Eros, Eros, Eros: Selected & Last Poems

by Odysseas Elytis, Olga Broumas (Translation)

A comprehensive collection of poetry by the Greek Nobel Prize-winner

Genres: Poetry

275 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Greek poet Odysseas Alepoudellis Elytis received the Nobel Prize for literature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssea...

Reviews

[Michael Pennington]

The most beautiful book I’ve ever read.

[Christopher Walthorne]

Odysseas Elytis is one of those rare writers whose work moved literature forward. Pretty much all of this poetry is challenging, and it could be argued that it is meant to be studied rather than enjoyed, but even if you choose not to stop and dissect the work, as I did, the power and mystery of his words still come through. A mighty writer who fully deserved the Nobel Prize for Literature.

[Wil Gilbreath]

This is basically unintelligible and very allusion dense (maybe I’m not Greek enough) but still at times inspiring and emotionally effective.

[Brett Dewing]

I have never met a book that used the word “pelago” so so much. I loved “The Monogram”, but the rest of this is not for me, similar to “Ulysses” or T. S. Eliot. Mehhh.

[Julie]

Har læst en dansk oversættelse af digte i udvalg med titlen ' Solens magt. Denne oversættelse findes ikke på GR og er derfor blot logget som denne.

[Natalia]

My first instinct is to give this book one star, but I gave it a 2nd, because I strongly suspect that part of my issues with it may stem from the quality of the translation.

Almost all of the poetry has a very choppy, awkward lack of flow, but I can only assume that in translating poetry from Greek to English, a ton is lost in translation. Not least of which the cadence and flow.

The fawning introduction by Sam Hamill emphasizes Elytes' connection to the surrealist movement. The moment I read this, I got that sinking feeling as I realized what I was in for. I am not a fan of surrealist poetry and writing. I tried to approach with an open mind, but the text met my worst expectations... disjointed words, nonsensical phrases, the whole thing.

My frustration came to a head with the "poem" entitled "Aegeodrome" - I put poem in quotes, because it consists of a list of individual words spanning 4 pages of three columns per page. Alphabetized.

I understand that in the mid to late part of the century artists and writers were trying to challenge the prevailing prejudices of what did and did not qualify as "art." I get that. But a 4-page alphabetized list? Call me old fashioned and call my taste narrow and parochial, but I felt like this was just too much for me.

[Mills College Library]

889 E52e 1998