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Despite having won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1979, Odysseus Elytis--probably the greatest Greek poet of the 20th century--remained an obscure figure to the English-reading world. But with this posthumous edition (Elytis died in 1996 at the age of 84), translators Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris have given English-reading poetry lovers a chance to discover what all the fuss was about. Elytis's poems are passionate and subtle, rich with Greek history and myth, yet are also thoroughly modern in their sensibility. Any excerpt from a lifetime's worth of work is inadequate, but these lines from "Verb the Dark" give you a taste of Elytis's depth: "So then, what we called 'sky' is not; 'love' is not; 'eternal' is not. Things do not / Obey their names." Book Description

In awarding Odysseus Elytis the 1979 Nobel Prize in literature, the Swedish Academy praised him "for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clearsightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness." Throughout his long career as a poet, Elytis (1911--1996) remained true to his vision of a poetry that addresses the power of language and connects the history and mythology of Greece to the physical world and to the realities of the modern age. Renowned for their astonishing lyricism and profound optimism, Elytis's poems capture the natural wonders of Greece and give voice to the contemporary Greek -- and to a more universally human -- consciousness.

Originally published in 1997, The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis, translated into English by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris, was the first complete collection of Elytis's poems in any language. Included in this landmark volume were Elytis's early poems, influenced in equal parts by surrealism and the natural world; Song Heroic and Mourning for the Lost Second Lieutenant of the Albanian Campaign, his epic poem connecting Greece's -- and his own -- Second World War experience to the myth of the eternal Greek hero; his most ambitious work, The Axion Esti; and his mature poetry, from Maria Nephele to West of Sorrow.

For this expanded new edition, Carson and Sarris have added sixty free verse and prose poems first published in Greek in the posthumous 1998 volume From Close By, as well as a set of song lyrics, The Rhos of Eros, and a cantata, The Sovereign Sun, previously omitted. All have been translated with the same care and elegance as the rest of Elytis's oeuvre, brilliantly rendering into English the Greek poet's lyrical voice and the richness of his diction.

Customer Reviews (4)

A Poet Without Borders.
Odysseus Elytis (1911 -1996) was a very gifted Greek poet who dedicated his life to a love of hope, beauty, freedom and Greek tradition conveyed in words and imagery that leave the reader thirsting for more. It is this insatiable thirst for droplets of human comfort during life's anguished moments and visionary beauty which together give rise to rainbows of hope that is shared by people of all cultures that has made Elytis a "poete sans frontiers", or a poet without borders.

The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis published in 1997 is the first collection of the entire body of poetry of Elytis in any language, including Greek. The translations by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris do justice to the original poems, providing the reader with the same captivating lyricism and surreal imagery used by Elytis to give voice to the universally human consciousness.

The poetry of Elytis gained the attention of the Swedish Academy which announced in 1979 that Odysseus Elytis had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature "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."

Another honorable recognition was bestowed upon Elytis in 1964 when the renown Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis set Elytis' epic poem The Axion Estito music and the resulting music and lyrics became so popular that today many Greeks know at least part of the song by heart. The Axion Esti was considered to be the poet's most ambitious poem and was described by the Swedish Academy as "one of twentieth century literature's most concentrated and ritually faceted poems". This poem recounts the world of Eros, including his battle against the darkness created by misunderstanding and hatred, his victory, and the ultimate justification and praise.

Elytis possessed an historical as well as a moral awareness that became a pivotal part of his poems and served as a counterweight to his deep and abiding love of the Aegean with all of its spectacular beauty. Elytis faced the prospect of his own human mortality as well as the manifestation of tragic human evil when he served with distinction at the Albanian front during the Second World War when the Greeks defeated the Mussolini's army in the first allied forces victory against the Axis. The horrors of that military campaign, followed by his brutal experiences with the Nazi occupation of Greece, a civil war and a military dictatorship, provided a significant catalyst for this gifted poet to continue to carry the literary torch in the tradition of Greece's best poetry which identified ideal beauty with moral good and truth.

The art, literature, philosophy and religion of pre-Classical Greece also greatly influenced the lifetime work of Elytis. In many of his poems, Elytis wrote about heroism in the context of the ancient hero upon whom risks, danger and even terror are thrust by Fate, after which the hero bravely confronts the challenge and is transformed by the experience. The hero, to whom the reader can relate from his own life's experiences, is given this opportunity for growth and development through the inevitable wounds, wisdom and willfulness that result from his encounter with Fate's challenge ... wounds that will heal and sculpt scars of remembrance; wisdom that is born of reflection, generosity of spirit and adherence to life's values; and willfulness of the inner strength of our spirit. A reader of his poetry cannot help seeing himself in many of these poems that at the same time serve to inspire and throw down the gauntlet.

I will always remember Elytis as the Poet of the Aegean Sea. He was born in 1911 and began writing poetry in 1929 in the Aegean islands. He later established himself as one of the leading voices of a generation of literary giants, including his fellow Nobel Laureate George Seferis and Yannis Ritsos. Unlike Seferis who spent a lifetime struggling against melancholy, Elytis is widely appreciated by his readers because he finds hope even in tragedy. His poetry clearly reflects his relentless search for the paradise that lives deeply within all of us and his conviction that the discovery of paradise is within our capability as well as our grasp.Elytis' poems celebrate the vitality and vibrancy of the Aegean landscape, the energies of man and his soul and the spirit of nature. He uses the power of language to link myth with history and to confront good and evil. His poetry clearly reflects his love of hope, freedom and the beauty that is in all.

