|
Yiannis Hatziandreas, who became known by the pen name of Stratis Tsirkas, was born in Egypt in 1911.
After graduating from the commercial section of the Ambeteio School he went to work in a cotton mill as an accountant and later as the manager of a factory in Upper Egypt. He read voraciously from an early age and published translations of poetry and short texts of his own in journals in Egypt and Greece.
From 1938 to 1963, when he settled in Greece, he managed a tannery in Alexandria, where he became involved in literary and communist circles.
In 1937 he published Fellahin, poems inspired by his time in Upper Egypt, in 1938 The Lyrical Voyage and in 1944 his first short story collection, Strange People.
The Penultimate Farewell and Spanish Oratorio in 1946 mark his farewell to poetry.
Tsirkas was actively involved in the Communist Party’s Anti-Fascist Initiative and he edited their journal, Ellin.
The 1944 mutiny of the Greek fleet and army and its brutal suppression inspired his writing, from April is the Cruellest Month (1947) to the final volume of the Drifting Cities trilogy.
After the war he published short stories, literary criticism and studies. During the Suez Crisis he wrote Nureddin Bomba. In 1958 he published Cavafy and his Era which won the State Award for biography, and followed up with a work on Seferis.
In 1961 he published The Club, the first volume in the Drifting Cities trilogy, prompting his expulsion from the Communist Party. The second volume came out in 1962, the third in 1965.
He continued to write articles and literary criticism.
He actively opposed the dictatorship and when the Greek Communist Party split, he joined the newly formed Greek Communist Party of the Interior.
During the junta he did translations and when preventive censorship was lifted he played a leading part in producing the anti-junta 18 Texts and New Texts, and contributed to the anti-dictatorship journal Synechia.
In 1972, the French edition of Drifting Cities won a prize for the best foreign book.
Lost Spring, published in 1976, was a novel with an Athenian setting and intended to be first of a trilogy which Tsirkas never completed. He died in 1980.
Translations
In English
Drifting Cities: A Trilogy, translated by Kay Cicellis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974. 710pp.
ISBN: 0-394-46971-2
Drifting Cities, translated by Kay Cicellis. Athens, Kedros, 1995. 716pp.
ISBN: 960-04-1141-7
Eighteen Texts: Writings by Contemporary Greek Authors, translated by: Barnstone Willis. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1972. 209pp.
ISBN: 674-24175-4
In French
Printemps perdu, translated by Laurence D’Alauzier. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1982. 248pp.
ISBN: 2-02-006146-7
Cités à la derive, translated by Catherine Lerouvre & Chrysa Prokopaki. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1993. 870pp.
ISBN: 2-02-020451-7
Cités à la derive, translated by Catherine Lerouvre & Chrysa Prokopaki. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1971, 1982. 777pp.
ISBN: 2-02-006157-0
Cités à la derive, translated by Catherine Lerouvre & Chrysa Prokopaki. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1971. 776pp.
Cités à la derive, translated by Catherine Lerouvre & Chrysa Prokopaki. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1999. 859pp.
ISBN: 2-02-038210-5
L' homme du Nil, translated by Catherine Lerouvre. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1973. 218pp.
L' homme du Nil, translated by Catherine Lerouvre. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1983. 213pp.
ISBN: 2-02-006417-8
Voix Grecques: poemes, recits, essais de vingt-sept ecrivains d'opposition, translated by: Laurence D'Alauzier. Paris: Gallimard, 1973. 238pp.
In German
Griechische Erzahlungen: des 20 jahrhunderts, translated by Danae Coulmas. Frankfurt: Insel, 1991. 339pp.
ISBN: 3-458-16196-1
Die Exekution des Mythos: Fand am fruhen Morgen statt: Texte aus Griechenland, translated by Danae Coulmas. Koln: Romiosini, 1984. 232pp.
ISBN: 3-923728-17-4
Die Exekution des Mythos: fand am fruhen Morgen statt: neue Texte aus Griechenland, translated by Danae Coulmas. Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1973. 232pp.
ISBN: 3-436-01755-8
In Italian
Citta alla deriva. Il circolo translated by Filippo Maria Pontani. Parma: Guanda, 1984. 233pp.
ISBN: 88-7746-227-2
In Spanish
El murcielago, en Alejandri,a translated by Miguel Castillo Didier. Buenos Aires: Emece, 1977. 302pp.
El circulo, en Jerusalen, translated by Miguel Castillo Didier. Buenos Aires: Emece, 1975. 262pp.
Ariadna, en el Cairo, translated by Miguel Castillo Didier. Buenos Aires: Emece, 1976. 283pp.
In Portugal
Duas historias do Egipto translated by Margarida Santiago. Lisbona: Labirinto, 1986. 117pp.
In Turkish
Bomba nurettin, translated by Ahmet Yorulmaz. Istanbul: Belge Yayinlari, 1997. 96pp.
ISBN: 975-344-152-5
Başıboş Kentler I. Kudüs, translated by Aykut Derman. Istanbul: Doğan Kitapçılık, 2004. 283pp.
ISBN: 975-293-215-0
Başıboş Kentler II. Kahire, translated by Aykut Derman. Istanbul: Doğan Kitapçılık, 2004. 291pp.
ISBN: 975-293-252-5
In Romanian
Orase in deriva. Clubul, translated by Amelia Zambeti. Bucharest: Univers, 1981. 252pp.
Orase in deriva. Ariagni, translated by Amalia Zambeti. Bucharest: Univers, 1981. 268pp.
Orase in deriva. Liliacul, translated by Amalia Zambeti. Bucharest: Univers, 1981. 343pp.
In Russian
Rasskazi Gretseskih Pisatelei translated by Petros Anteos. Moscow: Inoctrannoi Literaturi, 1959. 349pp.
In Danish
Nyere graeske forfattere: en antologi, translated by Erik Bartholdy. Copenhagen: Studieskolen, 1980. 112pp.
ISBN: 87-980663-3-1
|
