Greek Literature

[Stewart]

Greek literature seems to have had its heyday thousands of years back with the likes of Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes. Spanning poetry, songs, drama, and philosophy, no one can argue that it's contribution to world literature isn't a rich tapestry that continues to inspire and inform literature today. Even a number of the Canongate Myths series seek to retell its stories.

Nowadays, however, you don't hear much about Greek Literature. Not in a contemporary sense. Aside from a novel by Vangelis Hatziyannidis, which sits on my shelves, the only other Greek novelist I can think of is Nikos Kazantzakis, author of Zorba The Greek and The Last Temptation Of Christ. I bought a book by a guy called Apostolos Doxiadis, thinking I'd found a Greek writer, only to later read the 'About The Author' section and discover he was Australian.

But looking around I see that Greece has produced two Nobel laureates, neither of which I'd heard of - Giorgos Seferis and Odysseas Elytis, poets both. Perhaps Greece stays loyal to its roots, producing greater volumes of poetry and drama over prose.

From ancient to now, what Greek Literature would you recommend?

[Heteronym]

Perhaps Greece stays loyal to its roots, producing greater volumes of poetry and drama over prose.

Nations by the sea have always excelled at poetry: Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland. Verse is the medium of adventurers.

Panos Karnezis is the only modern writer I know: he's written a short-story collection titled Little Infamies (2002), and the novels The Maze (2004) and The Birthday Party (2007). Disturbingly enough, he doesn't have a wiki entry in any language I know. I only know he was born in 1967.

I also have some fondness for the early-20th century poet Cavafy too, although I have read very few poems. His historical poems are quite lovely.

[Stewart]

Well, now that I'm going to see her at the Edinburgh Book Festival, I can add Amanda Michalopoulou to the list of Greek writers. It seems like her first book translated to English is I'd Like, a collection of interlinked short stories, published by the Dalkey Archive. So, since I'm going, I've bought the book. Simple.

[Eric]

I spotted this the other day:

Tuesday 9 September 2008

Unscrewing the Inscrutable

Simon Darragh, poet and translator, primarily of Modern Greek, seeks solutions to problematic poetry. He argues that the ability to translate well is often not connected to fluency in the translated language.
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Society of Authors
Cost, including refreshments: ?7.50.

For more information and to book a place, contact Sarah Baxter at the SoA: sbaxter@societyofauthors.org
The Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London SW10 9SB. 020 7373 6642

*

I gave a similar workshop on aspects of translation at the same venue on 10th June. It was fun to do, and I even managed to smuggle a literary text by Alex de Pfeffel, as I called him, into the workshop. Can anyone guess who that is?

[saliotthomas]

Tale of lost times by Aris Fakinos,was a very well writen book.The story of a couple of farmer,Vanguelis and Sophia,at the start of the century.Not the life of paradise one expect to hear about life in greece.Very hard but also very funny.Fakinos manage to make you swallow terrible stories with well chosen images and suden lightness in tone.Here is an author worth attention.I read he was exiled in France under the Colonels but write in Greek.

[kpjayan]

"Uncle Petros and Goldbach's conjecture" by 'Apostolous Doxiadis is one worth reading. The credentials of the writer itself is outstanding.

[sara]

Vassilis Alexakis is another acclaimed greek writer, and I believe that his books are very often translated in many languages-
however, I am not sure that his books "reveal" a lot about modern greek literature, since he's been living in France for over 30 years.
Petros Markaris is also quite known, but I am not fond of his books at all (he writes mostly crime fiction).

My favorite greek author is Soti Triantafillou-
especially her earlier books, like "Saturday night on the edge of town" and "the Pencil Factory".
I am not sure which ones are translated into english, but I am pretty sure most of them are.
However, she is not the typical greek author either, having lived for ages in the US (One of her books. Poor Margo, was even originally written in english and then translated to greek by someone else).
Most people I know consider her writing to be closer to the modern american style of writing than greek.

Another author I like is Antonis Sourounis-
Now he may have lived in Germany in the 60s as an immigrant, but his writing is typical of the greek mindset, IMO.
One of his books, "Gus the Gangster", is definitely one the best greek books I 've read. I am pretty sure that he must be quite known in Germany.

As fas as poetry goes, along with K.P. Cavafy, I'd also like to mention Odysseas Elytis and George Seferis, who both won the Nobel prize in the 70s and in the 60s respectively.
They have both been heavily translated-
Elytis is considered to be a great "ambassador" of Greece and one of its most representative writers, in the sense that his poetry is deeply influenced by the sunlight and the Aegean sea-
still his works manage to be more that a mere picturesque portrayal of the greek landscape.
Some of them, like "Axion Esti" (really impossible to translate) are full of subtle political messages and others, like The Monogram, are purely romantic.

I guess Cavafy is the most "universal" of the three.
His poems "Ithaka" and "God abandon Anthony" (my favorite one- it deals roughly with human dignity) and some of his other philosophical poems are really strong, wise, without necessarily being pedantic or naive.
And they are still relevant today.

