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Reading Greece
Reading Greece13 hours ago
📌It was on 29 July 1925 that internationally renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis was born. He was famous not just for his diverse body of work but also for his active involvement in Greece’s political and social struggles during the second half of the 20th century.

📚The “Roads of the Archangel” by Mikis Theodorakis is a monumental autobiographical work covering his musical, ideological, and political journey. Originally issued in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was later republished in a refined two-volume edition in 2009 by the University of Crete Press. It offers not only a deep personal narrative but also a panoramic view of Greek cultural and political history throughout the mid 20th century.

Theodorakis presents a rich autobiographical account, delving into his childhood, formative years, and political and musical evolution. Yet, the work is not just personal memoir but also a portrait of Greek society and politics across tumultuous decades — from the Metaxas dictatorship, WWII, the Civil War, to the junta era and its aftermath. Indeed, the book offers a firsthand account of the personal, creative, and political paths of one of Greece’s most influential 20th-century figures and at the same time a national chronicle illustrating the intertwined history of art and politics in modern Greece.
Reading Greece
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Reading Greece
Reading Greece2 days ago
📚📚On the occasion of the publication of his book "Light in dark times: the Greek-Roman culture" in Greek (Εκδόσεις Εστία, 2025) and his translation of Christos Vakalopoulos' "Τhe line of the horizon" into Italian (Edizioni Medhelan, 2025), philhellene writer, essayist and translator Francesco Colafemmina spoke to Reading Greece about the relevance of the Greek-Roman civilization today, the challenges of translating Greek #literature into Italian and the crucial role of #translators in letting " more people know this literature, know the lyricism of Greek Literature, understand the story of modern Greece and fall in love with the diachronic #Hellenism".
Reading Greece
Reading Greece: Francesco Colafemmina – “As a philhellene, my mission is also to let more people fall in love with the diachronic Hellenism”
Francesco Colafemmina was born in Rome in 1980. He studied Classical Philology at Bari University where he graduated in Latin Literature in 2004. Author of several novels and essays, mainly focused on Ancient World, he is translator from Ancient and Modern Greek. He runs also an organic beekeeping c...
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Reading Greece
Reading Greece6 days ago
🦈☀️⛵️⛱#Summer has always been a favourite theme in contemporary Greek poetry. It often embodies more than just a season—it reflects memory, identity, desire, and the tension between tradition and modernity. Contemporary Greek #poets often use summer to evoke childhood memories, lost loves, or a simpler past. The heat, the sea, and the Greek islands serve as backdrops for emotional reflection. The Greek summer is inextricably linked with the sea—calm or wild, it becomes a symbol of both freedom and existential depth. The #Aegean often takes on mythic or almost sacred qualities.

BODY OF SUMMER by Odysseas Elytis

A long time has passed since the last rain was heard
Above the ants and lizards
Now the sun burns endlessly
The fruit paints its mouth
The pores in the earth open slowly
And beside the water that drips in syllables
A huge plant gaze into the eye of the sun.
Who is he that lies on the shores beyond
Stretched on his back, smoking silver-burnt olive leaves?
Cicadas grow warm in his ears
Ants are at work on his chest
Lizards slide in the grass of his armpits
And over the seaweed of his feet a wave rolls lightly
Sent by the little siren that sang:
O body o summer, naked, burnt
Eaten away by oil and salt
Body of rock and shudder of the heart
Great ruffling wind in the osier hair
Beneath of basil above the curly pubic mound
Full of stars and pine needles
Body, deep vessel of the day!
Soft rains come, violent hail
The land passes lashed in the claws of snow-storm
Which darkens in the depths with furious waves
The hills plunge into the dense udders of the clouds
And yet behind all this you laugh carefree
And find your deathless moment again
And the sun finds you again in the sandy shores
As the sky finds you again in your naked health.

[Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard]
Reading Greece
Poem of the Month: 'Body of Summer' By Odysseus Elytis - Greek News Agenda
On 18 October 1979, one of Greece’s major poets, Odysseus Elytis, was awarded with the Noble Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy declared in its presentation that Elytis’ poetry “depicts with sensual strength and intellectual clearsightedness, modern man’s struggle for freedom and crea...
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