Haris Vlavianós
(Greece, 1957)   
 
 
 
Haris Vlavianós

Haris Vlavianós strives to be innovative in his poetry, to explore new avenues; he fears public acceptance. The themes of poetry remain fairly constant over time, but the times themselves are subject to change and so is the poetry that expresses them. Vlavianós hopes to be remembered as a poet who has tried his best to keep language alive, to express his thoughts and feelings about life in as honest and vivid a manner as possible. Poetry for him is not just a matter of aesthetics; it should express individual experiences and individual views.

Vlavianós was born in Rome and grew up in Athens. He studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Bristol and Politics at the University of Oxford (his thesis entitled, Greece 1941-1949: From Resistance to Civil War, was published by Macmillan in 1992). As a student he often went to visit his father in Brazil. One day he won a considerable sum of money in a poker game, which enabled him to retire for a year to the Aegean island of Amorgós to write his first book of poetry. He currently lives and works in Athens, where he publishes the prestigious, beautifully styled magazine Píisi (Poetry). He has translated poetry by Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, Michael Longley, William Blake, Wallace Stevens, Zbigniew Herbert, Fernando Pessoa and John Ashbery, and a play by Carlo Goldoni.

He has published six collections of poetry, including The Angel of History (1999) which was short-listed for the State Poetry Prize. He has also published a collection of thoughts and aphorisms on poetry and poetics entitled, The Other Place (1994). His poetry has been translated into many languages and has appeared in numerous European and American journals and anthologies. He is currently completing a book of essays, entitled Minima Poetica, to be published in the fall of 2004. His most recent collection of poems, entitled, After the End of Beauty, was published in March 2003. He is Professor of History and History of Ideas at the American College of Greece and teaches Translation Theory at the European Centre for Translation, and editor of the Greek domain of Poetry International Web.

© Hero Hokwerda, Haris Vlavianós

Partly translated from Dutch by Ko Kooman
[Haris Vlavianós took part in the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2000. Part of this text was written on that occasion.]


Selective bibliography
Somnambulations (1983)
Peddler of Miracles (1985)
In a Manner of Speaking (1986)
Implacable Refutation (1989)
The Nostalgia of the Skies (1991)
Adieu (1996; also in English translation)
The Other Place (1994, thoughts and aphorisms)
The Angel of History (1999, also in German translation)
After the End of Beauty (2003)

 




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