Why read Yannis Ritsos?

Book cover of Yannis Ritsos: Repetitions, Testimonies, Parentheses

Book description

The celebrated modern Greek poet Yannis Ritsos follows such distinguished predecessors as C. P. Cavafy and George Seferis in a dramatic and symbolic expression of a tragic sense of life. The shorter poems gathered in this volume present what Ritsos calls "simple things" that turn out not to be simple…

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Topics

Greek mythology

Genres

Poetry

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Why read it?

1 author picked Yannis Ritsos as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Susan Wan Dolling

Author

The book is dedicated to his three students from Princeton’s translation workshop, “Madeleine, Nadia, and Susan, and their faith in the art of translation.” And yes, that last is me. This dedication has not biased my love for these poems even though I recognize his tutelage in their lines: he taught us to be bold, true and simple, as in Ritsos’s famous poem, “The Meaning of Simplicity,” which begins, “I hide behind simple things, so you’ll find me...” which is placed smack in the middle of this volume.

Many of these poems are short but not simple, as in simplistic.…

From Susan's list on The best translated books that capture the magic of the original, making what’s unfamiliar, foreign or ancient, accessible.