Dialogues by Nikos Dimou

Many thanks to my friends who share their thoughtful comments with us on MGO. They make me reflect on so many different levels about the things I post. Kevin's reminder about Lord Byron's birthday got me thinking about philhellenism and the Greek love-hate relationship with the West. Then I remembered reading some things on Simon's blog, Democracy Street which ignited another round of reading and thought. Eventually I ended up on the website of Nikos Dimou. Mr. Dimou is a controversial figure but one that expresses what many Greeks may be feeling yet are reluctant to voice. A poet, photographer, philosopher and  author, he has written over fifty books but he is remembered primarily for one particuar bestseller which earned him, unjustly I think, the title of "anti-Hellene."  That book was "The Misfortune of Being Greek" written in 1975, which is a series of observations about the  Greek malaise. 

I have taken the liberty of posting excerpts of some of his essays that deal with some of the foundational problems of Greek society. The entire version can be found  here.

Diaspora

Have you noticed, he continued, that not one of your great poets was born in the Greek mainland? Solomos and Kalvos were not even Greek citizens - and their mother tongue was Italian. Sikelianos also came from the Ionian islands, Elytis was born in Crete - his family originating from Lesbos - and Kavafis (also not a Greek subject) lived in Alexandria. Your only two philosophers of any importance, Castoriadis and Axelos, are French citizens and write in my language - and so is your most avant-garde musician, Iannis Xenakis.

- Well, I broke in - I can remember, when I was at school, I had to read the novels of Kazantzakis in English or French, because they had not been published in Greek. Imagine, the original appearing only after the translation became an international best-seller!

- Axelos once said in a lecture, that it is impossible to be a philosopher in modern Greece. I would broaden that statement to include all kinds of intellectual and creative activity.

- Don't you think you are going too far?  After all,  there is a lot of things happening around!

- Yes, but the important ones are either created outside Greece, or in Greece with foreign influence (or money) and for a foreign public. Tsarouhis worked for a foreign art dealer. (I can remember him conceiving his vision of pure new Greek art, in Paris!) Look at the movies of Theo Angelopoulos! The sculpture of Takis!

- Nobody is a prophet in his own country!

- If this is true in most cases, it is much truer in Greece, said my guest. There is something in this country that kills creativity. I think it is the proliferation of genius. You are a singularly gifted race - again like the Jews. But too much genius, in a small country, is bad for the nerves. There is no breathing space. There is no public. A brilliant small minority and a totally indifferent majority. The minority suffocates. All transmitters, no receivers. A very frustrating situation for talented people. So, as long as they remain in Greece, they use all their talent to trip up the next guy.

Babel

Before going into any rational argument, let us try to understand why Greeks react in this way. You always assume Greece belongs to the West. It does - and it does not. There has been a strong anti-western current in Greece for centuries. It has religious, national and ideological roots. Grouped inside this current you will nowadays meet an amazing mixture of characters: leftists (for whom western means capitalist or imperialist), extreme right ultranationalists, fanatical orthodox believers (neo- and old) and intellectuals. But mainly you will find populist politicians, cultivating the conspiracy theory of history, plus their victim: the simple man in the street who assumes an underdog mentality towards the 'Great Powers'. (The great alibi. 'They' are responsible for everything). So Greeks never felt they really belonged to the West. (They all say: I studied in Europe, I will travel to Europe - as if Greece was located in Asia). Our relationship to the West was always a love-hate affair, expressed wonderfully in two Greek words: Xenophobia and Xenomania. Phobia and mania are emotions - and therefore: when we talk to the West (or about the West) our language is emotional. It not easy for us to think rationally on this issue. Or for that matter, on any issue - we are very emotive. Mediterraneans, with a long history, loaded with pathos and agony. (Greek words again!) Enthusiastic, excitable, warm, friendly, insecure and short tempered. Especially if national or personal issues are concerned."

"Whereas we stand there detached, cool and rational..."

"Exactly. You talk the language of reason - we shout our heads off in demonstrations and rallies. Babel. No communication possible."

The Glory that was Greece

I wish statesmen were poets, said Ion.

- Why?

- Because Poets always loved Greece! They had a weakness for this country. They were ready to forgive our mistakes, to understand our problems, to help in times of need. Remember Byron? Now nobody cares for us...

