The nation is a dead prostitute

[Marullus] "becomes the first poet who identifies as Modern Greek or Graecus", surrenders to an unprecedented nostalgia that pushes the borrowed Latin language to conceive the terms genus, patria of the emerging modern notion of nation. The experience of displacement births a novel Modern Greek patriotism. Seeking new ways to relate to the community he … Continue reading The nation is a dead prostitute →

The alchemist’s fever

Siniossoglou on Plethon[1]: More's Utopia was designed from the outset to stay in the sphere of ou-topos [no-place] and ou-chronos [no-time]. Plethon's utopia fervently[2] searches for locality and temporality [...] From a Christian and Stoic viewpoint [such insistence] confirms that by nature man is unable to find happiness in his Dasein and is attracted to what he does not or … Continue reading The alchemist’s fever →

Translating (unfinished) Cavafy: From The Historia Arcana

[The otherwise model archive of cavafy.com doesn't offer English translations of his unfinished poems. Here's an attempt at a short macabre that shows a different side of the "sensational" Alexandrine. Original text can be found here.] Often the look of Justinian horror and disgust inspired in his attendants. Something they suspected they did not dare utter; … Continue reading Translating (unfinished) Cavafy: From The Historia Arcana →

Translating Thanasis Triaridis: prologue to the honey lemons

[the phrase honey lemons is a literal approximation of μελένια λεμόνια, which sounds like melénia lemónia, and if you think this phonetic wordplay jibes nicely with the clash between sweet honey and sour lemon, you should also appreciate it takes a real translator to carry it over into another language. If you are a real … Continue reading Translating Thanasis Triaridis: prologue to the honey lemons →

Translating Thanasis Triaridis: Background to their love

Included in “Ich Bebe”, first self-published electronically in 2007 without copyright ( http://www.triaridis.gr/ichbebe/ ) Every time he saw, still a teenager, on TV or in books those famous wonders of the world, Pyramids, Great Walls, Cathedrals reaching to the sky, he thought of killers holding swords and whips and slaves buried in various foundations unable … Continue reading Translating Thanasis Triaridis: Background to their love →