Giorgos Sarantaris

Giorgos Sarantaris (1908-1941). Giorgos Sarantaris was born in Constantinople, the son of Dimitris Sarantaris and Malthinta née Sotiriou, originating from Leonidi, Kynouria. From 1912 to 1931, he lived in Italy, where his family settled. From a young age, he turned to literature and the study of philosophy, while also engaging with foreign languages. He studied law at the universities of Bologna and Macerata, earning a doctoral degree. In Italy, he wrote his first verses in both Italian and Greek and published poems in Italian and French. In 1931, he returned to Greece and entered the literary circles. During the war of 1940, he enlisted in Albania and fell ill with typhoid fever. He was transferred to Athens, where he died in 1941. His first appearance in Greek literature was in 1933 through the pages of the magazine "Nea Zoi" with the short story "Martha's Life," which introduced the genre of the French anti-novel (antiroman) to Greece. That same year, he published his first poetry collection "The Loves of Time." This was followed by "Heavens" (1934) and "Stars" (1935), along with many other poems published in the magazines "Nea Grammata," "Nea Estia," "Kyklos," and "Macedonian Days" (Thessaloniki). His last poetry collection was "To the Friends of Another Joy," published in early 1940, which was enthusiastically received by Mitsos Papanikolaou. Giorgos Sarantaris was one of the first innovative Greek poets of the interwar period and one of the first proponents of existentialism in Greece. His philosophical thought revolved around the quest for the absolute against the decay of human existence, expressed through the abolition of traditional poetic form and linguistic expression. He was influenced, among others, by the thoughts of Ungaretti, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Shestov, and Berdyaev. He also engaged in philosophical essays and poetic translations. For more biographical details on Giorgos Sarantaris, see Tasos Korfis, "Sarantaris Giorgos," in the "Great Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature," vol. 12, Athens, Haris Patsis, n.d. [1968], Giorgos G. Marinakis, "Introduction" in "Giorgos Sarantaris: Poems," vol. A'-D' (presentation, introduction, editing, comments & notes: Giorgos G. Marinakis), Athens, Gutenberg, 1987, Alexis Ziras, "Sarantaris Giorgos" in the "World Biographical Dictionary," vol. 9a, Athens, Ekdotiki Athinon, 1988, and Alexis Ziras, "Sarantaris Giorgos" in the "Dictionary of Modern Greek Literature," Athens, Patakis Publications, 2007. (Source: Archive of Greek Authors, E.KE.VI.).