2017 Essays

What's Found in Translation: Reimagining Penelope and the Lotus-Eaters

Van Dyck, Karen

After reading and writing about Greek poetry for over thirty years I was impressed by the quality and intensity of artistic output in response to the recent social and economic crisis. It was unlike anything I had seen since the poetry that came out of the Dictatorship (1967-1974). As in that period, the strong presence of women poets was palpable. There were poems I felt needed to be translated, poems that had something to say to a larger audience outside Greece. More than anything, Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry is an anthology of poems as translations.