In the rays of the setting sun, eighteen-year old Ion looked like an ancient statue of Antinoos.

- Why is it that you Greeks want so much to be loved? You have an overwhelming need for warmth and care. You divide all foreigners into friends and foes -- Philellenes and Misellenes, Greek-lovers and Greek-haters. Has it never dawned upon you that most people are neutral and indifferent?

That was Robert the Scot, speaking. He was sipping at his ouzo. (Unlike Greeks, he hates scotch whisky.)

- This is the Greek way to look at history and politics, I said. Dramatic, not to say melodramatic. Our philosophy of history explains everything after the pattern set by the presocratic philosopher Empedocles. Two powers shaped the cosmos
-- strife ^{(νείκος)} and love ^{(φιλότης)}. It is a very old theory...

- Ah -- here come the ancestors, again. Everything is filtered through the past.

- They had a word for you, Rob: cynic!

- OK. They discovered everything. But what about you? Aren't you tired to live in their shade -- and at their expense? Furthermore I do not think you can identify yourselves with the ancient Greeks by right of inheritance. You have to earn that distinction.

Under Foreign Flags

The most prosperous and creative Greeks, during the last three centuries, did not live in mainland Greece. They were to be found in Alexandria and Constantinople, the Ionian Islands, Smyrna, Syros and Trieste, Bucarest and Paris, Odessa and London. That is where the Greek Independence War originated. Rigas preached there, Corais taught, Kapodistria managed foreign affairs, the big benefactors (Averoff, Syggros, Zappas) assembled their fortunes.

- The flowering of the Greek bourgeoisie. You have written a book about it -- maintaining that there was never a middle class in mainland Greece.

- You are always well informed! Yes -- we missed a class and all it meant for the West: Renaissance, Reformation, Industrial Revolution, Enlightenment, French Revolution. But the Greeks living abroad got all the messages -- and acted as a catalyst...

- You know Greek history much better than I do. When I think of Greeks abroad, my mind goes to more recent situations: Dimitri Mitropoulos, Maria Callas, Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipowners in London and New York...

- And there is still another category. Greeks who lived in Greece but were accepted and acclaimed in other countries. I remember reading Kazantzakis' novels in English -- the Greek originals did not yet exist in Greece.

- He is not the only one to be re-imported in his own country. You mentioned Seferis. I think most Greeks discovered him after the Nobel price.

- To judge by the sales of his books -- definitively.

- There again you have your usual Greek dichotomy. One the one hand Greeks hate living in foreign countries -- so many old songs complain about the woes of ^xenitiá-- on the other hand they seem to thrive there and prosper much more than in their own nation.

- They may prosper -- but are they happy?

- Are they happy in Greece? Your compatriots do nothing but complain. Living here they dream of emigrating -- and when they do emigrate, they become home-sick.

The Dark Side of the Sun

I know your thesis about Greeks being "the children of light".

- It is not mine. The poets again. Seferis, searching for our identity has written: "I wonder - is it the climate or the race? I think it is the light. There is something in the light that makes us what we are." And Elytis: "To be Greek... is a function immediately related to the drama of light and darkness".

- But you have elaborated this into a whole theory!

- No, just a commentary on what Elytis called: the "metaphysics of the sun". I added an analysis and a series of photographs demonstrating how Greek light transcending itself turns abruptly into total darkness¹.

- The "extreme" light, that goes all the way until it reverts into its opposite.

- I call this light "absolute". It is for me the only absolute thing a human being can experience during its stay on earth. This absolute light illuminates a non absolute world, giving it a semblance of eternity.

- This is why all the Greek poets and philosophers glorified light?

- Parmenides said light is Being, Plato identified it with Truth, and, of course, the Byzantine mystics with God.

- But then you write something about our light being addictive.

- Yes. Just like a drug: its presence makes you euphoric - its absence depresses. You see, all addicts are after totality - all addicts chase the absolute. No wonder Greeks were always obsessed by light - and could never get enough of it.

Words, words, - words?

I want to find out if a name is an essential part of a man's being. If it is so important that one should risk his life to defend it.

- You once said that one's country is more important than father, mother and all ancestors...

