitude and were largely dismissive of society or life. Because of the numerous negative historical events that occurred, such as the Greco-Turkish War and the subsequent refugee influx, high unemployment rates, and domestic instability, literature lacked optimism and a positive worldview. Kostas Karyotakis, a Greek poet of the 1920s, is often cited as one of the first poets to use iconoclastic themes. His poems talk about nature, are embedded with imagery, and have traces of expressionism and surrealism. At first, his cosmopolitan outlook was rejected; however, it was his perspective that eventually shaped modern Greek poetry and created a path for the Generation of the '30s to follow. In 1929, Yorgos Theotokas published a major essay entitled Free Spirit (), which became the manifesto of the flourishing Generation of the '30s, exemplified a desire to modernize Greek literature. He stated that manifesting modernism in poetry was not enough; a new literature required “discussion of ideas, and authentic theatre and an authentic novel.”
History
Post World War I
When Greece emerged victorious from World War I, it was rewarded with territorial acquisitions, specifically Western Thrace (Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine), Eastern Thrace, and the Smyrna area (Treaty of Sèvres). As a result, national identity was heightened and a concept called the Megali Idea (, , “Great Idea”) was developed. It exhibited pride in Greece's success in World War I. It also expressed the goal of acquiring more ethnic Greek-inhabited territories and expanding the Greek language and culture among them. In many ways, the Megali Idea fused Hellenism with Byzantine/Orthodox traditionalism (Thomas, 1996, p. 102). It dreamt of creating a “second Byzantium” that would incorporate Greek-speakers into a Greater Greece. The unification of all Greeks in one state would celebrate their “temporal continuity,” proclaim their “territorial integrity,” and serve as a “populist cause to mobilize the masses.” This ideology is consistent to understandings of modernism. The deliberate rejection of a disintegrated previous Greece and the introduction of a new Greece that would emphasize consolidation reflected a new ethnic identity. Most importantly, the Megali Idea allowed the experience of shared identity of Hellenism and brought Greeks inside and outside of the state together. Ioannis Kolettis, a Greek politician who is credited with conceiving the Megali Idea, asserted that “the Greek kingdom is not the whole of Greece, but only a part, the smallest and poorest part. A native is not only someone who lives within this Kingdom but also…in any land associated with Greek history or the Greek race.” In essence, this immense ethnic pride gave rise to an adhered emphasis on innovation and experimentation of the Greek state.