Andreas Embirikos ( el, Ανδρέας Εμπειρίκος; September 2, 1901 in
Brăila – August 3, 1975 in
Kifissia,
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
and one of the first Greek
psychoanalysts
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
.
Life
Embirikos was born in
Brăila,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
into a wealthy
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
family. His father Leonidas Embirikos was an important
ship-owner
A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain fre ...
and politician. His family soon moved to
Ermoupolis
Ermoupoli ( el, Ερμούπολη), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( el, < "Town of "), is a to ...
in
Syros
Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census).
The largest towns are Ermoupoli, An ...
, one of the Greek islands in the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...
. When Embirikos was only seven years old they moved to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. While he was still a teenager his parents divorced; he started studying at the School of Philosophy of the
National and Capodistrian University of Athens
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, but he decided to move to
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
to stay with his mother without graduating from the university.
The following years Embirikos studied a variety of subjects both in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
where he studied at
King's College London; however it was in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
where he decided to study
psychanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
together with
René Laforgue
René Laforgue (5 November 18946 March 1962) was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
Biography
Laforgue was born in Thann (then part of the German Empire) and died in Paris. He studied medicine in Berlin, and in 1919 wrote a thesis on "The ...
and joined the
International Psychoanalytical Association
The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, from an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi.
His ...
.
Timeline
* 1929 Meets with the surrealists and is interested in
automatic writing
Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spir ...
.
* 1931 Returns to Greece and works for some time at the shipdocks.
* 1934 Develops an intermittent companionship to
Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar (, , ; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the ''Prix Fem ...
.
* 1935 Gives the famous lecture On surrealism (''Περί σουρρεαλισμού'') in Athens and publishes ''Blast furnace''; a pure surrealist text.
* 1940 Gets married with poet Matsi Hatzilazarou; nevertheless, they divorced four years later. The same year he divorced (1944), despite his leftist sympathies, he was taken hostage by the
communist OPLA after the
Dekemvriana
The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the c ...
events in Athens and was treated in a humiliating way. On the road he managed to escape.
* 1947 Gets married for the second time with Vivika Zisi. A year later, his father, with whom Embeirikos' relationship was rather normal, dies in
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
.
* 1962 Together with
Yorgos Theotokas and
Odysseas Elytis
Odysseas Elytis ( el, Οδυσσέας Ελύτης , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, el, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as th ...
, he was invited to travel to the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
by the "Greco-Soviet" Union; the trip inspired him to write the poem ''ES ES ES ER Rossia''.
* 1975 He dies in
Kifissia; his mother preceded him by only two years.
Poetry
His poetry can be defined by two major tendencies. On the one hand, he was one of the major representatives of surrealism in Greece. His first poetic collection, Ipsikaminos (ie blast furnace), was a
heretic book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
, characterized by the lack of the punctuation and the peculiarity of the language. As the poet himself admitted it was precisely the originality and extravagance of his work that contributed to his relative commercial success.
On the other hand, together with
Yorgos Seferis, Embirikos was the most important representative of the "
Generation of the '30s The Generation of the '30s () was a group of Greek writers, poets, artists, intellectuals, critics, and scholars who made their debut in the 1930s and introduced modernism in Greek art and literature. The Generation of the '30s is also cited as a so ...
". He contributed greatly to the introduction of modernism in Greek letters and he helped change once and for all the poetic atmosphere of Greece.
''Megas Anatolikos''
Α significant work by Embirikos is his pornographic novel ''Megas Anatolikos'' written between 1940–c. 1970 and published only after his death in 1990. In this work, Embirikos narrates the first trip of the ocean liner
Great Eastern (''Μέγας Ἀνατολικός'') from England to America. Embirikos describes the Great Eastern as a hedonic vessel, where the multitude of the passengers enjoy love without and beyond limits. During the ten-day trip (an allusion to the
Decameron
''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...
) they discover a new form of happiness and innocence. For this work,
Odysseas Elytis
Odysseas Elytis ( el, Οδυσσέας Ελύτης , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, el, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as th ...
called Embirikos "a visionary and a prophet".