- I was speaking about Reason and Laws -- not about names... That is my problem. To fight for liberty, for justice or even merely to defend your land, your property -- that I understand. To fight for a name...

- But it is not merely a name -- it is a symbol. It stands for everything you have mentioned: freedom, justice, honor...

- A symbol... I thought of that too. But I am wary of symbols. They are usually tainted with feeling. I do not trust emotions. Reason has never killed anybody, but passion, zealotry and fanaticism are disastrous. Emotions are bad counselors. People should follow their critical judgment.

- And why do you follow your demon?

- My δαιμόνιον is  rational one -- it speaks with the voice of λόγος. And I always examine logically its suggestions.

The metaphysics of  "grinia"

I have known Petros for many years - I have never heard a positive word from his mouth. If his financial grumbling was correct, he would have been bankrupt years ago. If his health declarations were accurate, he wouldn't be alive any more. As far as I hear he is doing very well, he has a profitable small business, charming kids and a loyal wife. He also has an infinite "grinia" potential!

And he is not an exception. Never will a Greek, if asked about his situation, give you an cheerful account. I am sick and tired of this eternal complaint.

- Look Bret, I admit you have a point. Greeks are not merry and light-hearted. And they seldom give a positive picture of their situation. It is something like a superstition. They are deeply afraid that any optimistic statement will incur the wrath of the Gods.

- How do you translate γκρίνια in English? My dictionary proposes: whining, whimpering, complaining, nagging, sniveling, grumbling, fretting. Somehow none of these words seems to me the exact counterpart of the Greek term. But then such affective denominations are untranslatable.

- It is not even a Greek word (it comes from the Italian 'grignia') - but it sums up one of the most essential Greek characteristics: complaining. For a Greek it is equivalent with living. One could alter Descartes famous word: I complain therefore I exist. Look at the Greek songs - the traditional ones, the dimotika and the more recent ones the rebetika. They both speak about pain, homesickness, bereavement, death, unrequited love. Not even five per cent of them are joyful.

- But why? I admit, the history of Greece is not that cheerful, but other nations have also had their part of suffering. As you rightly said most of the Greeks songs are in one way or another 'moirologia' - dirges

- A Greek writer of the nineteenth century has written an essay claiming that the modern Greek word for song τραγούδι comes from the ancient term tragic. To sing is to lament.

- You have still not answered my question: why?

- Well, I have a theory. Greeks are passionate people. They adore life. They really enjoy living. But, as the wise Buddha said, the more you are attached to this world, the more you suffer. Greek pessimism is not the result of a negative approach to existence - just the opposite. It originates in a very deep thirst for living, which can never be quenched. From the times of Homer the complaint is the same: life is wonderful, but so short! Never have the Greeks found real consolations in thoughts of an afterlife. It is too abstract and distant. They want everything and they want it now. No wonder they constantly feel frustrated!

Comments

[Theophilos Xenos]

Stavros,

For some reason, Nikos Demou never struck my fancy although some of his writings expressed views that I find quite pertinent. Of course he was labeled an "anti-Hellene" the minute he pointed out some of the less agreeable characteristics of "Greek-ness." I used to watch his presentations on TV (years ago) but I found him a bit too smart alecky for my tastes. The one thing that I respect about him though is that he has refrained from expounding on everything and anything in more recent times as so many others (far less talented than he) did and continue to do.

[Hermes]

Agree about some of his writings but he seems to enjoy his iconoclastic role too much. It sometimes seems he does it for effect. He has also become a divisive figure lately. He supported the History book amendments recently made by Repousi and her evil little supporters which I found despicable. He is representative of the way the Greek elite or intellectual has betrayed the Greek people. They used to be more Hellenic than the masses. But today their loyalties lie elsewhere with NY Times, Soros, Conde Naste etc. That sort of smirking-rat-like-know-it-all look you see in the photo gives him away. The only thing missing are the black rimmed glasses with some red or yellow colour. That is the sign of a true liberal elite intellectual.

[Thanos]

Demou is a know-it-all who was never liked in Greece. You lift a stone and Demou is right there: he has an opinion and an explanation for everything! His support for Repoussi and her little group of leftist anti-Hellenes placed him exactly where he belongs re. the dustbin of things Greek.

