Alexandros Papadiamantis (1851–1911) wurde auf der nördlichen Sporadeninsel Skiathos geboren. Seine Familie war streng religiös. Nach seinem literarischen Debüt mit Gedichten und historischen Romanen konzentrierte sich Papadiamantis ausschließlich auf seine Erzählungen. Seine Geschichten handeln vom Alltag bescheidener Menschen, die darin beschriebenen Landschaften und Hintergründe gehen auf seine persönlichen Erfahrungen zurück. Papadiamantis gilt dank seiner meisterhaften Schilderungen von Charakteren und Situationen als einer der wichtigsten griechischen Schriftsteller des 19. Jahrhunderts.
Continue readingPavlos Kalligas, geb. 1814 in Smyrna (heute Izmir), gest. 1896 in Athen, studierte in Deutschland Jura, Philosophie und Geschichte.Nach seiner Promotion in Heidelberg war er in Athen als Juraprofessor, Rechts- und Staatsanwalt, Finanz-, Justiz- und Außenminister sowie als Direktor der Griechischen Nationalbank tätig. „Thanos Vlekas“ ist sein einziger Roman. Pavlos Kalligas’ über anderthalb Jahrhunderte alter Roman „Thanos Vlekas“ gilt als der erste sozialkritische Roman der neugriechischen Literatur. Mittels der tragischen Geschichte des rechtschaffenen Bauern Thanos…
Continue readingConstandinos Cavafis (1863-1933), griego nacido en Alejandría, salvo breves períodos, llevó en su ciudad natal una existencia oscura enteramente entregada a la poesía y a sus colaboraciones periodísticas. Modesto funcionario en un ministerio, de obra poética prácticamente desconocida en vida para el gran público y que, en realidad, sólo se publicó después de su muerte, en una cuidada selección de ciento cincuenta y cuatro poemas, sugerida por él mismo. Cavafis nunca pudo ver ni disfrutar…
Continue readingPedro Bádenas de la Peña (Madrid 1947) es Profesor de Investigaciόn Emérito del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientίficas. Helenista, filόlogo e historiador, ha cultivado por igual el mundo griego antiguo, medieval y moderno. Traductor de Esopo, Pίndaro, Esquilo, Menandro. Impulsor de los estudios bizantinos y neogriegos en España. La presente selecciόn se ha realizado a partir de su edición bilingüe de la Poesía completa de C.P. Cavafis, aparecida en 2017 en la Biblioteca de Literatura…
Continue readingEmmanuel Roïdes (1836-1904) was born into a wealthy family on the Greek island of Syros, but spent much of his childhood and early life in Europe. In 1841, his family moved to Genoa, where he lived through the revolution of 1848. He returned to Syros in 1849 and completed his schooling there, before leaving once again to pursue his university studies in history, literature and philosophy first in Germany and later in Romania. From 1864,…
Continue readingHippocrates was born around the year 460 BC on the Greek island of Kos and legendary genealogy traces his paternal heritage directly to Asclepius and his maternal ancestry to Hercules. He was probably trained at the Asclepieion of Kos, and took lessons from the Thracian physician Herodicus of Selymbria. Throughout his life Hippocrates taught and practiced medicine, traveling as far as Thessaly, Thrace, and the Sea of Marmara. He died, most probably in Larissa, at…
Continue readingIlias Venezis was born in Ayvali, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) in 1904. Ιn 1922, when 1.5 million Greeks were displaced from Asia Minor, eighteen-year-old Venezis was taken prisoner and sent to serve as forced labour for fourteen months in central Anatolia. This experience informed much of his writing, including his novel Number 31328. He was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, histories, travelogues and more. His work has been translated in many languages. In…
Continue readingM. Karagatsis (the pen name of Dimitris Rodopoulos) was born in Athens in 1908 and studied law in Grenoble and Athens. He is considered one of the finest Greek prose writers of the twentieth century and a central figure in the Generation of the ’30s, a group of writers, poets, artists, and scholars that introduced fresh modernist currents to Greek literature and art. He was a prolific writer, with over ten published novels, as well…
Continue readingLe marquis Auguste Queux de Saint-Hilaire (1837-1889), grâce à ses traductions et à ses publications, a beaucoup contribué à faire connaître en France des auteurs grecs des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, comme Adamantios Koraïs, Aristote Valaoritis ou Dimitris Vikélas.
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