Το αποικιοκρατικό παρελθόν στο μεταποικιοκρατικό παρόν στο μυθιστόρημα του Nίκου Ορφανίδη Ο Άγγελος έφυγε ευτυχισμένος

Abstract

Please note: This article is in Greek. This paper is part of an extensive research project, which examines the Greek novels of Cyprus within the framework of postcolonial theory, in an attempt to add another paradigm to the universal body of postcolonial literature. It begins with a general introduction to postcolonial theory and critique and it then focuses on Frederic Jameson’s thesis that all literatures produced by ex-colonized countries are concerned with their nation’s situation in the decades that followed anti-colonial struggles and de-colonization and thus could be considered as “national allegories”. The main part of the paper analyses N. Orfanides’s novel, "Angelos Departed Happy", in order to establish the extent to which Jameson’s thesis applies to this novel. More specifically, it examines how the writer uses local history, symbolism and inertextuality in order to give a voice to a “subaltern” nation, to project national identity and to undermine the colonial perception of cultural superiority and local cultural inferiority. The conclusion drawn is that, indeed, Orfanides’s novel could be read as “a national allegory of the embattled situation” of the Greek nation.