ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the Beats' influence on another national literature, namely recent and contemporary Greek poetry. It suggests that the Beat ethos of resistance, soul-searching, and jazz-infused lyricism have been profoundly influential on Greek writers of the last few decades. Greece is an interesting cultural hub to turn to when discussing modern and recent literature. Much of the poetry written by the first post-war generation of Greek poets is a direct response to a war-barren Europe, the death of millions, either in battle or in concentration camps, the misery of military occupation and the moral crisis brought about by such destruction. In their essay on the Beats' influence on Greek poet Lefteris Poulios, Gair and Georganta argue that he draws on significant Beat motifs, such as jazz, isolation, a sense of abandonment, travel, and the road as a kind of symbol, "to construct an image that is simultaneously deeply nationalistic and unashamedly transnational in its location of the poetic voice".
