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National Word and the Balkan Wars
Political developments, historical context, memory and literature
Penelope Delta
Images of the Balkans
Fifth Lesson
Lecturer: Petros Marazopoulos
petrosmarazopoulos@gmail.gr
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The historical context
• The period of the preparation, conduct and aftermath of the Balkan Wars
• In this period, the Balkan myth is directly intertwined with the phenomenon of
nationalism
• The Balkan Wars reflect the beginning of an era in which the European political scene
was characterized by nationalist tendencies
• Bloody and cruel national conflicts
• The First Balkan War. (Between October 1912 and May 1913): Τhe intra-Balkan alliance of
Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia rose up against the Ottoman Empire
• The Second Balkan War (shortly afterwards, in the middle of the summer of 1913). Μilitary
conflict between the above-mentioned Balkan allies, this time with Bulgaria
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The First Balkan War
Political Boundaries in the Balkans before First Balkan War
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The First Balkan War in the West Press
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The Second Balkan War- The final territorial gains
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Political changes in the
region-Instability and
violence
The Balkan conflicts are
associated with the
attempt to achieve full
independence from the
Ottoman empire, as
well as with national,
historical myths (roots
in Middle ages of
earlier)
Cruelty, Violence,
Primitivism, Ethnic
Division, Savagery,
Non-Europe
Balkans Wars- Constructing and consolidating Stereotypes
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Less romantic
depictions
National Word and
national interests
Production and
consolidation of extremely
negative stereotypes
(especially for the
Bulgarian Other)
The Greek images over the Balkan states
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Which Balkan nation have the most depictions in the
Greek literary production?
• Bulgarian Other: The ethnicity with the most representations during the Balkan Wars
• The Bulgarian and the Montenegrin Other are the two ethnic groups with the most
depictions (in this time frame)
• Due to the national dispute with Bulgaria, ethnic groups such as the Romanians,
Serbs and Albanians are temporarily relegated to a secondary role of interest.
• Usually Romanians are depicted as allies of Bulgarians
• The Albanian Other and the ambiguous Greek depictions (enemy and friend)
• The Serbian Other, the hostile depictions, and the ‘Christian bond’
• Attempts to negotiate the ‘Macedonian Other’
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The Bulgarian and the Montenegrin Other
• The consolidated perception of the Bulgarian nation based on the notions of violence, cruelty
and a tendency towards barbarism
• Historical Explanation: The Balkan Wars, the claims of part of the Macedonian territory between
the two nations, and the Bulgarian cooperation with the German occupation forces during the
Second World War
• These ethnic conflicts formed a clear, negatively charged perception of the Bulgarian Other in
the Greek imagination
• The contemporary era and the aforementioned stereotypes
• The Montenegrin Other: geopolitical developments in the Balkan region and literary images
• Romantic tendencies to emphasize heroism and the sense of freedom, but also references to
primitivism, incompleteness and backwardness
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The Greek literary production regarding the Balkan Wars
• Penelope Delta (medieval legends), Ion Dragoumis (nationalist discourse), Kostis Palamas (poetic
compositions)
• History and interesting alterations of the images (difference between image-stereotype)
• Significant increase in the number of texts dealing with the Balkans and its ethnic groups.
• National aspirations, fictional writing and highly homogeneous, national discourse.
• Political developments and literary images- the creation of mainly negative stereotypical
representations (consolidation)
• Depictions of the ‘naïve’ Western factor (also as opponent of Greek interests)
• Negotiating the Ottoman administration: a suffering, collapsing Other or an enemy of the Greek nation,
friendlier to the other Balkan nations?
