Με το πρόσωπο στον τοίχο

by Miltos Sachtouris, Μίλτος Σαχτούρης

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Miltos Sachtouris (1919- 2005) was born in Athens and is one of the most important Greek poets of the post-War period.

Sachtouris studied law, but abandoned legal practice early, in order to devote himself to writing.

Sachtouris received the Second National Poetry Award in 1962 for "Ta Stigmata," the First National Poetry Award in 1987, the Order of the Phoenix in 1995, and the Grand State Literature Prize in 2003 for his collected works.

The rejection of a decorative use of poetic language, and the greatest possible condensing as a permanent method for creating style are two elements that accompany Miltos Sachtouris in most of his collections. Things and their uses are described with relative fidelity, poetic action is enhanced thanks to a quick succession of images-episodes, whilst the descriptive part of the narration (space layout, details about the elements that demarcate it) is minimised to the lowest possible degree.

Reviews

[Jon Corelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great modern poet

***** A Five Star Poetry Book: Recommended for All Readers

Miltos Sachtouris (1919-2005), well known in Greece but shamefully neglected elsewhere, was one of the great poets of the twentieth century. His poems are nightmarish, sometimes horrifying, deeply frightening, and often poised between an underlying desperate need for hope and and equally desperate conviction that there is no hope -- in other words, they are very much like life itself in our times. Depending as they do on striking, surrealistic, un-ornamented imagery, they tend to translate well. I would recommend them most highly to everyone: poets can learn much from his spare, surrealistic but nail-on-the-head technique, and readers in general should appreciate finally finding a poet who expresses what they themselves feel about life in their most private and most desperate moments. If many of his poems don't make sense, they don't make sense in exactly the same way that modern life doesn't make sense.

Of the two books of his poetry generally available in English, I prefer this 1980 collection With Face to the Wall by well known Greek poetry translator Kimon Friar, which offers a small selection of extremely high quality pieces, translated in a very dead-pan, pointed style which well reflects the Greek original; it's out of print but still available from some vendors new or used. Also good is the 2006 Poems by Karen Emmerich, whose translations to mind aren't quite as taut but which has the advantages of offering a wider selection and being still in print. Both books include brief but useful essays on the poet.

[Nikolaos Kantanas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short collection of intriguing poems. There is a surreal aspect to the poems which make them have an ethereal feeling. The poems themselves are also short and descriptive, so I would suggest anyone who is interested in poetry that is not often seen to pick this up. I read this in English and Greek, it is remarkable in translation, but its worth reading it in Greek also as it's an extremely beautiful poetic language. It's possible to learn to transliterate the language in a few days if you don't want to learn it.