Paper Bark Press
Monochords
Yannis Ritsos
Translated by Arthur Spyrou, introductory essay by Vrasidas Karalis
1996, 88 pages, softcover, 215x150mm
ISBN 0 646 2667 80
Cover drawing by Yannis Ritsos
Yannis Ritsos was one of the central figures in modern Greek poetry – as well as being its most popular. Internationally acknowledged and translated into most European languages, he was nominated 10 times for the Nobel Prize. He died in 1990. This volume is the first English translation of Monochords and presents Ritsos's final work in an award-winning translation by the Australian-Greek poet Arthur Spyrou. Monochords is set with the facsimile of Ritsos's original manuscript and with the English translation in parallel text.
'I did not realise at first that he was the greatest living poet of our time.'
~ Louis Aragon
Monochords was highly commended by the Poetry Book Club of Australia 1995, and winner of the University of Sydney Literature Competition in 1992.