Golden sunbeams cut through the window upon an adolescent girl napping on what looks like a Roman couch, something regal about her attire—NAUSICAA. She is awoken by her handmaidens as ornate chests open and gilded dresses are heaped upon naked shoulders. They treat her with deference, but there is laughter and banter. They bid her … Continue reading The Return: the Odyssey considered as limited series | pilot pitch
Tag: the new greeks
REPOST: Odysseus Butthurt
This humor piece was originally published on the excellent Vanity Projection, in late 2018, just as I went back to writing. VP is sadly defunct, so I’m reproducing the piece here, even though almost two years later I’m not entirely happy with its opening, or its butthurt. Nevertheless, even though I’m not opposed to linking people … Continue reading REPOST: Odysseus Butthurt
The Dragon’s Baby
Μαργαρίτα Παπαγεωργίου We only know her as Baby, and she does do baby, damsel in distress. She also does femme fatale. She does abuse survivor, war survivor, class survivor. She does tease and faithful friend. His friend. iMDB calls him Ogre, Franzen called him Fiend, the movie really calls him the Dragon. That's what you still call … Continue reading The Dragon’s Baby
Book Review: JOHANNES ANGELOS, by Mika Waltari (with spoilers)
[Read in Greek, so the few quotes are approximated] [Content warning: historical detail may resonate in manner disheartening to modern Greeks] Part of the reason this doesn't make 4 stars is just my own differing expectations. I came for the forbidden romance set against falling Constantinople, and halfway through I found myself in the middle … Continue reading Book Review: JOHANNES ANGELOS, by Mika Waltari (with spoilers)
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 best scene in Wonder Woman
Patty Jenkins' film about an idealist warrior's rude awakening is among the best entries in its genre. I don't think it's perfect, but I don't think any superhero movie is. Wonder Woman was of course lauded for flying through the old glass ceiling. But representation aside, I think the real takeaway from this comes after … Continue reading The best scene in Wonder Woman
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
Book takeaway: THE BYZANTINE ECONOMY, by Angeliki E. Laiou and Cecile Morisson
Laiou and Morrison's The Byzantine Economy is a study, not a story. I read it as an outsider struggling to keep up with the endless silks, vineyards, pottery, glassware, legislation, special taxes and shipwrecks so the conclusions make sense and there is gist to take away. The book covers almost the entirety of the empire's … Continue reading Book takeaway: THE BYZANTINE ECONOMY, by Angeliki E. Laiou and Cecile Morisson
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
the Budafoki amended 