Kostas Axelos's 1954 Essay on Modern Greece Republished

Kostas Axelos's 1954 essay 'Le Destin de la Grèce moderne' has been republished by Encre marine. Written in French when Axelos was thirty and originally published in the journal Esprit, the text was only translated into Greek in 2010, the year of the philosopher's death, where it became a bestseller. Axelos, who had been exiled in Paris since 1945, examines whether a 'modern' Greece can exist given its disconnect from its ancient and Byzantine heritage. He critiques two disastrous attitudes: hellenocentrism, which he calls the 'major illusion of neo-Hellenic self-consciousness,' and servilely imitative occidentalism. Rejecting Spengler's view of Greece as a 'magical nation,' Axelos argues that modern Greece fails to achieve the 'universal.' He points to the country's provincialism, stemming from its failure to 'live the time of history,' leading to directionless and senseless efforts. The book poses urgent questions about Greece's destiny and modernity, resonating with contemporary debates on techno-scientific globalization and historical perspectives. Pierre Brullé provides commentary.