Odysseas elytis biography channel

His poetry, with the light as its focal point and through the transcendent dimension of nature and the spirituality of the senses, sought to uncover the mystery of existence. He twice went to live in Paris — and —where he attended courses in literature at the Sorbonne and came into contact with major 20th-century poets and painters Picasso, Matisse, Breton, Chagall.

Inhe was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He devoted himself to poetry until his death on 18 March Orientations Sun the First Axion Esti Six and One Remorses for the Sky The Light-tree and the Fourteenth Beauty The Sovereign Sun In his bedroom the black and white photo of his mother was by his left bedside table and the photo of Kriezi taken in Paris in the late sixties was across from his bed on the left entering from the living room.

In the living room on top of the fancy dresser drawers was a colour photo of Anita Mozas born in Toronto in who had first met the poet in and then interviewed him for the CBC radio in early Elytis made her his authorized biographer in and stated she understood him as Dora Maar had understood Picasso. Francoise Gilot supported the decision of Elytis to make Anita Mozas his biographer after having met her and become friends with her.

In he served his military requirements. As an army cadet, he joined the National Military School in Corfu. He assisted Frederica of Hanover off the train and on to Greek soil personally when she arrived from Germany to marry hereditary Prince Paul. During the war he was appointed Second Lieutenant, placed initially at the 1st Army Corps Headquarters, then transferred to the 24th Regiment, on the first-line of the battlefields.

Inhe contracts an acute case of typhus abdominalis and is transferred to the Ioanina Hospital into the pathology unit for officers. Elytis came very close to his death here and was given the options between staying at the hospital and be a prisoner when the Germans fully invaded and occupied Greece, or be transferred with the risk of intestinal perforation and hemorrhage.

On the eve of the invasion of the German armies, he decided to be transferred to Aigrinio and from there eventually back to Athens where he made a slow but steady recovery during the German occupation. Elytis was sporadically publishing poetry and essays after his initial foray into the literary world.

Odysseas elytis biography channel

In — and — he lived in Paris. Elytis and Teriade had formed a strong friendship that solidified in with the publication of Elytis first book of poetry entitled "Orientations". Elytis did not like Yevgeny Yevtushenko when they were introduced but appreciated Voznesensky That summer he spent part of his holidays on Corfu Island and the rest on Lesbos where he and Teriade, who had returned from Paris, were establishing the foundations of a museum dedicated to the painter Theophilos.

In the inaugural performance of the oratorio to the poetry of the Axion Esti as set to music by MIkis Theodorakis was held. In he completes the essays that will be comprised as the book "The Open Papers" and in that summer visits the Greek islands yet again. He visited Bulgaria in [ 6 ] with his friend Yiorgos Theotokas on the invitation of the Union of Bulgarian Authors; it would be their final journey together as Theotokas would die in October Their guide throughout this country was the poet Elisaveta Bagryanawho had been nominated three times until then for the Nobel prize in Literature.

In he was also bestowed with the Phoenix Cross, the highest honour of the Greek nation. Elytis was a believer and follower of numerology in all its forms: Biblical, Kabbalah, Chaldean and Pythagorean. He also believed in vedic astrology and held certain beliefs of Hinduism to be true. Pablo Picasso had given him three instructions about the course of life which he attempted to uphold sacrosanct.

Elytis was beset with the untimely death of friends and relatives throughout his life: Yiorgos Theotokas, George Seferis, Andreas Embiricos, George Sarandaris. Of all the deaths that happened, Karydis, his publisher at Ikaros, shook him up the most. Elytis had cordial relations with Yiannis Ritsos and close ties with his best friend Nikos Gatsos, both poets of the same generation.

Odysseas Elytis had been completing plans to travel overseas to see friends when he died of a heart failure in Athens on 18 Marchat the age of He had made it known that he was a believer in cremation and had wished that somehow he could have been cremated which the tenets of his Greek Orthodox religion do not support or allow. He was also a supporter of the legalization of euthanasia for people who wished to die after pain and suffering.

Furthermore, he believed it was a woman's right to choose abortion in any circumstance. In the last ten years of his life he lived with a companion, Sofia Iliopoulouwho was 53 years his junior. Iliopoulou is an activist for children throughout the world imparting her knowledge whenever she is able to. She is a successful artist in her own right, translating and composing her own odysseas elytis biography channel and giving poetry recitals at the Theocharakis Foundation in Athens.

The funeral was held the next day after his death. The funeral was jammed with people who had loved his poetry. He then wrote articles and reviews on literary topics for the newspaper "Kathimerini" "Daily Paper". Inthe poet moved to Paris, where he studied literature at the Sorbonne for four years. During his time in Paris, Elytis became interested in visual art and art history.

Upon his return to Greece inElytis resumed working at the National Radio Broadcasting Institute and actively participated in cultural events. His next literary work, "Axion Esti"was a spiritual autobiography in verse and prose, resembling the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church and written in demotic language, while incorporating the richness of the Greek linguistic tradition.

His following book, a collection of poems titled "Six plus One for the Sky," was published in InElytis visited the United States for four months as a guest of the State Department, and inhe visited the Soviet Union. From toElytis served on the administrative board of the Greek National Theatre, and the following two years he spent in voluntary exile in France as a protest against the military coup that overthrew the Greek government and established a military dictatorship in For many years, Elytis worked on a long poem titled "Maria Nefeli," which alternates monologues of a young woman representing the radical, liberated generation.

The poem was published in Unlike his other works, "Maria Nefeli" captured real-life experiences. After writing "Axion Esti," Elytis met a young woman, and he suddenly felt the urge to write something completely different. Kimon Friar. Newcastle, Bloodaxe Books, Journal of an unseen april Trans. David Connoly. Athens, Ypsilon books, Carte blanche - Selected writings Trans.

Amsterdam, Harwood Academic Publishers, Maria Nephele Trans. Athan Anagnostopoulos.