Georgios Vizyenos was born in 1849 in the small town of Vizye (Vize in Turkish), to the north-west of Constantinople (Istanbul). His whole life was a struggle with family and personal tragedy. His father died when the boy was five years old; two of his sisters perished in early childhood; and one of his brothers died in mysterious circumstances. Despite these inauspicious beginnings, he studied in Germany and became one of the leading Greek poets and short-story writers.
Eventually, however, his psychological traumas took their toll, and he spent his last four years in Daphni mental asylum, where he died in 1896. Peter Mackridge (1946-2022) was a distinguished scholar and translator of modern Greek literature. He was a professor of Modern Greek at the University of Oxford and published several books on modern Greek language and literature, including two co-authored grammars.
His most recent translations, of stories by the nineteenth-century authors Georgios Vizyenos and Alexandros Papadiamandis and a collection of haikus by the twenty-first-century poet Haris Vlavianos were published in 2014-15.
Eventually, however, his psychological traumas took their toll, and he spent his last four years in Daphni mental asylum, where he died in 1896. Peter Mackridge (1946-2022) was a distinguished scholar and translator of modern Greek literature. He was a professor of Modern Greek at the University of Oxford and published several books on modern Greek language and literature, including two co-authored grammars.
His most recent translations, of stories by the nineteenth-century authors Georgios Vizyenos and Alexandros Papadiamandis and a collection of haikus by the twenty-first-century poet Haris Vlavianos were published in 2014-15.
