Greek intellectual life and literary production in the context of Ioannis Metaxas's régime (1936-1941)

The close monitoring of every artistic and intellectual movement by Metaxas's dictatorship has repeatedly been discussed. Th is monitoring was not achieved only in a direct way, i.e. through the imprisonment of intellectuals, book burnings or state censorship, but also by the implementation of various indirect tactics. All these tactics targeted to the limitation of negative reactions by the then Greek intelligentsia – or, at least, to stifle direct protest against the régime. Simultaneously, many bourgeois writers and artists seem either to had grown weary due to the very long political instability and social division, and to had become skeptical about the further strengthening of the left wing, or they were undoubtedly plunged into a greater confusion, viewing the development of a sharp patriotic (if not nationalistic) rhetoric which was identifi ed with the rise of totalitarian and authoritarian régimes throughout the world. In any case, any pertinent evidence needs to be carefully studied, on the one hand to explore the literary and intellectual interests of Metaxas himself, and on the other hand to clarify his personal views and the relationships of the 4th of August régime with intellectuals and artists, as well as of these latter with the dictator and the program of his administration. Furthermore, all this needs to be placed within the context of the actions of Metaxas's régime, the way it was ruthlessly harsh on followers of the left, especially the communists, thousands of whom were sent to prison or into exile. At the same time, the seeming support of those who took up public positions needs careful analysis: each individual writer and artist had mixed motives and often considerable ambivalence, and each case needs exploration in its own terms.