Twenty years after ‘Simigdalénio’, which has not aged at all and has never ceased to be read as a book or performed from time to time in the theatre, Alexandros Adamopoulos, with ‘Ochinelegontas’, raises the curtain once more to tell us, in his entirely unique way – poetically, dreamlike, timeless – a new story that has endured for centuries, yet some of its hidden aspects we may never have heard of until now, nor even admitted to ourselves.
From the terrifying Hesiodic Eros, from the medieval fairy tale with its sorceresses and castles, to the psychoanalyst’s couch. With constant twists on every page and mounting suspense right up to the very last word, Alexandros Adamopoulos and ‘Ochinailegontas’ keep us company, playing along with us; setting up a bizarre scene that is in nowhere and yet is within each of us.
Love:
My girl, you’ve grown up and you play with dolls;
didn’t you put a drop of sense into your mischievous curls?
King Livios• a man, young, very handsome,
he seeks you, he calls for you,
he thinks of you and wastes his life away,
because he wants you like a madman, wholly his own.
And you—instead of feeling it, you play hard to get and hesitate,
and when he writes to you earnestly, you pretend to be sleepy.
Do you think the ways of Nature are simple—
just a trickle of water in the mouth from a cold tap—
perhaps a few dewdrops on the lip of a spring?
And you avoid the pain—of my own wound?
Do you want to drown so much in your own being, alone?
Come on!
Put your ear to it and listen to the beating of your heart
you• who want everyone to slaughter each other, at the hem of your apron.
_He slowly raises his bow and shoots her through the chest.
The dream fades• Rodi wakes up startled._
- Pages: 126
- ISBN: 978-960-9527-19-4
- Publication: 2011
- Categories: Literature, Books, Θέατρο
"...What a narrative! What literary mastery; within the labyrinthine lace of the most hidden feelings, as if at the very depths of existence… A great achievement by Adamopoulos in the written word; yet one that is simultaneously theatrical."
– Dimitra Roussou, FractalAlexandros Adamopoulos
Alexandros Adamopoulos was born in 1953 in Athens. He studied law, film directing and classical guitar in Athens, and sociology of law in Paris.
He founded the ‘Yannis Christou Society of Friends of Music’, with the aim of preserving and promoting the composer’s work. He has collaborated with the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments since its foundation in 1991, serving as general secretary and as president of the Friends of the Museum Association. He served as general secretary of the board of directors of the National Theatre.
His first book, "Twelve and One Lies" (Ikaros, 1992), has been translated into English, French, German and Turkish and published in Turkey, Germany, France and India. "Lies Again" has been translated into English and German (the short story "The New Saints" has also been translated into Turkish). His play "The Semolina Man" has been published in Australia and Turkey and has been staged in more than fifty different productions across the country. The libretto for "The Possessed" has been performed at the Greek National Opera.
He has translated works by A. Camus, A. de Montelard, A. de Musset, L. Tolstoy, R. Dahl, T. Günersel and Auguste Rodin’s “The Testament”.
