journal of Greek media & culture Volume 7 Number 2 © 2021 Intellect Ltd Artcle. English language. htps://doi.org/10.1386/jgmc_00037_1 Received 13 October 2020; Accepted 26 February 2021 MARIA NIKOLOPOULOU Natonal and Kapodistrian University of Athens Subversive literary representatons of 1821 in the Metapolitefsi (1974–81) ABSTRACT . The article refers to the Greek War of independence’s afterlife during the Transition period in Greece (1974-1981), focusing on literature. The military dictatorship (1967-1974) presented itself as the heir of this national revolution. Representations of the 1821 were popularized and mediatized through flm, paintings and the public spectacles organized by the regime, culminating with the 150-year anniversary in 1971. This triggered an alternative use of these representations, by songwriters, playwrights and writers who aimed to subvert them through mimicry. Focusing on three novels by young writers of the period, Yoryis Yatromanolakis’ Leimonario (The Spiritual Meadow) (1974), Nikos Platis’, Gkount mpai mister pap (‘Goodbye Mr. Pap’) (1976) and Takis Theodoropoulos’, Ο vios stin politeia tou Thodori Kotronithodorikolou (‘Life in the city of Thodoris Kotronithodorikolos’) (1977), the article examines how these young writers subverted the representations of heroism constructed by the dictatorship through the use of surrealistic and avant-garde techniques to subvert national narrative. The use of pastiche, the corporeal and the fantastic, in the case of Yatromanolakis, creates an alternative discourse of heroism. In the case of Platis and Theodoropoulos surrealistic techniques, the low and transgressive sexuality create a grotesque gallery of heroes, by emphasizing the hybridity and performativity of their identities. These writers also questioned and experimented with the ways in which history is represented in narrative, through [259]