A Broken Man in Flower presents new versions of work by one of
the most significant Greek poets of the last century, translated by one
of the UK's most renowned contemporary poets.
The life of Yannis Ritsos was, to say the least, troubled. From an early
age, he was dogged by the tuberculosis that killed his mother and
brother. His father and sister suffered breakdowns and spent time in
institutions. His poem Epitaphios (1936), a lament for a young man
shot dead by the police during a tobacco workers' strike, was publicly
burned by the Metaxas regime and his books banned. Throughout his life
he wa repeatedly persecuted, arrested and placed under house arrest by
the oppressive Greek authorities.
The violence and tyranny of dictatorship is often fractured by the
surreal. In the poems collected here, written by Ritsos while in prison
and under house arrest, that fracture in perception is a wound. A
Broken Man in Flower has an introduction by John Kittmer and includes
the text of an illuminating and vivid letter sent by Ritsos to his
publisher in 1969 while under house arrest on Samos describing his
life - and the lives of Greeks - under the repressive rule of the
Colonels.
Harsent's versions of Ritsos' poems express the revolutionary and
experimental nature of his work while also remaining accurate
translations from the Greek.