[Savvas Tzionis]

This thing about Greeks of the Diaspora being more successful than homeland Greeks.

Well, there is another ethnic group that has taken that comparison to an extreme level.

Jews.

Compare the successful Jews of Israel to those of the diaspora.

It makes the Greek comparison look absurd.

[Stavros]

All,

Personally I have mixed feelings about Dimou. I don't think he is an anti-Hellene at all. His views often throw cold water on the inflated view we have of ourselves. That is certainly a good thing if we are ever to climb out of our downward spiral as a people. He is less concerned about enemies and outside threats and focuses on the much more serious threat from within: our failures as Greeks to live up to our legacy.

What we don't need right now are people trying to stroke our self-esteem by telling us we are the "chosen people" and that it is all someone else's fault. Reading Dimou I felt like he had slapped me in the face. After thinking about it for awhile, there was not much I radically disagreed with.

I do think that he has a tendency to ignore legitimate threats to Greek security and I part company with him when it comes to his penchant for trying to transform Greek history into a narrative in which Greeks are cast as the bad guys.

That said, it is high time Greeks took a good look in the mirror. I hope that Americans and Europeans do the same. We may not like what we see.

[Margaret]

A friend pointed me towards Nikos Dimou a few years ago, but I'd forgotten all about him until your post. I recognised his web-site and enjoyed reading his essay refuting the anti-Hellene charge which has a wider application than to just Greece and Greeks. I'm not surprised that he is not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite like his style.

[Stavros]

Hi Margaret,

I've been gone from my computer for awhile, a welcome break which I needed. Glad you got a chance to read Mr. Dimou again. I like his style too, although he can certainly be combative, in a good sort of way. I'm going to try and read his first book when I go to Greece this summer.

[Kat]

I've read this post a few times because since starting my site, a few people have pointed me his way, telling me that I may like him or identify him. But to be honest, I'm hot-cold because some of his writings are quite good, while others rub me the wrong way. Maybe it's because I'm not Greek, or not quite that smart alecky, I don't know. Still, I quite liked some of the things you excerpted here, so thank you! It saves me from reading everything and piques my interest enough to give it another go.

[Stavros]

Kat,

I feel the same way, yet I admire his ability to take on the accepted view we have of ourselves. To question some of the things we take for granted. If we disagree with him, and can argue tit for tat our position, doesn't it strengthen our view in the long run or if we modify our thinking based on a kernel of doubt he may plant in our mind is that not also beneficial?

I think you both see the same kinds of things and both of you express some of that frustration in your writings, albeit in different ways.

[Kat]

Stavro - It's not that I necessarily disagree with him. I believe my hot-cold feelings stem more from his sometimes haughty tone and over-analysis of simple thoughts. But like you said, that may originate from my own preference of style and expression.

Certainly, some of the things he says make me think and that's never a bad thing. Admittedly I have strong stances on many issues, but I've always been open and respectful of differing views. It's what makes the world go 'round.

I also wanted to add that Nikos Kazantzakis was labeled an anti-Hellene and unorthodox in his day. Yet he's a hero and revered in modern day. I'm not saying Dimou has or ever will reach this status, I'm saying that pioneering or influential figures always encounter controversy and adversity at the beginning. It wouldn't be revolutionary otherwise.

Or in the words of my friend Rip, "What's worse? To catch hell or to be dismissed without a glance?"

[Stavros]

Katinaki,

Dimou is an intellectual, someone who must think "big,important thoughts." His writing style reflects the difficulty all intellectuals find when trying to express themselves.

You and I have more pragmatic writing styles. We seek to communicate in a more concise and straightforward style. Our message is simpler.

I think historically and even now, there are a great many "influential" Greeks who are totally ignored in Greece. Kazantzakis was not recognized in Greece until after his works were translated into English, to wide international acclaim. Same for Kavafy. Sad but true.

Rip hits the nail on the head. Being controversial is sometimes the only way to get your ideas noticed. Perhaps Dimou is trying to attract attention. Probably more likely, he is a guy that enjoys skewering people's complacency about certain matters. Hermes & Demonax have always used the technique to good effect. Personally, I am averse to it, yet I have been known to dabble in it, at times.