“The Greek idea” is the title of the last book of the Australian scientist, who has Greek origins Maria Kundura. In her book she studies the preserving of the national and transnational identity of the people, who have chosen to live their life outside the borders of their mother country (The Greek Idea, I.B. Tauris, 2007). Kundura starts from the position of the postcolonial theory and she offers a new critical point of view, from which we study and learn these identities. The author puts in the center of her research and analyses the cultural material, which Greece offers as European culture, but at the same time as “the different” culture in Europe.

The long term relationship of Greece with the English literature starts in the end of the 18^th century when the British travelers rediscover the country and feed the myth about Greece as part of the western culture. Maria Kundura analyses in an excellent way what this myth means for the Greeks living in Greece and outside its borders. By using characters from the English, American, Australian and Greek literature the author makes some interesting remarks about the culture of the Greek Diaspora around the world in the 20^th century.

Maria Kundura is a professor in British and Postcolonial literature in the “Emerson” college in Boston. She has published books and articles on the problems of nationalism, multicultural societies, globalization, helenophility and orientalism. Currently she works on her next book “Desire Lines: Metaphors of the Global City”.  

At the picture: One of the most famous British travelers and an enthusiastic helenophil – the poet Lord Brian.