Reading Greek Australian Literature through the Paramythi

‘Though nothing could be more worldly than Australian multicultural literature, it has been largely boxed away from “world literature” as conceived by scholars and reviewers. Anna DImitriou’s searching examination, perceptive about and respectful of a range of very different writers, shows how the achievements and processes of Greek Australian literature are of global resonance. From the scabrous satire of Christos Tsiolkas to the sonorous eloquence of Dimitris Tsaloumas, from the materiality of Antigone Kefala to the spirituality of Stylianos Charkianakis, to the arduous ironies of Dean Kalimniosand Fotini Eoanomitis, Dimitriou provides the overview of Greek Australian literature for which the field has long waited.’ — Nicholas Birns, New York University ‘Anna Dimitriou’s scholarly study uses the lens of sub-literary, vernacular paramythi (Greek fairytales) to argue that Greek/Australian writing provides an impetus for reframing conversations about “multicultural” literary production. The heterodoxy of the writers who deploy paramythi is astonishing: from the soothing mysticism of poet-archbishop Charkianakis to the aggressively countercultural grunge-realist Christos Tsiolkas. This work changes the conversation about diasporic and global cos-mopolitanism in the mainstream Anglophone Australian literary tradition.’ — Dr Frances Dev-lin-Glass, Honorary Associate Professor, Deakin University ‘In her detailed analysis of paramythic transformation, changes wrought by Greek Australian writers on the oral storytelling practices of their homeland, Anna Dimitriou offers a powerful demonstration of the ways in which diasporic writing bridges the gap between local and global, multicultural and cosmo-politan.’ —Wenche Ommundsen, University of Wollongong