The Dark Philosopher and the postmodern turn: Heraclitus in the poetry of Seferis,Elytis and Fostieris

Abstract

Σ?ρμα ε?κ? κεχυμ?νων ? κ?λλιστο? κ?σμο?.

The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings.

Heraclitus D.124

This article examines the ways in which the perennial philosophy of Heraclitus becomes a site where the battle between modernist and postmodernist poetics unfolds. Seferis and Elytis exploit the Heraclitean doctrines of change, unity of opposites and the all-permeating logos in a manner that allows them to conceptualize and present what Lyotard calls the ‘modernist sublime’. Fostieris mobilizes the very same doctrines within his poetry, flouting the logical law of contradiction as Heraclitus did. By using and abusing the very concepts he challenges, Fostieris interrogates the modernist quest for master narratives and universal consensus, bringing forward the illusory character of such endeavours.