M. Karagatsis ( el, Μ. Καραγάτσης; 23 June 1908 – 14 September 1960) was the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of the important modern

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 ...

novelist, journalist, critic and playwright Dimitrios Rodopoulos (Δημήτριος Ροδόπουλος). The pen name M. Karagatsis is the name the novelist is known with. The letter "M." comes from Mitya, which is the Russian diminutive of Dimitris (his real name). The word "Karagatsis" comes from the tree '' karagatsi'' under the shadow of which he used to write as a young writer. Karagatsis was born in

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 ...

, grew up in

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, and studied law in France. He died in Athens. He is associated with 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 ...

".M. Vitti, ''Η γενιά του τριάντα – Ιδεολογία και μορφή'' 'The Generation of the '30s – Ideology and Form'' Ermis, Athens, 1977.

Evaluation

Karagatsis has been characterized as ''primarily a prose writer of the illusory reality of persons and situations''. His writing is bold, sensual, with great imagination and a unique narrative style, and is often studied by Greek students. His first three novels (''Colonel Liapkin'', ''Chimaera'' and ''Junkermann'') compose a trilogy named ''Acclimazation under Apollo'', about foreigners who live and work in Greece. Karagatsis sets these books in modern, cosmopolitan Greece, in contrast with the stereotype that Greek life is conservative and countrified.

Books

Karagatsis is one of the few modern Greek writers to be translated, (mainly in German, but also in English, Italian, French) and his most important works are: *''Miss Nitsa'' ( 1929, short novel awarded by literature magazine ''Nea Estia'') *''Colonel Liapkin'' (1933) (Ο Συνταγματάρχης Λιάπκιν) *''Junkermann'' (1939) (Γιούγκερμαν) *''The last days of Junkermann'' (1940) (Τα στερνά του Γιούγκερμαν) *''Lost island'' (1941) (Χαμένο Νησί) *''The ruler of Kastropyrgos'' (1944) (Ο Κοτζάμπασης του Καστρόπυργου) *''Great Sleep'' (1946) (Ο Μεγάλος Ύπνος) *''Bar Eldorado'' (Stage play, 1946) *''Blood lost and gained'' (1947) (Αίμα χαμένο και κερδισμένο) *''Carmen'' (Stage play, 1948) *''History of Greeks'' (nonfiction, 1952) (Η ιστορία των Ελλήνων) *''At God's Hands'' (1954) *''Death and Thodoros'' (1956) (Ο Θάνατος κι ο Θόδωρος) *''Yellow envelope'' (1957) (Ο Κίτρινος Φάκελος) *''Sergios and Vacchos'' (1959) (Σέργιος και Βάκχος) *'' The 10'' (1960) (unfinished)

References

* ''Η μεσοπολεμική πεζογραφία'', εκδ. Σοκόλη, τ. Δ * Β. Αθανασόπουλος, ''Οι μάσκες του ρεαλισμού'', τ. Β-Γ, εκδ. Καστανιώτη, Αθήνα 2003 * Ιωσήφ Βιβιλάκης, «O θεατρικός Kαραγάτσης», Παράβασις, Eπιστημονικό Δελτίο Tμήματος Θεατρικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Aθηνών,τομ. 1 (1995), Kαστανιώτης, Aθήνα, σελ. 227-258. * Κ.Α. Δημάδης, ''Δικτατορία-Πόλεμος και πεζογραφία. 1936-1944'', εκδ. Γνώση, ΑΘήνα 1991 * Α. Εμπειρίκος: ''Ο «Σέργιος και Βάκχος» του Μ. Καραγάτση'', εκδόσεις «Άγρα» και «Εστία», Αθήνα 2014 * Ν.Ι. Καγκελάρης, «Σταδιακή αποδόμηση της λαϊκής δοξασίας για τη θεραπευτική δύναμη των βοτάνων στη νεοελληνική λογοτεχνία: από τον Α. Μάτεση (''Ὁ Βασιλικός'') ως τον Μ. Καραγάτση (''Ὁ Συνταγματάρχης Λιάπκιν'')»: ''Πρακτικά 6ου Πανελλήνιου Συνεδρίου: Φυτά και βότανα στον λαϊκό πολιτισμό και την επιστήμη. Καρδίτσα 20-22 Οκτωβρίου 2017'', (επιμ.: Αυδίκος, Ε.- Κοζιού-Κολοφωτιά,Β.), Λάρισα, 2018, σελ. 243-5

* Α. Καραντώνη, ''Πεζογράφοι και πεζογραφήματα της γενιάς του '30'', εκδ. Παπαδήμας, Αθήνα 1977 * Κ.Μητσάκη, ''Νεοελληνική πεζογραφία. Η γενιά του '30'', Αθήνα 1977 * Mario Vitti, ''H γενιά του 30. Ιδελογία και μορφή''. εκδ.Ερμής, Αθήνα 1977

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karagatsis 1908 births 1960 deaths Writers from Athens Writers from Larissa 20th-century Greek dramatists and playwrights Greek journalists 20th-century Greek novelists Generation of the '30s 20th-century journalists Greek expatriates in France

Evaluation

Books

References

Further reading

External links