• The search for potential Balkan allies and the ideological conflict with potential Balkan enemies
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The Greek literary production regarding the Balkan Wars
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Imagology, politics and memory
• Politics, historical memory and literature-The role of the varying images
• Contemporary political developments, historical memory and the Other
• The role of literature in consolidating Stereotypes
• Positive images for friendly nations and negative images for hostile nations- A recurring pattern
• The example of the Bulgarian Other: political developments and literary images
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The main Greek authors of the period
• Penelope Delta: the most characteristic literary voice of the period under consideration
• The undoubted success of her novels among the Greek readership
• The successive republishing of her works (different generations and readers)
• Literature and the national interests
• The goal to address to a children's readership
• Ion Dragoumis: National discourse and the Macedonian struggle
• Kostis Palamas: The Greek national poet and the Balkan Wats
• Lesser-known Greek writers: Balkan Wars, Macedonian region, national Word
• Strongly nationalist writing, negative stereotypes, national aspirations in the foreground
• War memoirs, short stories in magazines and novels
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Importance of Penelope Delta’s Work
• For the shake of Fatherland (1909) and In the Heroic Age of Basil II- Emperor of Byzantium (1911)
• Narration takes the reader back in time to Byzantium (Basil the ‘Bulgar Slayer’- 10th and early 11th
centuries)
• Ambiguous historical context: on the one hand associated with prosperity for the Byzantine Empire, but
also marked by military disasters
• The place: Macedonian region
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Choosing the Macedonian Region and Byzantium as
narration framework
• The choice of this particular time and place should be seen as anything but accidental;
• Setting of the narrative in Macedonia reflects Delta's interest in this region (relationship with Dragoumis)
• The contemporary Macedonian Struggle (1904-1908)
• The unity of the Greek nation (Antiquity- Byzantium- Modern Greece)
• The tendency to choose Byzantium as a narration framework. The role of the historian Konstantinos
Paparrigopoulos
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Greek Identity and Byzantium
‘’The goal was to strengthen the positive image of Byzantium in the circles of scholars and writers, and
the search for the unity of Hellenism over time. The discovery of Byzantium by Greek scholars gradually
took place during the 19th century, while Byzantine history was considered part of the history of European
civilization’’
‘’The reappearance of Byzantium, both as a missing link (connecting modern Greece with ancient
Greece) and as the bearer of a transitional present, not only ensured for Greece the much-desired
cultural continuity, but, more importantly, legitimized Greece as a modern civilization; which was
metonymically equivalent to European civilization.’’
Stathis Gourgouris
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Main Aspects of Delta’s literary work
• The perception of Byzantine culture as superior to that of the Bulgarian culture
• Depicting the Byzantine culture as purely Greek
• The Greek idea of the superiority of the Greeks in the Balkan area
• The motif of Bulgarian atrocities against civilian populations (constant massacre, strong destructive
tendency)
• The Bulgarian Other as savage, cruel and barbarian type of person
• Negotiating the Greek atrocities in the War
• Basil the ‘Bulgar-Slayer’: a ruthless act and his depictions in the Greek imaginary
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Main Aspects of Delta’s literary work
• Historical Novels (accurate historical events)
• The values of homeland and religion
• The image of the Bulgarians in Delta's next two novels (Secrets of the Swamp- O Magkas)
• Perceiving the Bulgarians as ‘the worst enemy of Hellenism’, torturers, untrustworthy people
• Images of the Turkish Other as the predominantly hostile Other in Greek texts before the Balkan Wars
• Albanians are presented rather indifferently (sometimes hostile to the Greeks)
• The Romanians are judged much more harshly, as they are perceived as 'the usual traitors allied with
the Bulgarians and the Turks’
• The Serbian Other occupies little space in Delta's fiction (references to 'Serbian propaganda’ in
Macedonia).
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Penelope Delta- Passages for discussion
They were kept in the palace, in the service of the royal family, where, relatively speaking, they did not
do too badly. However, having been educated in Byzantine culture, which was the most gentle at that
time, they felt more keenly the barbarity of the conqueror, they resented the cruelty, the brutality of the
Bulgar, which manifested itself in every contact, even in the most trivial circumstances of their daily
service''.
''Here we are fighting Bulgarians and Romanians, in the territory of a third enemy, the Turk, who, instead
of protecting us all, divides us to better impose himself on us and exterminates us wherever he can, both
one and the other, each separately and all together.''
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Penelope Delta- Passages for discussion
-And why did you leave Macedonia? Lukas asked.
-"Uh... because we don't get along with them there!
-"What? Are you arguing?
-Uh, yes, we are.
-With the Turks? Those villains! And you fought, Vasilis?
-Sure... I fought.
-And did you kill many Turks?
-I killed... But we weren't fighting the Turks.
-Who then?
-The Bulgarians.
-The Bulgarians? Why? Anna did.
-But tell me, Vasilis, said Luke, confused. And Mitsos is always saying bad things about the Bulgarians, and that they are our enemies. But
are they not Christians?
-Not that they are. But they had better not be. They’ are worse than the Turks.
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Πέτρος Μαραζόπουλος
petrosmarazopoulos@gmail.com
October 2024