Vassilis Alexakis, the migrant Greek child. : About the reality of in-between fictional characters and literary spaces

Abstract

Vassilis Alexakis (Athens, 1943-2021) started writing in French while living in France, he then changed to Greek language, which was followed by what resulted in a systematic practice of self-translation in both directions for most of his works. He is a very well-known author both in France and in Greece and one of the most well-known cases of contemporary literary self-translators, as well as an exponent of literary hybridity. In 2012 he was awarded the Prix de la Langue Française for the whole of his career. That same year, after an important operation on one leg, Vassilis Alexakis spent a month and a half on crutches at a hotel near the Parisian Luxembourg Garden. Just like the main character of his fourteenth and second to last novel, L’enfant grec, that he wrote then. In all his books, Alexakis seems to have the need to talk about himself but also about space. He constantly offers countless spatial references. Is it because of being out of his comfort zone then, or is it because of his (for many years already) life divided in between his two beloved countries, that Alexakis needs to constantly speak about places? Is there a link between all the geographical references and the existential need of knowing where he is? We shall explore the relationship between Vassilis Alexakis and space in this particular novel, linked to the reinvention of literary space in Alexakis’ work.