The New Ottoman Greece in History and Fiction

Description

This book explores the increasing interest in the Ottoman past in contemporary Greek society and its cultural sphere. It considers how the changing geo-political balances in South-East Europe since 1989 have offered Greek society an occasion to re-examine the transition from cultural diversity in the imperial context, to efforts to homogenize culture in the subsequent national contexts. This study shows how contemporary immigration and better relations with Turkey led to new directions in historiography, fiction and popular culture in the beginning of the twenty-first century. It focuses on how narratives about cultural co-existence under Ottoman rule are used as a prism of national self-awareness and argues that the interpretations of Greece’s Ottoman legacy are part of the cultural battles over national identity and belonging. The book examines these narratives within the context of tension between East and West and, not least, Greece’s place in Europe. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: The New Ottoman Greece—A Heritage in Search of Identity and Inheritors (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 1-26 New Approaches to the Ottoman Legacy in Historiography, Education, and Music Studies (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 27-64 Fearing Neo-Ottomanism: Counter-discourses and Reactions to the ‘New Ottoman Greece’ (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 65-88 Cultivating Osmanalgia: Intersections of History and Fiction in Thessaloniki (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 89-111 Narrating the Nation and Its (Ottoman) Legacy: The Greek Historical Novel and the Role of Fiction Writers (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 113-145 Appropriating the Ottoman Past in Three Novels: Greek-Turkish Friendship, Nostalgia, and Religious Coexistence (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 147-209 Epilogue: Ottoman Greece from 1980 to 2018 (Trine Stauning Willert)....Pages 211-221 Back Matter ....Pages 223-225