Seferis, George (redirected from Giorgios Stylianou Seferiades)

Seferis, George (sĕfĕr`ēs) (Giorgos Sefiriades), 1900–1971, Greek poet. Educated at the Univ. of Paris, he returned to Greece, where he had a distinguished career as a diplomat, including service as ambassador to the United Nations (1956–57) and Great Britain (1957–62). His poetry is surrealistic and highly symbolic—at times cryptic—invoking classical Greek themes. Many of his poems explore the 20th-century Greek consciousness and way of life. His volumes of poetry include Strophé (1931) and Mithistoríma (1935, tr. 1960). He also produced a volume of essays on Greek poets and poetry, Dokimés (1944; tr. On the Greek Style, 1960). Seferis won the 1963 Nobel Prize in literature, the first Greek to do so.

Bibliography

See his Collected Poems, 1924–55 (1967); Three Secret Poems (tr. 1969); A Poet's Journal (tr. 1974).

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Seferis, George

 orig. Giorgios Stylianou Seferiades or Yeoryios Stilianou Sepheriades

(born March 13, 1900, Smyrna, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire—died Sept. 20, 1971, Athens, Greece) Greek poet, essayist, and diplomat. He studied law in Paris and held various diplomatic posts from 1926 to 1962. His poetry appeared in a number of collections beginning with I strofí (1931; “The Turning Point”). He is considered the leading Greek poet of “the generation of the '30s,” which introduced Symbolism to modern Greek literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963.

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Seferis, George 

(pen name of Giorgos Seferiades). Born Feb. 19, 1900, in İzmir, Turkey; died Sept. 20, 1971, in Athens. Greek poet.

Seferis moved to Athens in 1914. From 1918 to 1925 he studied law in Paris, and between 1926 and 1962 he served in the diplomatic corps. In 1931 he published his first collection of verse, The Turning Point, which was followed by the collections The Cistern (1932), Mythistorema (1935), Exercise Book (1940), Log Book I (1940), Log Book II (1944), The Thrush (1947), and Log Book III (1955). The metaphor of the deck of a ship, often used in his verse, represents a continually moving stage where the poet acts and meditates. His works portray modern themes through the use of Greek mythology. The verses of the 1930’s are permeated with elegiac recollections of childhood and dramatic reflections on the defeat of Greece in the Turkish War of Independence of 1919–22. During World War II, Seferis extolled the resistance fighters in their struggle for freedom. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1963.

WORKS

Poiemata. Athens, 1963.
Journal (1945–1951). Translated from Greek by L. Gaspar. Paris, 1973.
In Russian translation:
“Lik sud’by.” [Verses.] In Inostrannaia literatura, 1969, no. 9.

REFERENCES

Mochos, Ia. V. Kostas Varnalis i literatura grecheskogo Soprotivleniia. Moscow, 1968.
Mirambel, A. Georges Seferis: Prix Nobel 1963. Paris, 1964.

IANNIS MOCHOS