Odysseas Elytis

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Category: Literature

Published on Friday, 05 June 2020 16:35

This week, I will talk about one of the most famous Greeks of the 20^th century, one of the two Nobel prize for literature winners from this country. For all of you who are just thinking “ah there are two Greeks who won the Nobel prize for literature?” Yes, there are two of them, Giorgos Seferis, and his maybe slight less known fellow Odysseas Elytis about whom I will talk today.

Since I already mentioned the Nobel prize for literature, let me start with this aspect of Elytis life. From his early adulthood on, he followed his passion for literature even though this was not always easy and finally was awarded in 1979 for his “poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear-sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness". Yeah, well I know they just tried to put all the information in one phrase, but I will come back to it in a moment and explain it.

So when I said that it was not always easy for Elytis to follow his passion, I meant that writing was not the thing that he made his living of. In the beginning, he was studying law, but since it kept him from writing, Elytis quit the University of Athens in order to have more time for art and literature. He became one of the most important poets of the Generation of the 30s, which means that he was part of the revolution in Greek literature from the old classic form using fixed verse forms, to the modern, more free form we know today.

Later, he fought in WWII for the freedom of his home country Greece. Again, it was hard for him to find the time for writing but still managed to write some poetry like the piece “An heroic and funeral chant for the Lieutenant lost in Albania” which is shaped by his experiences in the war. After the war, Elytis became director of the Greek National Radio Foundation. Only shorty after, he travelled to different (European) countries to learn more about literature and art, as well as in order to exchange with other artists before finally being awarded with the Nobel prize for literature. He received the price for his contribution in the change of Greek literature to what it is now, which most importantly means “readable” for not only other poets or students of literature, but everyone. Apart from that, Elytis is also known for writing sometimes surrealistic, often optimistic poems and essays focussing on the simple life like the one lived on some islands of the Aegean Sea.

With this said, it is time for me to enjoy this life again. So I hope you learned something today!