An art historian and a philologist explore together and separately aspects of modernity in the prose of Mitsakis, Vizyinos, and Papadiamantis.

The three short stories discussed ("The Ship," "Between Piraeus and Neapolis," "The Nostalgic") have as a common reference point the journey at sea and thematize, in one way or another, one of the contradictions of modern consciousness: the allure of the element of chance (in nature and in the artistic process) and the simultaneous desire for absolute control (likewise: of nature and the artistic process).

The final study that makes up the volume (that on Papadiamantis' "Nostalgic") is co-signed by the two scholars and examines a writer who revels in the loss of control over his characters.