Ta Nea-Bibliodromio: Four and a half languages for Odysseas Elytis.

Ioulita Iliopoulou, on the occasion of the five-language anthology ‘The Small World, the Great World!’ by Odysseas Elytis, set to music by Giorgos Kouroupos, spoke with Manolis Pimblis about this publication and the work of Odysseas Elytis.Read below the excellent article published on Saturday 5 November in the newspaper Ta Nea, in the ‘Bibliodromio’ supplement: A five-language anthology, a wealth of photographic material and two CDs make up an anniversary edition dedicated to the Nobel Prize-winning poet, twenty years after his death.A new publication on Odysseas Elytis is set to appear in bookshop windows in the coming days. It comprises excerpts from his work, anthologised by the person to whom the poet himself entrusted his posthumous care: the poet Ioulita Iliopoulou. What makes it unique is that it is in five languages! The anthology itself is available, in addition to Greek, in Italian, Spanish, French and English. It contains a wealth of photographic material, some of it rare, including both captured moments from Elytis’s youth – even his childhood – and his visual artworks. Indeed, the works are not repeated, but each translation is accompanied by different material. At the same time, the publication is accompanied by two CDs containing Elytis’s poems set to music by Giorgos Kouroupos, as well as readings of the poems. These range from longer compositions to songs, performed by Tassis Christoyannopoulos and Theodora Baka. There are four musical instruments, with soloists Thanasis Apostolopoulos (piano), Stella Tsani (violin), Ilias Sdoukos (viola) and Lefki Kolovou (cello). The readings are performed by Dimitris Kataleifos and the anthologist herself. It is a lavish edition by Ikaros, which will, however, be sold at an attractive price thanks to sponsorship from Alpha Bank and the willingness of all involved to contribute, so that such a book may be published in honour of the Nobel Prize-winning poet, who has been absent for twenty years this year. It is noteworthy that the book contains the work of thirty-seven different translators. Given that the anthology does not vary according to language—a feature that allows a multilingual reader to appreciate the translators’ different approaches to Elytis’s work— in several cases it was necessary for certain pieces of the anthology to be translated from scratch, and indeed these pieces differed in each language, depending on what had already been translated or not. Where there was more than one translation, Ioulita Iliopoulou chose to include a variety of translational styles, incorporating translations from different periods. Consequently, the project faced several organisational challenges and required a considerable amount of time to ensure proper coordination and achieve the desired result. Four translators were particularly helpful: David Connolly, Beatrice Stelios-Connolly, Paola Minouchi and Nina Angelidou. Processed with VSCO using the c3 presetThe book, entitled ‘The Small World, the Great World!’ by Odysseas Elytis, with music by Giorgos Kouroupos, includes poems and prose from the works Maria Nefeli, Open Papers, The Rows of Love, Orientations, The First Sun, The Sun the Sun-Bearer, Axion Esti, The Light Tree and the Fourteenth Beauty, The Monogram, The Elegies of Oxopetra, Three Poems with a Flag of Opportunity, West of Sorrow, The Half-Siblings, Sematologion. The aim is to appeal to an international audience – and whilst the songs are in Greek, foreign listeners will be able to follow the lyrics translated into their own language at the same time. ‘Through my choices, I have sought to convey a sense of joy, in contrast to our gloomy times,’ Ioulita Iliopoulou tells ‘ViblioDromio’. “These selections also aim to remind us of Elytis’s value system, which includes concepts that have been lost in our daily lives today.” How would she herself describe this value system? “Elytis’s poetry is governed by enduring values; to give a few examples: innocence as a primary spiritual value, opposition to the prevailing conception of life, a powerful revolutionary force, the dream, and a combinatory and exploratory imagination that leads, on the one hand, to the discovery of a deeper reality and, on the other, to the reconstruction of the surrounding reality, but also a belief in freedom, in justice, in the grandeur of humble elements, in the greatness of humanity, in the powers of the spirit. A projection of transparency on a spiritual level, of magic within the poetic function. Every image, every interplay of words produces, literally or allegorically, proclamations, affirmations, exhortations to life.Transcendence, geometrisation, the reordering of reality, faith in duration, a graceful perception of life, an erotic conception of the world, the sanctification of the senses, solar metaphysics as a method of deciphering the mystery of existence are some of the constant tenets of the poet’s thought,” she tells us. Ioulita Iliopoulou notes that international interest in Elytis’s poetry remains undiminished. “A major anthology of his poetry was recently published in Chile. In Italy, books are constantly being published and there are many translators of Elytis, foremost among them Paola Minucci. Recently, I have been contacted by translators who wish to translate Elytis in Armenia, Serbia and Japan. Last year, Angeliki Ionatos compiled an anthology and translated it into French. In France, too, the ‘Elegies of Oxopetra’ were published in a collector’s edition with engravings. Despite the fact, however, that the language Elytis knew and to which he attached particular importance was French, the languages that seemed to love him most are Spanish and Italian. The fact, however, that his work is translated in very different countries, such as China and Japan or Russia and Armenia, shows that beyond the symbols of his language—which in many cases can be fully understood only by a Greek (even the word “thalassa” sounds different to a Greek than it does to someone living in a landlocked country), the principles and values that characterise his poetry have a universal dimension. I therefore view the proposals of foreign translators, particularly young ones, with interest. I am in favour of multiple translations and against exclusivity. Elytis himself, after all, said that in poetry, translation preserves no more than 20% of the work.The importance of artistic collaborationTaking Giorgos Kouroupos’s musical compositions as her starting point, Ioulita Iliopoulou emphasises the importance of artistic collaboration. ‘The magic of the word is effortlessly brought to the fore by music, when the latter also seeks to engage in an equal dialogue with it. I believe that often an interpretation of a work can be better provided by another art form than by science. In ‘Monogram’, for example, Kouroupos reveals hidden aspects of it, a social element that is not usually highlighted. Through music, the listener often feels what we forget to bring to the fore.” Giorgos Kouroupos has, moreover, repeatedly set Elytis’s poetry to music. In 1989 he set ‘The Little Sailor’ to music for Manos Hadjidakis’s Orchestra of Colours, and shortly afterwards ‘Akindynou, Elpidoforou, Anempodistou’ from the ‘Elegies of Oxopetra’; in the late 1990s he set ten more poems to music for voice and piano; and in 2004 he presented ‘Monogram’, a symphonic suite for voices, choir and orchestra. In this particular project, due to the great variety in the form and content of the selected poems, he too adopted very different approaches, creating everything from simple songs sung in the street to demanding compositions. As he himself says in his short note specifically for this edition: ‘Knowing that music has the power to emphasise, highlight and amplify the emotional weight of words and lyrics, my personal aim is to evoke an emotional response capable of leading the listener to a deeper – or at least different! —understanding of the poet’s work, but also, through the puzzle of phrases, sounds and images, to bring forth effortlessly, clearly and unadorned the figure of Odysseas Elytis.”