[sara]

Well, now that I'm going to see her at the Edinburgh Book Festival, I can add Amanda Michalopoulou to the list of Greek writers. It seems like her first book translated to English is I'd Like, a collection of interlinked short stories, published by the Dalkey Archive. So, since I'm going, I've bought the book. Simple.

Yes, I used to be quite fond of her.
Her style is feminine, yet very smart.
I liked her first book, "Yandes "(english title "Octopus Garden"- not really sure) but I found her second one (t. That's life), which was full of complicated and not utterly necessary Kafka references, a little bit pretentious.
Her short stories are cute though.

[Eric]

The British publishing house Dedalus publishes "The Dedalus Book of Greek Fantasy", 2004, edited and translated by David Connolly.

It is 308 pages long and contains 30 fantasy stories by a large variety of authors, writing over the past century or so.

According to the introduction:

The themes in this anthology include inter-planetary travel (Lascaratos and Grigoriadis), vampires (Paraschos, Ambatzoglou), encounters with the devil (Cavafy, Theotokas), fairytale (Ro?dis, Papadiamantis, Karkavitsas), haunted places (Kourtovik), the accursed hero (Kontoglou), the macabre and grotesque (Episkopopoulos, Gonatas), the surreal (Embiricos, Valaoritis), the bizarre and absurd (Leivaditis, Houliaras) and so on.

The collection also features works by authors who have systematically cultivated the genre: namely, Tassos Roussos (who describes the quest of a latter-day alchemist) and Makis Panorios (who puts his actor in the position of having to decide whether he will agree to perform on another planet).

I'd never heard of any of the authors before, apart from Cavafy, but it shows that even in this genre of fantasy literature, contemporary Greek writing thrives.

[Stewart]

Talking of Dedalus, they have published four novels by a Greek writer: Yoryis Yatromanolakis:

Yoryis Yatromanolakis was born in 1940 on the Greek island of Crete. He is the Professor of Ancient Greek at the University of Athens. The publication of his first novel, The Spiritual Meadow (Leimonario), in 1974 led to immediate recognition in Greece and many critics still believe it to be his best book. It was, however, his third novel, The History of a Vendetta (Dedalus translation 1991), which established him as one of Greece's most important 20th century novelists. It was awarded the First Greek National Prize for Literature and the Nikos Kazantzakis Prize. His fourth novel A Report of a Murder was published by Dedalus in 1995. His latest novel, Eroticon (Dedalus translation 1999), has been hailed as one of the masterpieces of erotic literature.

Titles:

• A Report Of A Murder
• Eroticon
• The History Of A Vendetta
• The Spiritual Meadow
  

[Stewart]

The latest Words Without Borders takes a look at Greek Literature.

[Eric]

That "Words Without Border" selection of articles is rather encouraging really, Stewart. Modern Greek literature is so hugely overshadowed by its ancient precursor, that people rarely know much about what has been written in the various brands of Greek over the past century or so.

I see from the Karen Emmerich article, that exile Greeks, emigration and immigration have played a large role in 20th century Greek literature.

[Corswandt]

The problem with modern Greek literature may well be that it lacks a token star/widely translated author that everyone has at least heard about, like say Portugal had Saramago, Albania has Kadare or Turkey has Pamuk. Italian literature has faced much the same problem in recent years - but come to think of it some stuff, even if it's Melissa P., still trickles out and finds an international audience from time to time, whereas with Greece virtually nothing does; contemporary Russian literature may be a better comparison in that regard.

a novel by Vangelis Hatziyannidis

That should be Four Walls. It was also translated in here as Quatro Paredes. I found it in a bookstore shelf and briefly leafed through it. I noticed a taste of magical realism, which wasn't really what I was looking for, but I may end up getting it anyway due to lack of any alternatives.

Panos Karnezis is the only modern writer I know: he's written a short-story collection titled Little Infamies (2002), and the novels The Maze (2004) and The Birthday Party (2007). Disturbingly enough, he doesn't have a wiki entry in any language I know. I only know he was born in 1967.

Karnezis is Greek indeed, but he wrote all of his work in English IIRC. I read The Maze/O Labirinto, which is set during the latter stages of the Greco-Turkish War, and liked it.Karnezis chose an interesting topic and aimed fairly high - but not too high - and managed to craft a solid novel that may not be brilliant but has no obvious flaws. He seems to be a clever writer, of the sort that is well aware of his own capabilities and shortcomings.

As for the poets, I read an anthology of Seferis' work and liked it a lot. Elegant, accessible. Perhaps a good entry point. Kavafis is one of my favourite poets, up there with Baudelaire. Not that it means much as I don't read poetry very often.

[Liam]

Cavafy!!!!!

The year twenty-twelve will see the publication of Cavafy's COMPLETE POEMS, in English translation, by scholar and academic Daniel Mendelsohn.

Previously published in two volumes (in 2009), all of Cavafy's poems (including the unfinished ones) will be included in this 736-pp. paperback edition from Knopf/Vintage. Quite affordably priced, too.

[Liam]

Ioanna Karystiani's novel (?) Back to Delphi is to be published in English translation in February. No other details are available so far.