| Title | : | Voices of Modern Greece |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0691013829 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780691013824 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 204 |
| Publication | : | First published November 19, 1981 |
C. P. Cavafy and Angelos Sikelianos are major poets of the first half of the twentieth century. George Seferis and Odysseus Elytis, who followed them, both won the Nobel Prize in literature. Nikos Gatsos was a very popular translator, lyricist, and critic.
Voices of Modern Greece Reviews
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Every so often I pick this off the shelf and recall what a bolt of lightening it was. On Mrs H's bookshelf when we met decades ago. I thank God for the labours of editors and translators and academic presses, and writers toiling away in semi obscurity (though these Greek names are now well known), and professors assigning collections, and wives who save their assigned readers, and for that God who makes poets, and the experiences of the world that makes poems, and for the rhythms of language, and for memorable turns of phrase....
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I picked up this book looking for the works of Odysseus Elytis, as part of my quest to read at least one work from every Nobel laureate. I couldn't get my hand on any other book by Elytis, only this selection of modern Greek poetry. Realizing that I can kill two birds with one stone, since George Seferis is another Nobel laureate, I went for this one.
Reading poetry in translation always carries a huge risk of missing crucial elements. Which is why I'm apprehensive to pass judgment on these poets, especially those whom I didn't like, because it's probable that I would have liked them if I could read them in the original Greek. Generally, I was a bit taken aback at how similar to a superficial stereotype of Greek literature these poems felt, filled with allusions to Greek mythology and olives and the Mediterranean and such.
Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of C. P. Cavafy, Angelos Sikelianos, and Nikos Gastos, feeling like their poems were too simple and filled with unsurprising imagery and straightforward statements. Again, I recognize that I might have a very different opinion if I could read them in original Greek. I thought Odysseus Elytis was OK but not great, with brilliant lines but overall the same.
I had a much more different reaction to George Seferis, who has become one of my favorite posts of all time. Chilling, atmospheric, and incredibly evocative poems that are filled with powerful innovative imagery and descriptions, with poems that are at times apocalyptic and at times tender. I read each of his poems multiple times and I was moved by each.
