The Language Problem

by CONSTANTINE TSATSOS

LANGUAGE PROBLEM of language has been the most difficult problem that Greek writers — and indeed all Greeks — hare had to face. What language should we write in? This question is at the heart of our cultural and even our political history. Fifty years ago, when a theatrical troupe tried to stage the Oresteia in a modern translation, citizens of Athens rioted in the streets, and, a short time earlier a few students actually died in an attempt to keep the gospels from being put into the modern language.And nobody thought their martyrdom was farfetched.

Today the argument, at least on the surface, is not so violent; but it still exists. How did it all begin?

In the first place, it must be remembered that the flowering of Greek culture came at the beginning, nearly 2,500 years ago. Ever since then, writers have been trying to live up to that magnificent heritage, and it hasn’t been easy. Some of them, especially the welleducated ones, naturally believed the best way to do it was to imitate the ancients, even to the point of writing as much as possible in the language of classic Greece. Others said that they should write in the demotic, or vernacular, language and trust to its vigor to create a living literature.

And so the argument has raged — on one hand the “ancients,” on the other the “moderns.” The church fathers, the Byzantine theologians, the modern critics have all debated fiercely. Today it is safe to say the “ moderns” have the edge. The great folk poetry of the Middle Ages, the “resistance” literature of the years of Ottoman occupation, and much modern writing have given the demotic power and dignity, and it is used by many writers and even taught in public schools. But the “ancients” are still active.

The argument has always been close to politics. For centuries the “ancients” were considered the true nationalists of Greece, who were upholding the glories of Greek culture against the depredations of foreign ideas. But at the same time, the “moderns” claimed that by writing of contemporary Greece in a living language, they were the real nationalists. Today, unfortunately, the communists have taken up the cause of the demotic, hopi ng thereby to reach more people, and many of those who combat the communist ideology have foolishly felt it necessary to adopt the cause of the ancient language. Thus the problem has been aggravated by wholly nonlinguistic factors, and the solution — a genuine reintegration of literary form with living and vigorous language — seems as far away as ever.

One thing is clear, however, in spite of all the contention: the language will evolve along its natural course, drawing closer and closer to the heart of the Greek people. The time will come, politics or no, when Greek writers will have at their command a language which incorporates both the strong idiom of speech and the technique for expressing abstract thought. Then the spiritual and artistic reawakening of Greece — even now we can see its first signs — will be bound to occur.

Translated by Conn Hadjilia