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Thanassis Valtinos: Στοιχεία για τη δεκαετία του ’60 (Data from the Decade of the Sixties)
This book claims to be a novel, which is why it is here but it certainly not a conventional novel. As the title tells us it is data from the Sixties, which means it is a host of varying snippets from the Sixties, a period of great upheaval in Greece as elsewhere. These snippets, as we shall see, take many forms incuding brief stories, letters, ads, government announcements, newspaper reports and general information about what is going on in Greece during that decade.
One thing that is going on is emigration. Lots of Greeks are emigrating elsewhere, including elsewhere in Europe, North America , Australia and one character reporting back from Africa – Katanga and then Nigeria. We get reports of this emigration – ships carrying large amounts of people to Australia but also returning with some Greeks (though far fewer than going out) who presumably did not make it or missed home. However the most interesting aspect of this emigration saga is the fact that Greeks cannot just leave. They have to apply and show various things, such as the fact that they have done their military service and paid their taxes amd they even have to go to emigration school to learn the language, usually English, and other facets of emigration. What we see is the various letters they write to the authorities where it is clear that they do not always understand the rules. In the introduction we are told that many of them are relatively uneducated and their letters are written in dialect or informal language which the translator had endeavoured to convey in English. Some seem to have not had the response they are waiting for. With others, documents seem to have got lost in the post. Others just pile in and ask for an immediate permit. We only see their letters, never what the authorities send if they do send anything. If you are well off you can even fly with Pan Am advertising flights to Australia. It does not always go well as we hear of disreputable Greek men who have emigrated preying on young Greek women who have emigrated.
The other frequent letters we see are to Mrs Mina. Mrs Mina is a radio agony aunt. Most (Though not all) of the letters are from women having man trouble – unfaithful husbands/boyfriends who in some cases, she finds out, are already married, difficult in-laws and also difficult parents or just unpleasant husbands/ boyfriends. Again we just see these letters, not Mrs Mina’s reply which, presumably, she discusses on her radio programme. However it is clear that she does reply, at least in some cases, as some of then send second and even third letters, following a change in circumstance or Mrs Mina’s suggestions not having the desired effect. Most seem to very unhappy. Until now, the young men I have met are all liars and cheats.
We also get quite a few newspaper crime reports. As happens everywhere, people kill, steal, commit fraud and so on and the papers enjoy giving their readers the gory details. Some of the crimes are quite brutal, one woman even cutting off the penis of an unfaithful lover.
Related to this we see dating agencies, mainly ladies of high moral character looking for a suitable man. Again we only see their letters and do not learn whether they succeed.
There are a variety of ads – health aids, sex aids, jobs, investment opportunities, many of which are undoubtedly scams.
It is not just the ordinary people we learn about. We hear stories of celebrities such as Aristotle Onassis (before he married Jackie Kennedy), Queeen Soraya and Prince Orsini and the death of Marilyn Monroe. Celebrity gossip was just as interesting to 1960s Greeks as it is now everywhere else.
Loose morals seem to be on the rise wth topless and even nude bathing reported on.
As regards politics this is the era of the Colonels’ coup but it is barely mentioned. We hear of political activity – the King met this person, this other minister did that, most of which will be meaningless to a non-Greek. However we do learn that several Greejs living abroad have lost their Greek citizenship because of antinational activities.
While it certainly gives a portrait of Greece of the 1960s it is clearly something of a mish-mash. The letters to Mrs Mina are the largest group and some of them are quite fascinating as it seems that many Greek women are having problems with their boyfriends, husbands, in-laws and their own families in pursuit of love. We get odd examples like this : I am in love with the surgeon who operated on my heart a few months ago who goes on to add a few months earlier I had broken off an eight-year-long relationship with my cardiologist. Talk about affairs of the heart! But we also have a thirteen year old writing in with romantic problems.
As a portrait of 1960s Greece this is interesting but as a novel less so.
Publishing history
First published in 1989 by Stigmí
First English translation in 2000 Northwestern University Press
Translated by Jane Assimakopoulos and Stavros Deligiorgis