The Libation

by Edmund Keeley

His first novel, The Libation, tells the story of a young American who returns to Greece after the Second World War to reclaim the past he has lost after a decade away. In this he is helped by a companion of his childhood who eventually proves to be closely related to him, a certain parallel to the Orestes-Electra story in Aeschylus, hence the title. The novel received the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Edmund Keeley was an American novelist, translator, poet, and essayist, as well as a longtime professor of English at Princeton University. Renowned for his expertise in modern Greek literature, he translated and promoted the works of C. P. Cavafy, George Seferis, Odysseas Elytis, and Yannis Ritsos. His extensive body of work spans fiction, poetry, and scholarship, often inspired by Greece and its culture. He served as president of both the Modern Greek Studies Association and PEN American Center, and received numerous awards and honors, including the Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, and the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation.