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Άπαντα
Ο Κώστας Καρυωτάκης, πιεσμένος από τη μίσθια δουλειά και από έναν κόσμο που δεν του κάνει, αποτυπώνει την πικρία του σε μια ποίηση που ανατρέπει το ποιητικό κατεστημένο. Άλλοτε τρυφερός, άλλοτε καυστικός, αλλά πάντοτε βαθύτατα τραγικός, αυτοκτονεί σε ηλικία τριάντα δυο ετών, αφήνοντας πίσω του ένα έργο που θα αποτελέσει σταθμό στα νεοελληνικά γράμματα· ένα έργο που θα παίξει καθοριστικό ρόλο στη διαμόρφωση της νεότερης ποίησης μας.
Η Μαρία Πολυδούρη, ανήσυχη, γεμάτη λαχτάρα για ζωή, από τις πρώτες που ασχολούνται με το γυναικείο ζήτημα και από τις λίγες φοιτήτριες της δεκαετίας του '20, αγαπάει παράφορα τον ποιητή. Το ειδύλλιο τους είναι λιγόχρονο, όπως λιγόχρονη είναι και η ζωή της. Πεθαίνει μόλις είκοσι οκτώ ετών, από φυματίωση.
Με τη μοναδική νουβέλα της σαρκάζει τις συμβατικότητες της εποχής, ενώ η ποίηση της, καθαρά νεορομαντική με αρκετές επιδράσεις από τον Καρυωτάκη, την καθιερώνει ως ποιήτρια του Έρωτα και του Θανάτου.
Η Μαρία Πολυδούρη, ανήσυχη, γεμάτη λαχτάρα για ζωή, από τις πρώτες που ασχολούνται με το γυναικείο ζήτημα και από τις λίγες φοιτήτριες της δεκαετίας του '20, αγαπάει παράφορα τον ποιητή. Το ειδύλλιο τους είναι λιγόχρονο, όπως λιγόχρονη είναι και η ζωή της. Πεθαίνει μόλις είκοσι οκτώ ετών, από φυματίωση.
Με τη μοναδική νουβέλα της σαρκάζει τις συμβατικότητες της εποχής, ενώ η ποίηση της, καθαρά νεορομαντική με αρκετές επιδράσεις από τον Καρυωτάκη, την καθιερώνει ως ποιήτρια του Έρωτα και του Θανάτου.
405 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
26 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Kostas Karyotakis
21 books45 followersKostas Karyotakis (Greek: Κώστας Καρυωτάκης) is considered one of the most representative Greek poets of the 1920s and one of the first poets to use iconoclastic themes in Greece.
His poetry conveys a great deal of nature imagery and traces of expressionism and surrealism. The majority of Karyotakis' contemporaries viewed him in a dim light throughout his lifetime without a pragmatic accountability for their contemptuous views; for after his suicide,the majority began to revert to the view that he was indeed a great poet. He had a significant, almost disproportionately progressive influence on later Greek poets.
His poetry conveys a great deal of nature imagery and traces of expressionism and surrealism. The majority of Karyotakis' contemporaries viewed him in a dim light throughout his lifetime without a pragmatic accountability for their contemptuous views; for after his suicide,the majority began to revert to the view that he was indeed a great poet. He had a significant, almost disproportionately progressive influence on later Greek poets.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 8, 2019
Σε παρασέρνει σε ένα σκοτεινό αλλά όμορφο μέρος...
Εξαιρετική η συγκεκριμένη έκδοση. Το επιπλέον περιεχόμενό της δικαιολογεί την τιμή του βιβλίου.
Εξαιρετική η συγκεκριμένη έκδοση. Το επιπλέον περιεχόμενό της δικαιολογεί την τιμή του βιβλίου.
August 9, 2015
Όλα τα πιθανά συναισθήματα που μπορεί να νιώσει κάποιος σε ένα βιβλίο.
July 27, 2016
Δεν θα μιλήσω για το έργο του Καρυωτάκη· αυτό έχει απασχολήσει ήδη πολλούς λογίους και διδασκάλους και εγώ δεν έχω να πω κάτι παραπάνω ή κάτι καλύτερο. Βαθμολόγησα το βιβλίο με τα ποιήματα και τα πεζά του με 4* γιατί δεν βρήκα καθόλου καλά ποιήματα αυτά του «Πόνου του Ανθρώπου και των Πραγμάτων» (με εξαίρεση ενός ή δύο ποιημάτων), τα «Νηπενθή» μου φάνηκαν σαφώς ανώτερα αλλά πολλά από αυτά ήταν μέτρια. Το αριστούργημα του είναι το «Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες» και ειδικά οι «Σάτιρες» μαζί με τα ποιήματα «Αισιοδοξία» και «Πρέβεζα» που είναι όλα τους λαμπρά δημιουργήματα. Τα «Πεζά» ήταν καλά -η «Κάθαρσις» έξοχο- μα δεν μου φάνηκαν τόσο ωραία-ώριμα όσο τα ποιήματα και για αυτό μάλλον ευθύνεται η απειρία του στην πεζογραφία. Μελετώντας καλύτερα τον Καρυωτάκη και στο σύνολο του έργου του μπορώ να πω πως με δίχασε αρκετά γιατί δεν ήξερα αν έπρεπε να τον θαυμάσω ή να τον θεωρήσω «πολύ» ρομαντικό και πεισιθάνατο. Αυτόν τον διχασμό τον είδα και στις Κρίσεις δεκαπέντε διαφορετικών κριτικών που περιλαμβάνονται στο τέλος του τόμου και είναι άκρως διαφωτιστικές μα και άκρως ασαφείς και αποπροσανατολιστικές για τον αναγνώστη που βλέπει όλους, σαν και εκείνον, να διχάζονται με αυτόν τον νέο, σχεδόν παιδί!...
Όσον αφορά την έκδοση που πρέπει να προμηθευτεί κανείς για να διαβάσει σωστό Καρυωτάκη, νομίζω πως πρέπει να αποκτήσει την έκδοση της Εστίας σε επιμέλεια του Γιώργου Π. Σαββίδη. Δεν παραθέτει απλά τα ποιήματα όπως πολλές, ομολογουμένως φτηνιάρικες, εκδόσεις που έχουν και πολλά λάθη αλλά παρέχει στον αναγνώστη διαφωτιστικές σημειώσεις για πολλά ποιήματα, περιέχει και κάποια παραλειπόμενα κείμενα του και, το σημαντικότερο, περιέχει εκατό σελίδες με κριτικές σημαντικών κριτικών που φωτίζουν -όπως ανέφερα- και άλλες πλευρές του Καρυωτάκη. Δεν γνωρίζω αν υπάρχει κάποια άλλη τόσο καλή έκδοση (εκτός βέβαια από τα Άπαντα τα Ευρισκόμενα πάλι σε επιμέλεια Σαββίδη, στην οποία βασίζεται και ο τόμος της Εστίας).
Ας υποθέσουμε πως δεν έχουμε φτάσει
στο μαύρο αδιέξοδο, στην άβυσσο του νου.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως ήρθανε τα δάση
μ' αυτοκρατορικήν εξάρτυση πρωινού
θριάμβου, με πουλιά, με το φως τ' ουρανού,
και με τον ήλιο όπου θα τα διαπεράσει.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως είμαστε κει πέρα,
σε χώρες άγνωστες, της δύσης, του βορρά,
ενώ πετούμε το παλτό μας στον αέρα,
οι ξένοι βλέπουνε περίεργα, σοβαρά.
Για να μας δεχθεί κάποια λαίδη τρυφερά,
έδιωξε τους υπηρέτες της ολημέρα.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως του καπέλου ο γύρος
άξαφνα εφάρδυνε, μα εστένεψαν, κολλούν,
τα παντελόνια μας και, με του πτερνιστήρος
το πρόσταγμα, χιλιάδες άλογα κινούν.
Πηγαίνουμε -- σημαίες στον άνεμο χτυπούν --
ήρωες σταυροφόροι, σωτήρες του Σωτήρος.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως δεν έχουμε φτάσει
από εκατό δρόμους, στα όρια της σιγής,
κι ας τραγουδήσουμε, -- το τραγούδι να μοιάσει
νικητήριο σάλπισμα, ξέσπασμα κραυγής --
τους πυρρούς δαίμονες, στα έγκατα της γης,
και, ψηλά, τους ανθρώπους να διασκεδάσει.
«Αισιοδοξία».
Όσον αφορά την έκδοση που πρέπει να προμηθευτεί κανείς για να διαβάσει σωστό Καρυωτάκη, νομίζω πως πρέπει να αποκτήσει την έκδοση της Εστίας σε επιμέλεια του Γιώργου Π. Σαββίδη. Δεν παραθέτει απλά τα ποιήματα όπως πολλές, ομολογουμένως φτηνιάρικες, εκδόσεις που έχουν και πολλά λάθη αλλά παρέχει στον αναγνώστη διαφωτιστικές σημειώσεις για πολλά ποιήματα, περιέχει και κάποια παραλειπόμενα κείμενα του και, το σημαντικότερο, περιέχει εκατό σελίδες με κριτικές σημαντικών κριτικών που φωτίζουν -όπως ανέφερα- και άλλες πλευρές του Καρυωτάκη. Δεν γνωρίζω αν υπάρχει κάποια άλλη τόσο καλή έκδοση (εκτός βέβαια από τα Άπαντα τα Ευρισκόμενα πάλι σε επιμέλεια Σαββίδη, στην οποία βασίζεται και ο τόμος της Εστίας).
Ας υποθέσουμε πως δεν έχουμε φτάσει
στο μαύρο αδιέξοδο, στην άβυσσο του νου.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως ήρθανε τα δάση
μ' αυτοκρατορικήν εξάρτυση πρωινού
θριάμβου, με πουλιά, με το φως τ' ουρανού,
και με τον ήλιο όπου θα τα διαπεράσει.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως είμαστε κει πέρα,
σε χώρες άγνωστες, της δύσης, του βορρά,
ενώ πετούμε το παλτό μας στον αέρα,
οι ξένοι βλέπουνε περίεργα, σοβαρά.
Για να μας δεχθεί κάποια λαίδη τρυφερά,
έδιωξε τους υπηρέτες της ολημέρα.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως του καπέλου ο γύρος
άξαφνα εφάρδυνε, μα εστένεψαν, κολλούν,
τα παντελόνια μας και, με του πτερνιστήρος
το πρόσταγμα, χιλιάδες άλογα κινούν.
Πηγαίνουμε -- σημαίες στον άνεμο χτυπούν --
ήρωες σταυροφόροι, σωτήρες του Σωτήρος.
Ας υποθέσουμε πως δεν έχουμε φτάσει
από εκατό δρόμους, στα όρια της σιγής,
κι ας τραγουδήσουμε, -- το τραγούδι να μοιάσει
νικητήριο σάλπισμα, ξέσπασμα κραυγής --
τους πυρρούς δαίμονες, στα έγκατα της γης,
και, ψηλά, τους ανθρώπους να διασκεδάσει.
«Αισιοδοξία».
Read
October 17, 2021I don't want to rate this, since I was one of the co-translators (even though I can't seem to get it to appear on my author's page) and I did spend a good part of a decade working on it. But here's a little piece I wrote for Michigan's Program in Modern Greek Studies about the process. It was called "How I Came to Translate Karyotakis":
It is difficult to follow the paths of imagination and curiosity. But that someone like me-a rather happy protestant from the Canadian prairies-has come to spend a decade or more trying to translate the poems of someone like Kostas Karyotakis-a morose and skeptical Greek who killed himself twenty five years before I was born-is a puzzle that is at least amusing. There are parts to the puzzle that I don't understand and probably never will, but I know that the pieces started falling into place early in my life.
My father was a protestant minister from a small and primarily rural denomination and he majored in New Testament Greek in college. Later he spent a couple of decades teaching the basics to the next
generation of prairie preachers, so they would all know enough to preach the important sermon on the difference between eros, philos, and agape. The Greek alphabet, a Greek New Testament, and a few dictionaries were always around our house. Of course, I was a rebellious child, and-to my lasting regret--never spent the time to learn even the alphabet from my father, who would have loved to teach it to me.
My family moved from western Canada to Indiana when I was a teenager, and for many years I didn't
learn to fit in to my new place. It was then I discovered books. And very shortly after discovering books, I found Nikos Kazantzakis. Certainly someone must have recommended Zorba to me, but I quickly read everything else that was in translation. I like to think that Kazantzakis's capacious spirit saved me from the wizened self-centeredness in Ayn Rand that the other bookish adolescents of my generation were reading. While still in high school, I began to look at the modern Greek poets, and by the age of nineteen--after I had fled to France for obvious bohemian reasons-I began reading Cavafy in his French translation.
At different times in my intellectual development, I kept turning to Greek authors.
In 1976 I met William W. Reader. Bill had returned to the United States after a dozen or more years in
Germany, where he had studied the New Testament in one of those famous German universities. At one time Bill shared an apartment with a law student from Rhodes who could just sit down and read the early church fathers Bill was studying as easily as if he were reading a novel. Bill decided to learn modern Greek to help him with his scholarship, and he has been working very hard at it ever since, returning to Greece almost every summer and spending his sabbaticals there. I learned a lot about Greece from Bill. My wife and I visited him in 1983 and we spent most of a couple of weeks driving around the Peloponnesus. I had with me an already dog-eared copy of the Keeley and Sherrard anthology, Voices of Modern Greece. A Greek friend of Bill's read aloud some of the Cavafy and
Ritsos poems in the original, the first time I had heard them.
Bill always takes language classes when he goes to Greece, usually the very demanding ones
specifically designed to train translators for the European Union. Every now and then, he would also take a literature or culture class to help his reading. I know, for instance, that he read Kazantzakis's The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel with Kimon Friar. At one summer session, someone introduced Bill to the work of Kostas Karyotakis. When he came back, Bill told me about Karyotakis, and I was surprised that I'd never heard of him. As I began to check out the name, I realized that here was a modern Greek poet with a significant reputation in Greece who had been seldom translated into English. The 15 poems wonderfully translated by Rachel Hadas were all I could find at first. Although I was not (and am still not) convinced by the bleakness in Karyotakis, I was startled by the precise yet lush language marshaled into such tight, even rigid forms. In every poem I looked at there was some startling imaginative turn.
Bill and I decided to start working on the poems. He did literal word for word translations and then we
would surround ourselves with dictionaries and other kinds of reference material, trying to make an
English poem out of what often seemed recalcitrant material. I remember our first weekend of work at my kitchen table in Ann Arbor. On the first day we spent eight hours trying to get eight lines we could live with. On the next day we spent six hours on four lines. It was painfully slow, yet was also exhilarating in some ways. The difficulties of the poems would often open up in interesting ways as we tried to understand them solely as poems rather than as translation exercises. My wife and daughter got used to the table covered with Greek dictionaries, Babinyotis and Stavropoulos, and some more obscure.
Shortly after we began the project, I introduced myself to Kostalena Michelaki, a graduate student in
archeology at the University of Michigan. She was a customer in the book shop where I worked at the
time, and I wanted to know if Greeks knew about this odd poet I was discovering. She responded
immediately, made a joke about how bleak he was, and specifically referred to a couple of poems. It was obvious that she knew the work. As we talked I discovered that she was teaching a course, Modern Greek 101, and that Michigan had just begun a program in Modern Greek Studies. Shamelessly I asked if I could sit in and be a student in her class.
I worked hard on my Greek that first year. It was a wonderful feeling being with a small group of smart college Freshmen, all young enough to be my children, and I certainly didn't want to look bad in front of them. During my second year of Greek studies, I was already getting a bit distracted by outside work as a writer, so I could devote less time, and started falling behind the smart young people. The third year got even worse, yet I kept at, and was particularly pleased that now-under the direction of Vassilis Lambropoulos-we were actually reading poems in class. Soon the demands on my time got so bad I actually had to drop out of the conversation class during my fourth year, and I haven't made it back yet. I have jealously guarded my friendship with the Modern Greek program at Michigan, though, and was very happy to work with Artemis Leontis and Lauren Talalay co-editing the book that accompanied the big Cavafy show a couple of years ago.
But Bill and I were still working on Karyotakis. We published just a couple of our translations in small
journals in 2001, and in 2002 were awarded a joint residency at the International Writers' and Translators' Centre of Rhodes. For five weeks in June and July we sat in a conference room at the Rhodes Centre, facing each other, and arguing over Karyotakis poems. Now I had a little Greek to help support my arguments, even if I still found it difficult to have a real conversation. The meltemi would blow through the open windows beside us, and when we took a break we went out to the veranda and watched the waves break in the sea below us. We seldom took a day off, and the staff, concerned about what must have seemed an unhealthy work ethic, would come down and tell us to make sure we enjoyed the island, that Rhodes was beautiful, that the restaurants were good. But we just worked away, finishing a polished draft of every poem Karyotakis published in books, and quite a few that he didn't. Even though not all the poems were important, it felt great to have accomplished something that no one else has done in English.Our friendship actually survived!
But there are some exquisite poems by Kostas Karyotakis. He was a poet of the first order who simply
died too young to realize his obvious potential. Nonetheless a third of his work should be known widely; those poems are as interesting or more so than many of the modern Greek poems known by people who don't read the language-and probably another third certainly rewards the reading of it. My next order of business in this project is to try to get those English translations of Karyotakis poems out to a larger audience. (And that sort of happened with the book pictured above)
But still: why have I spent so much time with Karyotakis? Over the years I have come to be quite fond of him, have come to expect certain turns of phrase and certain attitudes toward life. When he varies those or makes fun of himself, he startles me. I sympathize with his sense of himself as someone unable to measure up to his models. I have come to realize that he wrote some moving, important poems despite terrific obstacles created by his environment and his personality. That's enough to keep me hooked.
It is difficult to follow the paths of imagination and curiosity. But that someone like me-a rather happy protestant from the Canadian prairies-has come to spend a decade or more trying to translate the poems of someone like Kostas Karyotakis-a morose and skeptical Greek who killed himself twenty five years before I was born-is a puzzle that is at least amusing. There are parts to the puzzle that I don't understand and probably never will, but I know that the pieces started falling into place early in my life.
My father was a protestant minister from a small and primarily rural denomination and he majored in New Testament Greek in college. Later he spent a couple of decades teaching the basics to the next
generation of prairie preachers, so they would all know enough to preach the important sermon on the difference between eros, philos, and agape. The Greek alphabet, a Greek New Testament, and a few dictionaries were always around our house. Of course, I was a rebellious child, and-to my lasting regret--never spent the time to learn even the alphabet from my father, who would have loved to teach it to me.
My family moved from western Canada to Indiana when I was a teenager, and for many years I didn't
learn to fit in to my new place. It was then I discovered books. And very shortly after discovering books, I found Nikos Kazantzakis. Certainly someone must have recommended Zorba to me, but I quickly read everything else that was in translation. I like to think that Kazantzakis's capacious spirit saved me from the wizened self-centeredness in Ayn Rand that the other bookish adolescents of my generation were reading. While still in high school, I began to look at the modern Greek poets, and by the age of nineteen--after I had fled to France for obvious bohemian reasons-I began reading Cavafy in his French translation.
At different times in my intellectual development, I kept turning to Greek authors.
In 1976 I met William W. Reader. Bill had returned to the United States after a dozen or more years in
Germany, where he had studied the New Testament in one of those famous German universities. At one time Bill shared an apartment with a law student from Rhodes who could just sit down and read the early church fathers Bill was studying as easily as if he were reading a novel. Bill decided to learn modern Greek to help him with his scholarship, and he has been working very hard at it ever since, returning to Greece almost every summer and spending his sabbaticals there. I learned a lot about Greece from Bill. My wife and I visited him in 1983 and we spent most of a couple of weeks driving around the Peloponnesus. I had with me an already dog-eared copy of the Keeley and Sherrard anthology, Voices of Modern Greece. A Greek friend of Bill's read aloud some of the Cavafy and
Ritsos poems in the original, the first time I had heard them.
Bill always takes language classes when he goes to Greece, usually the very demanding ones
specifically designed to train translators for the European Union. Every now and then, he would also take a literature or culture class to help his reading. I know, for instance, that he read Kazantzakis's The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel with Kimon Friar. At one summer session, someone introduced Bill to the work of Kostas Karyotakis. When he came back, Bill told me about Karyotakis, and I was surprised that I'd never heard of him. As I began to check out the name, I realized that here was a modern Greek poet with a significant reputation in Greece who had been seldom translated into English. The 15 poems wonderfully translated by Rachel Hadas were all I could find at first. Although I was not (and am still not) convinced by the bleakness in Karyotakis, I was startled by the precise yet lush language marshaled into such tight, even rigid forms. In every poem I looked at there was some startling imaginative turn.
Bill and I decided to start working on the poems. He did literal word for word translations and then we
would surround ourselves with dictionaries and other kinds of reference material, trying to make an
English poem out of what often seemed recalcitrant material. I remember our first weekend of work at my kitchen table in Ann Arbor. On the first day we spent eight hours trying to get eight lines we could live with. On the next day we spent six hours on four lines. It was painfully slow, yet was also exhilarating in some ways. The difficulties of the poems would often open up in interesting ways as we tried to understand them solely as poems rather than as translation exercises. My wife and daughter got used to the table covered with Greek dictionaries, Babinyotis and Stavropoulos, and some more obscure.
Shortly after we began the project, I introduced myself to Kostalena Michelaki, a graduate student in
archeology at the University of Michigan. She was a customer in the book shop where I worked at the
time, and I wanted to know if Greeks knew about this odd poet I was discovering. She responded
immediately, made a joke about how bleak he was, and specifically referred to a couple of poems. It was obvious that she knew the work. As we talked I discovered that she was teaching a course, Modern Greek 101, and that Michigan had just begun a program in Modern Greek Studies. Shamelessly I asked if I could sit in and be a student in her class.
I worked hard on my Greek that first year. It was a wonderful feeling being with a small group of smart college Freshmen, all young enough to be my children, and I certainly didn't want to look bad in front of them. During my second year of Greek studies, I was already getting a bit distracted by outside work as a writer, so I could devote less time, and started falling behind the smart young people. The third year got even worse, yet I kept at, and was particularly pleased that now-under the direction of Vassilis Lambropoulos-we were actually reading poems in class. Soon the demands on my time got so bad I actually had to drop out of the conversation class during my fourth year, and I haven't made it back yet. I have jealously guarded my friendship with the Modern Greek program at Michigan, though, and was very happy to work with Artemis Leontis and Lauren Talalay co-editing the book that accompanied the big Cavafy show a couple of years ago.
But Bill and I were still working on Karyotakis. We published just a couple of our translations in small
journals in 2001, and in 2002 were awarded a joint residency at the International Writers' and Translators' Centre of Rhodes. For five weeks in June and July we sat in a conference room at the Rhodes Centre, facing each other, and arguing over Karyotakis poems. Now I had a little Greek to help support my arguments, even if I still found it difficult to have a real conversation. The meltemi would blow through the open windows beside us, and when we took a break we went out to the veranda and watched the waves break in the sea below us. We seldom took a day off, and the staff, concerned about what must have seemed an unhealthy work ethic, would come down and tell us to make sure we enjoyed the island, that Rhodes was beautiful, that the restaurants were good. But we just worked away, finishing a polished draft of every poem Karyotakis published in books, and quite a few that he didn't. Even though not all the poems were important, it felt great to have accomplished something that no one else has done in English.Our friendship actually survived!
But there are some exquisite poems by Kostas Karyotakis. He was a poet of the first order who simply
died too young to realize his obvious potential. Nonetheless a third of his work should be known widely; those poems are as interesting or more so than many of the modern Greek poems known by people who don't read the language-and probably another third certainly rewards the reading of it. My next order of business in this project is to try to get those English translations of Karyotakis poems out to a larger audience. (And that sort of happened with the book pictured above)
But still: why have I spent so much time with Karyotakis? Over the years I have come to be quite fond of him, have come to expect certain turns of phrase and certain attitudes toward life. When he varies those or makes fun of himself, he startles me. I sympathize with his sense of himself as someone unable to measure up to his models. I have come to realize that he wrote some moving, important poems despite terrific obstacles created by his environment and his personality. That's enough to keep me hooked.
January 17, 2021
Κι όμως εγώ ο φτωχός της είχα αγάπη τόση.
July 23, 2018
Πλήρης έκδοση με ολόκληρο το συγγραφικό έργο ενός από τους μεγαλύτερους Έλληνες ποιητές.
Η ποίηση του Καρυωτάκη αποτυπώνει με μοναδικό αισθησιακό και συνάμα ειρωνικό τρόπο την πικρία και την απογοήτευση που πηγάζει από τη ζωή, την αίσθηση της μοναξιάς που νιώθει κανείς παρόλο που είναι περιτριγυρισμένος από ανθρώπους, την αθεράπευτη επιθυμία ενός βαθειά ρομαντικού και συναισθηματικού ανθρώπου για κατανόηση, αγάπη και αποδοχή.
Θεωρείται πως ο Καρυωτάκης έπασχε από κατάθλιψη και δια αυτό έδωσε και τέλος στη ζωή του με ένα περίστροφο κάτω από έναν ευκάλυπτο, στις 21 Ιουλίου 1928 στην Πρέβεζα. Προσωπικά πιστεύω πως ο Καρυωτάκης αγαπούσε τόσο πολύ τη ζωή που δεν άντεχε να ζει σε έναν κόσμο τόσο μάταιο, σε μια πραγματικότητα που δεν ανταποκρινόταν στις προσδοκίες του.
Σπουδαίος ποιητής με έργο που έχει διαβαστεί και αγαπηθεί από πάρα πολλούς και θα διαβαστεί και θα λατρευτεί από ακόμα περισσότερους στο μέλλον.
Η ποίηση του Καρυωτάκη αποτυπώνει με μοναδικό αισθησιακό και συνάμα ειρωνικό τρόπο την πικρία και την απογοήτευση που πηγάζει από τη ζωή, την αίσθηση της μοναξιάς που νιώθει κανείς παρόλο που είναι περιτριγυρισμένος από ανθρώπους, την αθεράπευτη επιθυμία ενός βαθειά ρομαντικού και συναισθηματικού ανθρώπου για κατανόηση, αγάπη και αποδοχή.
Θεωρείται πως ο Καρυωτάκης έπασχε από κατάθλιψη και δια αυτό έδωσε και τέλος στη ζωή του με ένα περίστροφο κάτω από έναν ευκάλυπτο, στις 21 Ιουλίου 1928 στην Πρέβεζα. Προσωπικά πιστεύω πως ο Καρυωτάκης αγαπούσε τόσο πολύ τη ζωή που δεν άντεχε να ζει σε έναν κόσμο τόσο μάταιο, σε μια πραγματικότητα που δεν ανταποκρινόταν στις προσδοκίες του.
Σπουδαίος ποιητής με έργο που έχει διαβαστεί και αγαπηθεί από πάρα πολλούς και θα διαβαστεί και θα λατρευτεί από ακόμα περισσότερους στο μέλλον.
March 21, 2020
Υπέροχη συλλογή
September 18, 2020
Πολυ καλή έκδοση με όλο το έργο του Καρυωτάκη. Αξίζει να βρίσκεται σε κάθε βιβλιοθήκη με τους ''βασικούς'' Ελληνες ποιητές.
March 7, 2024
I felt this book had a lot of potential but it just wasn't for me. I was intrigued enough to finish the book, but by the end I was glad to be finished. The mystery of who dropped the chandelier on Lizzie's father was ok, but not very compelling. It was twisted in with other interesting stories, and I enjoyed the historical aspect, especially given how they discussed African history and slavery, that despite slavery being abolished, black people were still being captured and shipped overseas as slaves, and very few people seemed to care or be doing anything about it. I found this aspect of the story much more interesting. And the fact that it told of 2 black girls in different parts of society where most would assume they wouldn't be or perhaps wouldn't be allowed to be (shopkeeper/actor & adopted daughter of a rich family) when they absolutely were, i found this really interesting and liked that it brought attention to this.
but overall, I just didn't much enjoy the story, the characters were ok, but didn't really grab me.
but overall, I just didn't much enjoy the story, the characters were ok, but didn't really grab me.
Read
June 21, 2024Πεθαίνοντας
Μάταιη ψυχή, στην ατονία εσπέρας εαρινής,
ενώ θα κλείνεις τα χρυσά φτερά σου πληγωμένη,
την ώρα που σα λύτρωση κάτι θα καρτερείς,
φτωχή καρδιά, θανάσιμα μα αιώνια λυπημένη·
όταν, φτασμένη απάνω στον ορίζοντα, θα ιδείς
μίση να φεύγουν οι έρωτες, χολή τα πάθη σου όλα,
όταν ανέβει από τα εξαίσια τ’ άνθη της ζωής
μύρον η απογοήτευση, ψυχή μου ονειροπόλα
την ώρα την υπέρτατη που θε να θυμηθείς
μ’ ένα μόνο χαμόγελο τα φίλα και τα ένάντια
μάταιη ψυχή, στο πέλαγο, στο αγέρι τι θα πεις;
ω, τι θα πεις, στενή καρδιά, στη χλωμή δύση αγνάντια;
Μόνο
Αχ, όλα έπρεπε να’ ρθουν καθώς ήρθαν!
Οι ελπίδες και τα ρόδα να μαδήσουν.
Βαρκούλες να μου φύγουνε τα χρόνια,
να φύγουνε, να σβήσουν.
Έτσι, όπως εχωρίζαμε τα βράδια,
για πάντα να χαθούνε τόσοι φίλοι.
Τον τόπο που μεγάλωσα παιδάκι
ν’ αφήσω κάποιο δείλι.
Τα ωραία κι απλά κορίτσια - ω, αγαπούλες! -
η ζωή να μου τα πάρει, χορού γύρος.
Ακόμη ο πόνος, άλλοτε που ευώδα,
να με βαραίνει στείρος.
Όλα έπρεπε να γίνουν. Μόνο η νύχτα
δεν έπρεπε γλυκά έτσι τώρα να’ ναι,
να παίζουνε τ’ αστέρια εκεί σαν μάτια
και σα να μου γελάνε.
Μάταιη ψυχή, στην ατονία εσπέρας εαρινής,
ενώ θα κλείνεις τα χρυσά φτερά σου πληγωμένη,
την ώρα που σα λύτρωση κάτι θα καρτερείς,
φτωχή καρδιά, θανάσιμα μα αιώνια λυπημένη·
όταν, φτασμένη απάνω στον ορίζοντα, θα ιδείς
μίση να φεύγουν οι έρωτες, χολή τα πάθη σου όλα,
όταν ανέβει από τα εξαίσια τ’ άνθη της ζωής
μύρον η απογοήτευση, ψυχή μου ονειροπόλα
την ώρα την υπέρτατη που θε να θυμηθείς
μ’ ένα μόνο χαμόγελο τα φίλα και τα ένάντια
μάταιη ψυχή, στο πέλαγο, στο αγέρι τι θα πεις;
ω, τι θα πεις, στενή καρδιά, στη χλωμή δύση αγνάντια;
Μόνο
Αχ, όλα έπρεπε να’ ρθουν καθώς ήρθαν!
Οι ελπίδες και τα ρόδα να μαδήσουν.
Βαρκούλες να μου φύγουνε τα χρόνια,
να φύγουνε, να σβήσουν.
Έτσι, όπως εχωρίζαμε τα βράδια,
για πάντα να χαθούνε τόσοι φίλοι.
Τον τόπο που μεγάλωσα παιδάκι
ν’ αφήσω κάποιο δείλι.
Τα ωραία κι απλά κορίτσια - ω, αγαπούλες! -
η ζωή να μου τα πάρει, χορού γύρος.
Ακόμη ο πόνος, άλλοτε που ευώδα,
να με βαραίνει στείρος.
Όλα έπρεπε να γίνουν. Μόνο η νύχτα
δεν έπρεπε γλυκά έτσι τώρα να’ ναι,
να παίζουνε τ’ αστέρια εκεί σαν μάτια
και σα να μου γελάνε.
May 31, 2022
I really enjoyed this story. I love mystery stories and I always think it's great when there are ones written for children. The story kept me guessing all the way through and even at the end when I thought that I'd worked out who the guilty parties were, turns out I was wrong. I found it fascinating that the two main characters were based on people who actually existed. I loved the glimpses of Victorian life.; the way Lizzie and Belle could only communicate through letters, horses and carriages as a way to get about and the importance of coffee houses as meeting placed. Also, the way J.T.Williams has woven the impact of enslavement into the book and the threat that it continued to pose even after someone who had been enslaved was free was so thoughtfully done. I think the children in my school would find this book a gripping read and it would spark some very thought provoking conversations. I can't wait for the next in the series.
October 1, 2025
«Τα παιδάκια που παίζουν στ' ανοιξιάτικο δείλι
—μια ιαχή μακρυσμένη—
τ' αεράκι που λόγια με των ρόδων τα χείλη,
ψιθυρίζει και μένει,
τ' ανοιχτά παράθυρα που ανασαίνουν την ώρα,
η αδειανή κάμαρά μου,
ένα τρένο που θα' ρχεται από μια άγνωστη χώρα,
τα χαμένα όνειρά μου,
οι καμπάνες που σβήνουν, το βράδυ που πέφτει ολοένα στην πόλη,
στων ανθρώπων την όψη, στ' ουρανού τον καθρέφτη,
στη ζωή μου τώρα όλη...»
—μια ιαχή μακρυσμένη—
τ' αεράκι που λόγια με των ρόδων τα χείλη,
ψιθυρίζει και μένει,
τ' ανοιχτά παράθυρα που ανασαίνουν την ώρα,
η αδειανή κάμαρά μου,
ένα τρένο που θα' ρχεται από μια άγνωστη χώρα,
τα χαμένα όνειρά μου,
οι καμπάνες που σβήνουν, το βράδυ που πέφτει ολοένα στην πόλη,
στων ανθρώπων την όψη, στ' ουρανού τον καθρέφτη,
στη ζωή μου τώρα όλη...»
July 21, 2025
Κώστας Καρυωτάκης: Ένας μεγάλος ποιητής.
Το βαθμολογώ με 4 αστέρια διότι δεν κατάφερα να διαβάσω όλα τα ποιήματα. Προς το τέλος τα επέλεγα, ωστόσο δεν τα απέρριπτα γιατί ξέρω ότι κάποια στιγμή θα ανατρέξω και θα τα διαβάσω. Ίσως ορισμένα δεν τα διάβασα γιατί με είχε κουράσει. Όπως και να χει, αγαπώ τον Καρυωτάκη και "τον ευχαριστώ" που με συντρόφευε τους πρώτους αυτούς μήνες του καλοκαιριού!
Το βαθμολογώ με 4 αστέρια διότι δεν κατάφερα να διαβάσω όλα τα ποιήματα. Προς το τέλος τα επέλεγα, ωστόσο δεν τα απέρριπτα γιατί ξέρω ότι κάποια στιγμή θα ανατρέξω και θα τα διαβάσω. Ίσως ορισμένα δεν τα διάβασα γιατί με είχε κουράσει. Όπως και να χει, αγαπώ τον Καρυωτάκη και "τον ευχαριστώ" που με συντρόφευε τους πρώτους αυτούς μήνες του καλοκαιριού!
December 7, 2018
Δεν μου αρεσαν οι απόψεις του σχετικά με τη γυναίκα και ο τρόπος που την υποβιβαζει μεσα απο τα ποιηματα του ωστόσο υποβιβαζει ολόκληρη την ανθρωπότητα, συμπεριλαμβανομένου και του ίδιου του του εαυτου οπότε δεν θελω μα του προσαψω κατηγορίες περι σεισμού.
November 22, 2025
A beautifully written, fantastic book, with twists and turns. A thrilling storyline and genuinely brilliant characters, some of whom are based on real people. J.T. Williams is a master of her craft and her voice is certainly one to be heard.
November 1, 2017
Wonderful translation of some beautiful, melancholic poetry from early 20th century Greece.
June 2, 2022
A quick, easy and thrilling read that I think middle grade readers will love. It was gripping and engaging the whole way through. I loved it.
December 31, 2022
NEW FAVOURITE POET ❤️
December 8, 2023
Ο Καρυωτακης δε μπορει να παρει κατω απο 5 αστερια σορι 🙏
July 29, 2025
Beautiful. although a bit repetitive. It's understandable, it's the usual soul crashing poetry that comes with Karyotakis
February 2, 2025
Ἐξαιρετική ἡ ἔκδοσi σὲ ἐπιμέλεια Σαββίδη. Ἔχει μὶα φοβερά χρησίμow καὶ ἐνδιαφέρουσα καταγραφὴ ἑλληνικῆς καὶ ξένης ἱστορίας κατὰ τὴ ζωὴ τοῦ Καρυωτάκη.
April 15, 2016
Απαισιοδοξία, μελαγχολία και βαρύ το πέπλο του θανάτου. Η ποίηση του Καρυωτακη, καθρέφτης μιας ταραγμένης εποχής, μιας γενιάς σημαδεμένης από τις εθνικές περιπέτειες και την ανέχεια.
Μοναδικός όμως, πρωτοπορος, τολμηρός στη θεματολογία του και την ειλικρίνειά του. Κάποιοι στίχοι του αξεπέραστοι, όπως:
- "Μισθια δουλειά, σωροί χαρτιών, έγνοιες μικρές, και λύπες άθλιες, με περιμένανε σήμερα, καθώς πάντα"
-"είναι αξημερωτη νύχτα η ζωή"
-"Στην άμμο τα έργα στήνονται μεγάλα των ανθρώπων, και σαν παιδάκι τα γκρεμίζει ο Χρόνος με το πόδι".
Μοναδικός όμως, πρωτοπορος, τολμηρός στη θεματολογία του και την ειλικρίνειά του. Κάποιοι στίχοι του αξεπέραστοι, όπως:
- "Μισθια δουλειά, σωροί χαρτιών, έγνοιες μικρές, και λύπες άθλιες, με περιμένανε σήμερα, καθώς πάντα"
-"είναι αξημερωτη νύχτα η ζωή"
-"Στην άμμο τα έργα στήνονται μεγάλα των ανθρώπων, και σαν παιδάκι τα γκρεμίζει ο Χρόνος με το πόδι".
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