Manolis Anagnostakis
Encyclopedia
Manolis Anagnostakis was a Greek poet
and critic at the forefront of the Marxist
and existentialist
poetry movements arising during and after the Greek Civil War
in the late 1940s. Anagnostakis was a leader amongst his contemporaries and influenced the generation of poets immediately after him. His poems have been honored in Greece
's national awards and arranged and sung by contemporary musicians. In spite of his accomplishments, Philip Ramp notes that Anagnostakis "is the least known, to an English speaking
audience, of the major Greek poets of his generation."
and trained as a doctor, specializing in radiology
. During the chaotic period of 1944, Anagnostakis served as the Editor-in-Chief of Xekinima (The Start), a student magazine. Anagnostakis' first book of poetry, Epoches (Seasons) was published in 1945, at which point, according to Ramp, the poet's Marxist "dream had already failed him". His left-wing sympathies had inspired him to join the Resistance, which would lead to his being sentenced to death by a military court during the Civil War. Arrested for his involvement with the Student Movement at the University of Thessaloniki in 1948, Anagnostakis spent several years in Eptapyrgion, a state prison. His second volume, Epoches 2 was published after he was imprisoned in 1948. In the next year, Anagnostakis was both expelled from the Communist Party of Greece
and tried in court. He received a death sentence, but outsurvived the regime. Upon his release in 1951, he published the last book in the cycle.
Anagnostakis began a new cycle of work with his Synecheia (The Continuation), in 1954, and its sequel in 1955. A collection of his works was published the next year. The poet spent 1955 and the next year in Vienna
, continuing his medical studies in radiology, before returning to Greece. He spent 1959 through 1961 as editor of Criticism, a journal of literary criticism
, and finished his Continuation cycle in 1962. While he did not publish any more major works until 1971's Ta piimata 1941-1971, (The Poems 1941-1971), he continued to contribute to newspapers and magazines.
Although Anagnostakis' 1971 collection represented the end of the published works he was best known for, his existentialism
-influenced verse left its mark on a younger generation of Greek poets. This influence is in part owing to his poetry having been set to music by Mikis Theodorakis
, as part of his Ballades cycle, written during the seven-year Regime of the Colonels. The Ballades have been performed by vocalist Margarita Zorbala (recorded on her 1975 debut album), amongst others. Anagnostakis moved his practice and family to Athens
in 1978. Lakis Papastathis produced a 52-minute film, Manolis Anagnostakis, on Anagnostakis' life, for the Greek television series Paraskenio in 1983. Two volumes of Anagnostakis', another collection and O piitis Manussos Fassis, (The Poet Manussos Fassis) were issued in the following four years. Anagnostakis died June 23, 2005 in Athens.
s. Other characteristics of the early poems are its "bold, conversational tone", sometimes in the form of an epistle
, and at others culminating in direct advice to the reader. This style, along with Anagnostakis' simple, direct description of a hostile world was emulated by other left-wing poets of his generation.
Beaton also notes "a deep distrust of the poet's very medium, which runs through almost all the poetry of his generation", as, for instance, in the poem "Now He Is A Simple Spectator". Also unusual amongst those contemporary poets sharing Anagnostakis' politics is Anagnostakis' use of Christian
imagery in his poetry, and, unusual amongst Greek poets in general is a lack of romanticizing
of the sea.
In the Synecheia series, written between the Civil War and the Regime of the Colonels, Vangelis Hadjivassiliou notes that Anagnostakis extends that ambivalence to his politics, as well. Anagnostakis asserts both that "...the War is not over yet./ For no war is ever over!" and that he is "Laughing at your wealth of armours/ Suddenly infiltrating your lines/ Upsetting the solid arrays".
The O stochos poems were written during the Regime of the Colonels. This work contains poems differing from the above characterizations of Anagnostakis as "ambivalent" and "grim". The book contains both a defense of poetry ("Poetics"), and a sardonic response to Cavafy's "Young Men of Sidon (A.D. 400)", titled "Young Men of Sidon, 1970", which defends levity against the demand for seriousness from Cavafy's "vivacious young man". Ekdotike Athenon S.A. cites the work as exemplary of Greek poetry after the Second World War, describing it as "[representing] the social questioning typical of the poetry of the post-war generation".
The post-1971 poems were, in some cases, even more terse than the Epoches poems, often being only epigram
s. Categorizing Anagnostakis' poetry into a movement has proven somewhat challenging for critics. Hadjivassiliou characterizes the period of the Continuations as "wholly political". Nassos Vagenas, on the other hand, divides post-war Greek poetry into Marxist, existentialist, and surrealist
, and then places Anagnostakis in the existentialist movement. Ramp suggests that the poet's lack of recognition outside of Greece can be attributed to the fact that Anagnostakis' poetry is politically "committed", but agrees that the poetry is not influenced by surrealism.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and critic at the forefront of the Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and existentialist
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
poetry movements arising during and after the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
in the late 1940s. Anagnostakis was a leader amongst his contemporaries and influenced the generation of poets immediately after him. His poems have been honored in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
's national awards and arranged and sung by contemporary musicians. In spite of his accomplishments, Philip Ramp notes that Anagnostakis "is the least known, to an English speaking
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
audience, of the major Greek poets of his generation."
Life
Anagnostakis was born in ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and trained as a doctor, specializing in radiology
Radiology
Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...
. During the chaotic period of 1944, Anagnostakis served as the Editor-in-Chief of Xekinima (The Start), a student magazine. Anagnostakis' first book of poetry, Epoches (Seasons) was published in 1945, at which point, according to Ramp, the poet's Marxist "dream had already failed him". His left-wing sympathies had inspired him to join the Resistance, which would lead to his being sentenced to death by a military court during the Civil War. Arrested for his involvement with the Student Movement at the University of Thessaloniki in 1948, Anagnostakis spent several years in Eptapyrgion, a state prison. His second volume, Epoches 2 was published after he was imprisoned in 1948. In the next year, Anagnostakis was both expelled from the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
and tried in court. He received a death sentence, but outsurvived the regime. Upon his release in 1951, he published the last book in the cycle.
Anagnostakis began a new cycle of work with his Synecheia (The Continuation), in 1954, and its sequel in 1955. A collection of his works was published the next year. The poet spent 1955 and the next year in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, continuing his medical studies in radiology, before returning to Greece. He spent 1959 through 1961 as editor of Criticism, a journal of literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, and finished his Continuation cycle in 1962. While he did not publish any more major works until 1971's Ta piimata 1941-1971, (The Poems 1941-1971), he continued to contribute to newspapers and magazines.
Although Anagnostakis' 1971 collection represented the end of the published works he was best known for, his existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
-influenced verse left its mark on a younger generation of Greek poets. This influence is in part owing to his poetry having been set to music by Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
, as part of his Ballades cycle, written during the seven-year Regime of the Colonels. The Ballades have been performed by vocalist Margarita Zorbala (recorded on her 1975 debut album), amongst others. Anagnostakis moved his practice and family to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 1978. Lakis Papastathis produced a 52-minute film, Manolis Anagnostakis, on Anagnostakis' life, for the Greek television series Paraskenio in 1983. Two volumes of Anagnostakis', another collection and O piitis Manussos Fassis, (The Poet Manussos Fassis) were issued in the following four years. Anagnostakis died June 23, 2005 in Athens.
Poetry
Anagnostakis' poetry has been described as "terse". His early works may be comparable in number of lines to Cavafy, but do contain single-word lines and single-line verse paragraphVerse paragraph
Verse paragraphs are stanzas with no regular number of lines or groups of lines that make up units of sense. They are usually separated by blank lines.Verse paragraphs are frequently used in blank verse and in free verse....
s. Other characteristics of the early poems are its "bold, conversational tone", sometimes in the form of an epistle
Epistle
An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
, and at others culminating in direct advice to the reader. This style, along with Anagnostakis' simple, direct description of a hostile world was emulated by other left-wing poets of his generation.
Beaton also notes "a deep distrust of the poet's very medium, which runs through almost all the poetry of his generation", as, for instance, in the poem "Now He Is A Simple Spectator". Also unusual amongst those contemporary poets sharing Anagnostakis' politics is Anagnostakis' use of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
imagery in his poetry, and, unusual amongst Greek poets in general is a lack of romanticizing
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
of the sea.
In the Synecheia series, written between the Civil War and the Regime of the Colonels, Vangelis Hadjivassiliou notes that Anagnostakis extends that ambivalence to his politics, as well. Anagnostakis asserts both that "...the War is not over yet./ For no war is ever over!" and that he is "Laughing at your wealth of armours/ Suddenly infiltrating your lines/ Upsetting the solid arrays".
The O stochos poems were written during the Regime of the Colonels. This work contains poems differing from the above characterizations of Anagnostakis as "ambivalent" and "grim". The book contains both a defense of poetry ("Poetics"), and a sardonic response to Cavafy's "Young Men of Sidon (A.D. 400)", titled "Young Men of Sidon, 1970", which defends levity against the demand for seriousness from Cavafy's "vivacious young man". Ekdotike Athenon S.A. cites the work as exemplary of Greek poetry after the Second World War, describing it as "[representing] the social questioning typical of the poetry of the post-war generation".
The post-1971 poems were, in some cases, even more terse than the Epoches poems, often being only epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s. Categorizing Anagnostakis' poetry into a movement has proven somewhat challenging for critics. Hadjivassiliou characterizes the period of the Continuations as "wholly political". Nassos Vagenas, on the other hand, divides post-war Greek poetry into Marxist, existentialist, and surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, and then places Anagnostakis in the existentialist movement. Ramp suggests that the poet's lack of recognition outside of Greece can be attributed to the fact that Anagnostakis' poetry is politically "committed", but agrees that the poetry is not influenced by surrealism.
Works
- 1945: Epoches (Seasons), Thessaloniki.
- 1948: Epoches 2 (Seasons 2), SerresSerresSerres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
. - 1951: Epoches 3 (Seasons 3), Thessaloniki.
- 1954: Synecheia (The Continuation), Athens.
- 1955: Synecheia 2 (The Continuation 2), Athens.
- 1956: Ta piimata 1941-1956 (The Poems 1941-1956), Athens.
- 1962: Synecheia 3' (The Continuation 3), Thessaloniki.
- 1965: Yper Kai Kata (Pros and Cons), Thessaloniki.
- 1971: O stochos, Athens. English edition, 1980: The target. Selected poems, translated by Kimon Friar
- 1971: Ta piimata 1941-1971, (The Poems 1941-1971), Athens, Stigmi, 1985.
- 1972: Paranthesies (Parentheses), Athens.
- 1978: Anti-Dogmatica (Anti-dogmatic pieces), Athens.
- 1979: To Perithorio (The Margin), Athens.
- 1983: Y.G. (P.S.), Athens.
- 1985: Ta Sympleromatika (The Complementary Pieces: Critical Notes), Athens.
- 1987: O piitis Manussos Fassis, (The Poet Manussos Fassis), Athens, Stigmi, 1987.
Awards
- 1985 Greek State Prize for poetry
- 2001 Ourani Award from the Academy of AthensAcademy of AthensAcademy of Athens may refer to:* Platonic Academy* Academy of Athens...
- 2002 Great National Literature Award for lifetime work