Elytis’ Greece

The bicentennial anniversary of the birth of the modern Greek state offers an opportunity for study, thought and dream. In such a process, Odysseus Elytis’ penetrating thought is invaluable. The one hundred and thirty selected passages from Elytis’ prose writings, included in the book, shape another kind of patriotic discourse. Greece, the history of Hellenism, the Greek language, the Greek sea – the Aegean, Greek nature, Greek art and Greek reality constitute the seven central themes of these writings. Odysseus Elytis clarifies, urges, denounces and offers us Ariadne’s thread for a voyage in the pathways of ideas and sensibilities of our country proceeds; our country, that is, as it was seen and understood by Elytis, who was not afraid to declare himself a Greek “organically, psychologically, sensuously, invincibly!”.