In the Name of Luminosity and Transparency (Paperback)

ELYTIS, Odysseus: „In the Name of Luminosity and Transparency“, Athen 2016
The Greek poet Odysseus Elytis is a major exponent of romantic modernism in Greece. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In this small book his speech at the hand over of the nobel prize in Sweden is printed. For Elytis the poetry represents in our society a more analog and emotional world. „poetry is the only place where the power of numbers proves to be nothing.“ (Page 31) He sees our language as a unsimple communication, which can create problems. „But it happens, at times, that it is also an instrument of „magic“.“ (Page 32) A worldwide common language would make a better world. With translation 70 to 80 percent of content get lost. He excuse himselfs, that he writes in Greek language, which is on one hand one of the oldest languages – used the last 2500 years -, but some of his ideas get lost during translation. Words can not change the world „It is not enough to put our dreams into verse. It is too little. It is not enough to politicize our speecvh. It is too much.“ (Page 36/37)
Beside the speech of Elytis this book contains an introduction to the poet Elytis by Dimitris Daskalopoulos and a detailled CV.