dimitris
2006-05-11, 16:39
The Apology of an Anti-Hellene Odyssey/Introduction
If Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal have a Greek analog, it is Nikos Dimou. One of his generation's most fertile minds, a legendary advertising man and a prolific writer, Dimou is best known as the author of The Misfortune of Being Greek-the book that earned him the label of an "anti-Hellene." Nearly a quarter century after it was first published, Dimou comes clean.
Nikos Dimou is a master of provoking passions. It is an art that he learned, perhaps, as one of the pioneers of advertising in Greece (his bloodied map of Cyprus, overlaid with the slogan "I Do Not Forget," is the primal symbol of the island's occupation). He honed it as a columnist for the newspapers To Vima and Kathimerini in the 1980s and 1990s-famously being forced to leave both ? the latter in 1996 after its publisher accused him of subverting church and military.
In the meantime, beyond the crucible of the country's political debates, Dimou indulged a series of less controversial passions: In over 40 publications, ranging from poetry to photography, he revealed his love of everything from cars to cats, philosophy to Greek light. While the country's political press has waxed and waned in its enthusiasm for Dimou, his columns have been a popular constant for over a decade in specialty publications like 4 Troxoi and RAM (Greece's leading car and computer magazines, respectively).
Recently, Dimou decided to revisit the text for which he is most famous-The Misfortune of Being Greek. First published in 1975, The Misfortune is a series of 193 mostly brief, often cutting aperηus about Greece and Greeks (see sidebar). In the very last lines of the postscript, Dimou writes: "I have tried, simply, to articulate my observations in such a way so that serious people will find them to be serious, while less serious ones will find them less serious. I am now tortured by the possibility that the exact opposite will occur."
The Apology of an Anti-Hellene
This text, with the Greek title "Apologia Enos Anthellina", is the introductory essay of the eponymous collection (1997, Opera Publishers) as translated by the staff of Odyssey magazine. A few paragraphs have been omitted.
Läs här (på engelska): http://www.ndimou.gr/anti_en.asp
Texten finns också på grekiska: http://www.ndimou.gr/images/blank.gifhttp://www.ndimou.gr/articledisplay.asp?cat_parent=2&time_id=428&cat_id=2
dimitris
Aten
If Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal have a Greek analog, it is Nikos Dimou. One of his generation's most fertile minds, a legendary advertising man and a prolific writer, Dimou is best known as the author of The Misfortune of Being Greek-the book that earned him the label of an "anti-Hellene." Nearly a quarter century after it was first published, Dimou comes clean.
Nikos Dimou is a master of provoking passions. It is an art that he learned, perhaps, as one of the pioneers of advertising in Greece (his bloodied map of Cyprus, overlaid with the slogan "I Do Not Forget," is the primal symbol of the island's occupation). He honed it as a columnist for the newspapers To Vima and Kathimerini in the 1980s and 1990s-famously being forced to leave both ? the latter in 1996 after its publisher accused him of subverting church and military.
In the meantime, beyond the crucible of the country's political debates, Dimou indulged a series of less controversial passions: In over 40 publications, ranging from poetry to photography, he revealed his love of everything from cars to cats, philosophy to Greek light. While the country's political press has waxed and waned in its enthusiasm for Dimou, his columns have been a popular constant for over a decade in specialty publications like 4 Troxoi and RAM (Greece's leading car and computer magazines, respectively).
Recently, Dimou decided to revisit the text for which he is most famous-The Misfortune of Being Greek. First published in 1975, The Misfortune is a series of 193 mostly brief, often cutting aperηus about Greece and Greeks (see sidebar). In the very last lines of the postscript, Dimou writes: "I have tried, simply, to articulate my observations in such a way so that serious people will find them to be serious, while less serious ones will find them less serious. I am now tortured by the possibility that the exact opposite will occur."
The Apology of an Anti-Hellene
This text, with the Greek title "Apologia Enos Anthellina", is the introductory essay of the eponymous collection (1997, Opera Publishers) as translated by the staff of Odyssey magazine. A few paragraphs have been omitted.
Läs här (på engelska): http://www.ndimou.gr/anti_en.asp
Texten finns också på grekiska: http://www.ndimou.gr/images/blank.gifhttp://www.ndimou.gr/articledisplay.asp?cat_parent=2&time_id=428&cat_id=2
dimitris
Aten