‘Only Stones and Stories Remain’: Greek American (Travel) Writing about Greece

Authors

  • Evangelia Kindinger

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.136

Abstract

Since the early 1960s, numerous Greek American authors of the second and third generation have published personal accounts on their travels to Greece. In this paper, I argue that these authors adopt a double perspective, being both ‘visitors’ and ‘locals’ who are affiliated with both the ‘here’ and the ‘there.’ Returnees often experience a feeling of belatedness when arriving in their ancestral homeland. They overcome this feeling by inscribing themselves into the foreign but - paradoxically - familiar past, and by making a contribution to the Greek diaspora. Although the intersections of travel writing and return writing are strong, in this paper, return writing will be defined as a subgenre of both diaspora writing and travel writing.

Author Biography

Evangelia Kindinger

Evangelia Kindinger studied Theater and American Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum and Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts. She received her Master of Arts degree in October 2007 with a thesis on “Fatherhood in the Contemporary American Family Novel.“ Currently, she is working on her dissertation “‘Back to a Place Where Everyone Knew My Name’: Negotiating Home(s) in Greek-American Return Narratives.“ After a seven-month research stay in the United States, the dissertation is in its final stages, prospectively to be handed in by September 2011. At Ruhr-University Bochum, she works as a research associate for the chair of American Studies, also teaching classes in American and Cultural Studies.

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How to Cite

Kindinger, Evangelia. “‘Only Stones and Stories Remain’: Greek American (Travel) Writing about Greece”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 12, May 2012, doi:10.5283/copas.136.

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Articles