This first collection of all the works of the great master is a must for anyone who endeavors to explore the Modern Greek culture and discover its representation of the universal human experience. This book has become a source of constant inspiration and discovery in our home.

Being There
This translation by Jeffrey Carson is a delight for the senses.The poetry of Elytis has stimulated a great number of intellectual reviews, but there can be no true appreciation without experiencing the context of hiswork. These poems present a life that could be lived only in Greece.Notranslator who has not tasted that life would be able to capture thisessence of Elytis. Carson was chosen for this task partly because of hisown life in Greece: because he truly does understand.

Great book, but not the _complete_ works
An awesome book, but readers should be aware thatthe "collected" in the title is somewhat misleading."Collected", yes, "complete", no.In August 1998 _Eros, Eros, Eros : Selected and Last Poems_ by Elytis (his real name wasOdysseus Alepoudhelis, by the way) was published, containing his lastpoems.

An excellent translation of a major world poet.
What a pleasure now to have the complete poems of Odysseus Elytis, the Greek winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature, thoughtfully and sensitively translated by the American poet Jeffrey Carson and the Greekmusician Nikos Sarris. Elytis was born on Crete in 1911. His family wasfrom Lesbos, the island of another great poet, Sappho, and Elytis oftenvacationed there. Carson and Sarris both live on Paros, and it is no doubttheir familiarity with the nuances of Aegean sun and sea, and their lovefor that harsh clarity, that gives them insights into Elytis'poetry.Theerotic and the sea are themes that Elytis pursues throughout his long life.(He died in 1996.) Eros is love, sensual love, for the kore, the youngwoman who appears in his poems; she is a muse, and she also embodies thetruth that resides within, and beyond, the familiar things of the world-inparticular,the archipelago, the sun-drenched world of the Aegean, ofGreece. Any translation of poetry may be suspect, but thesetranslations are not only faithful to the Greek but harmonious with themusic and the spirit of the original. Elytis encouraged and approvedCarson's and Sarris' twenty-year labor of love and diligence, begun in thelate `70's when Elytis happened upon some poems of Carson's. Carson,already an admirer of Elytis' poetry, had written, in Greek, a series ofnotes on Elytis' work, which Elytis arranged to have published. Elytisencouraged Carson and Sarris to capture the flavor, rather than theliteralness, of his poetry, but they found that a literal translation infact best captured the spirit of Elytis' verse. Carson's Introduction andNotes provide informative and concise guidance to the reader new to Elytis. This is the only complete collection of Elytis' poems in any language,including Greek. The poems' bracing adventurousness is not onlyquintessentially Greek but uncannily American, too, in the tradition ofWhitman's sensual inclusiveness and Henry Miller's cosmic exuberance.Elytis may be a healthy elixir for our present minimalist, formalist,confessional fashions. William Borden,North Dakota Quarterly ... Read more

Book Description
Seven essays dedicated to the eminent modernist greek poet, the Nobel Laureate of 1979 and his accomplishments. In their analyrically dealing with the interpretation of Elyti's poetry in its stages, these essays have also tried to provide whatever elements from various sources would contribute to the illumination of their message as it rises from the personal to its national and its universal meaning and significance. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on January 1, 1996. The length of the article is 664 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Odysseus Elytis: From the Golden to the Silver Poem.(Brief Article)
Author: M. Byron Raizis
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1996
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v70Issue: n1Page: p216(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2744 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The poetic works compiled in 'The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis' and its English translation of the book are laudable and impressive. The translation of Elytis' entire poetic work, which is compiled in a volume with 595 pages, is considered innovative, modern and artistic. These poems are also emotionally, intellectually, culturally and linguistically crafted. Elytis' recognition can be attributed to the quality of his work.

Citation Details
Title: 'The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis': a commentary review. (book)
Author: Andonis Decavalles
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v72Issue: n1Page: p79(4)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 1997. The length of the article is 2844 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Odysseus Elytis was a Greek poet who was categorized as a Modernist. His works include 'The Axion Esti,' Maria Nephele,' 'The Little Seafarer,' 'Elegies of Jutting Rock,' 'West of Sorrow' and 'Orientations.' Although born and raised in Greece, Elytis refused to be called a nationalist poet as his poetry is more aimed at Platonic truth and beauty than it is at Greek. He cited Rimbaud, Eluard, Sappho, Pindar, Kalvos, and Solomos as writers whose works influenced his. On Mar 18, 1996, Elytis, the last writer to know and participate in the Great Generation, Succumbed to a heart attack.

Citation Details
Title: The other face of pride: Odysseus Elytis, 1911-1996.
Author: Jeffrey Carson
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1997
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v71Issue: n3Page: p505(3)

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Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Odysseus Elytis, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3061 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Poetry, published by Modern Poetry Association on August 1, 1998. The length of the article is 1534 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis.
Author: John (English pop musician) Taylor
Publication: Poetry (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 1998
Publisher: Modern Poetry Association
Volume: v172Issue: n5Page: p295(5)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 1997. The length of the article is 420 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: For a Ville D'Avray. (poem)
Author: Odysseus Elytis
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1997
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v71Issue: n3Page: p509(1)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 1997. The length of the article is 615 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Radamos and Hebe. (poem)
Author: Odysseus Elytis
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1997
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v71Issue: n3Page: p510(1)

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