Neither Greek nor Indian: Space, Nation, and History in River of Fire and The Mermaid Madonna

Abstract

This chapter presents a meditation on the idea of Europe, postcolonial nationalism, the ethnic cleansing, Phil and Neo-Hellenism, the Indian Partition, and the Greek-Turkish population transfer, through a reading of the use of ekphrasis (the verbal description of an aesthetic object) in Quratulain Hyder's Ag ka Darya and River of Fire and Stratis Myrivilis's The Mermaid Madonna. It argues for the necessity of recognizing the mutual constitution and "porosity" of Europe and Asia and, more generally, North Africa.