Literary critic
Embirikos also wrote articles of literary criticism; at least two of them are worth-mentioning. The first is "The hidden necrophilia in the works of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
"; the second, "
Nikos Engonopoulos
Nikos Egonopoulos ( el, Νίκος Εγγονόπουλος; October 21, 1907 – October 31, 1985) was a Greek painter and poet. He is one of the most important members of "Generation of the '30s",Eleni Kefala''Peripheral (Post) Modernity'' ...
or the miracle of
Elbassan
Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central A ...
and
Bosphorus".
Photography
Embirikos was an enthusiastic photographer all his life, and the sheer volume of his photographic work, no less than his passionate involvement with the medium, suggest that it was, for him, very nearly as important an activity as writing. Yiorgis Yiatromanolakis (Γιώργης Γιατρομανωλάκης), Embirikos's principal Greek scholar, has written that "his three principal identities are those of a poet, a novelist and a photographer". For his part, Embirikos's son, Leonidas, has referred to his father's "vast, vertiginously extensive photographic archive... the negatives alone exceeding 30,000 items".
[Quoted in Yannis Stathatos, ''Fotofrachtis: I fotografies tou Andrea Embirikou'', Agra Editions, Athens 2001, p.12]
Embirikos only ever publicly exhibited his photographs once in his lifetime, showing a limited number of prints at the Ilissos gallery in Athens, in 1955. However, as part of the celebrations for the centenary of his birth in 2001, the photographer and critic
John Stathatos (Γιάννης Σταθάτος) was commissioned to research the archive and curate a large exhibition at the Technopolis Arts Centre in Athens. A substantial monograph incorporating Stathatos's text was simultaneously published by Agra Editions.
Selected works
* Blast furnace (''Ὑψικάμινος''), 1935
* Hinterland (''Ἐνδοχώρα''), 1945
* Writings or Personal Mythology (''Γραπτά ἤ Προσωπική Μυθολογία''), 1960
* ES ES ES ER Rossia (''ΕΣ ΕΣ ΕΣ ΕΡ Ρωσσία''), 1962
* Argo or Aerostat Flight (''Ἄργώ ἤ Πλούς Αεροστάτου''), 1964
* Oktana (''Ὀκτάνα''), 1980
* Every Generation or Today as Tomorrow and as Yesterday (''Αἱ Γενεαί Πᾶσαι ἤ Ἡ Σήμερον ὡς Αὔριον καί ὡς Χθές''), 1985
* Armala or Introduction to a city (''Ἄρμαλα ἤ Εἰσαγωγή σέ μία πόλι''), 1985
* The Great Eastern (''Ό Μέγας Ἀνατολικός''), 1990
* Zemphyra or The Secret of Pasiphae (''Ζεμφύρα ή Το Μυστικόν της Πασιφάης''), 1997
* Nikos Engonopoulos or the miracle of Elbassan and Bosphorus, 2000
* Lecture 1963, 2000
* prologue in
Marie Bonaparte's book ''The hidden necrophilia in the work of Edgar Poe'', (''Η λανθάνουσα νεκροφιλία στο έργο του Έδγαρ Πόε'', 2000)
* A Case of Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis with Premature Ejaculations and Other Psychoanalytic Texts (''Μια Περίπτωσις Ιδεοψυχαναγκαστικής Νευρώσεως με Πρόωρες Εκσπερματώσεις και Άλλα Ψυχαναλυτικά Κείμενα'', 2005)
* a translation of Picasso's ''The four little girls'', 1980
* ''Amour, Amour: writings or personal mythology'', tr. N. Stangos, A. Ross (1966).
Notes
External links
*Short introduction to the poet. https://www.academia.edu/31629216/Andreas_Embiricos_Writer_Poet_Photographer_Psychoanalyst_KCL_Alumnus
Matsi Hatzilazarou's poemsfrom Translatum's anthology o
{{DEFAULTSORT:Embirikos, Andreas
1901 births
1975 deaths
Romanian people of Greek descent
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
Alumni of King's College London
Modern Greek poets
Greek surrealist writers
Generation of the '30s
Surrealist poets
People from Brăila
Greek psychoanalysts
20th-century Greek poets
Greek photographers
Greek art critics
Romanian emigrants to Greece
People from Ermoupoli
Writers from Athens