His last purely poetic collection, Temple of the World, was published in 1996. A gap of seventeen years, which is nevertheless bridged, with poetic continuity and consistency, by highly significant books of a different genre.
Beneath the image of the stars, because, in the temple of the world, the most marvellous image is that of the stars. And furthermore, Masks of Nothing (the subtitle), because, ‘all are metamorphoses of Nothing, magic…’, as the poet wrote in his very first book, Mantraspenda (1977).
Yannis Yfantis’s new collection of poetry bears a strong resemblance to his previous ones, yet is at the same time entirely different. Containing one hundred and one poems, one hundred and one dense, rhythmic fairy tales, or rather, 161 pages of fairy-tale magic, which we so desperately need today.
- Pages: 168
- ISBN: 978-960-572-003-2
- Publication: 2013
- Categories: Literature, Books, Poetry
Yiannis Yfantis
Yannis Yfantis was born in Raina, Agrinio, in 1949. He studied law at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and took courses in philosophy, archaeology and astronomy.
A poet and translator, he has contributed to Greek and foreign newspapers: ‘To Vima’, ‘Ta Nea’, ‘Eleftherotypia’, ‘Athinaiki’, ‘Arampas’, "El Sark el Ausat", "Il Sole 24 Ore", "Le Journal des Poètes", and others. He has also contributed to almost all Greek literary journals and several foreign ones, such as "Temenos", "Pacific Quarterly", "Foot Print", "Aegean Review", "Nostalgia Literatura", "Hora de Poesia", "Ibda", "Sapriphage", "Orpheus" (Sofia), "Letteratura" ("Lettre Internationale" of Sofia), “Beneen”, “Écriture”, “Journal of Literature and Aesthetics”, etc., as well as with the regional magazines “Porfyras” (Corfu) and “Akti” (Cyprus). He also worked for two years at Thessaloniki State Radio, as the producer of the programmes “Greek and World Poetry” and “At its core, the theme is one”.
From 1977 to 2009, his books were published: ‘Manthraspenta’, poems, 1977; ‘Mystics of the East’, 1980, 1989; new, more complete edition 2000 (translations of Sufi, Hindu, Taoist and Zen poets), "Ancient Edda", 1983 (translation of the ancient Icelandic Edda, later included in his book "The Garden of Poetry"), "The Mirror of Proteus", poems, 1986, "Signs of Immortal Memory" (poetic philosophical essays on Oedipus and the Oracle of Delphi), 1987, "Poems Embroidered on the Devil’s Skin", poems, 1988, "Temple of the World", poems, 1997, ‘The Garden of Poetry’, 2001 (4,000 years of foreign poetry), ‘Archetypes’, 2001 (compositions of photographs, paintings and handwritten poetry), ‘The Ideogram of the Snake’, 2003 (philosophical essays, interviews, myths and their interpretation, dreams and their interpretation, true stories, text messages), "Eros, Unconquered Warrior", poems, 2004, "The Metamorphoses of Nothing", published by Agkyra, 2006; 2nd edition, published by AX, 2009 (all poetry collections together with unpublished poems in a single volume). His anthology "On the Sands of Homer" (3,000 years of Greek poetry) is currently in press.
His poems have been translated mainly into Italian, Bulgarian, English, French, Arabic and Finnish, but also into Russian, Spanish, Macedonian, Chinese, Serbian, Kurdish, Hebrew and German. He has presented his work at festivals abroad (Egypt, Finland, Cyprus, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Algeria, etc.), in secondary schools across Greece, at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in cultural centres and galleries in Athens, Thessaloniki and the wider region.
In 1995, he was honoured in Cairo with the International Cavafy Prize. In 1997, as part of Thessaloniki’s designation as European Capital of Culture, director Christos Aronis presented the documentary "Pyro Aeizoon", based on his writings, starring the poet and his daughter Ariadne. In the summer of 2002, the book "Alector the Erasmian" was published by "Vourkari" Press in Kea, featuring love poems by Yannis Yfantis and erotic engravings by Giorgos Stathopoulos. In November 2005, in Bormes-les-Mimosas on the Côte d’Azur, the sculptor Marie-Jose Armando created the clay book “Masques du Néant”, in a limited edition of seven copies, in Greek and French. In March 2009, the record label Lyra released the 73-minute CD “Yannis Yfantis Reads Yfantis”.
Three years ago, Yannis Yfantis, having lived in Thessaloniki for 32 years, returned to his place of origin (he now lives in Raina, Aetolia, and Lefkada).
