Παπαδιαμαντικά Τετράδια (review)

Reviews 167 N. D. Triantafillópoulos, editor, Παπαδιαμαντικά Τετϕάδια, no 1, Protohroni á 1992. Athens: Domos Publications. Pp. 160. 1872 drachmas. This annual journal is different from an increasingly large number of literary and scholarly journals currendy published in Greece. Its difference lies in the fact that it is dedicated entirely to Papadiamantis and his work, thus aspiring to be closer to non-Greek, highly specialized academic journals rather than to the short lived, coffee-table-style journals found in abundance in Greece. The journal, it appears, owes a great deal to two people: its editor, N. D. Triantafillópoulos, and its publisher, D. G. Mavrópoulos (Domos Publications ). Both are dedicated to making Papadiamantis more accessible to the wider public. Their perseverance is behind the definitive five-volume edition of Papadiamántis's Apanta. Their fine editorial work and their painstaking devotion to Papadiamantis are indeed both unquestionable and commendable, deserving every possible recognition and encouragement. The issue does not contain an editorial statement oudining its aims; instead, it starts with a short prose piece by Pétros Kefaliakós. A section with five studies and essays on Papadiamantis follows. The first two, by the late Alexandras Kotzias and I. K. Kolivás, both of whom have also contributed to a series of studies on Papadiamantis published by Neféli and edited by N. D. Triantafillópoulos, are perceptive and well written. Kotzias discusses the function of time in one of Papadiamántis's best known stories, O ¿rotas sta hiónia, and Kolivas traces the Arcadian themes in two other stories, TL·rosEros and Oniro sto kima. Stávros FotÃ-ou, in his essay on Papadiamántis's linguistic legacy, outlines the author's twofold position: firsdy, that the learned and demotic must interact to insure richness and plurality of form, and secondly, that the Greek language should resist any form of intrusion by foreignisms. Fotfou here tends to state rather than to analyze; one has the feeling that he is using Papadiamantis to project and reinforce his own views. The other two contributions in this section are a careful and sensitive reading of Ta Ródina akroyiália by Lukas Koúsoulas, drawing our attention to the role of the Prologue in the story, and a study of Papadiamántis's translation practice by N. D. Triantafillópoulos. In this he shows how aptly and humorously Papadiamantis rendered foreign phrases, songs, or names into Greek in order to bring them closer to the experience of a nineteenth-century Greek reader without betraying the desired effect intended by the author of the original text. To demonstrate that Papadiamantis was a truly Greek Orthodox translator , Triantafillópoulos also shows how ingeniously and tacidy he intervened to replace an incorrect and impious detaü by Daudet, which presented Christ crying in Gethsemane, with Adam's lament in Milton's Paradise Lost. The next sections contain an anthology of poems about Papadiamantis by poets such as K. Velmiras, F. Yioffllis, M. EleftherÃ-ou, Od. Elytis, N. A. Karúzos, and others; two narratives by the editor and K. Fafaliós, and five earlier texts about the author: two by M. Malakásis and the rest by journalists such as V. Gavriilidis, Daramot and Stam.Stam. This anthology can be useful in helping scholars and readers assess the impact of Papadiamantis on his contemporaries and later generations alike. There is a danger, however, of 168 Reviews its influencing the journal to favor past texts on Papadiamantis, making it rather antiquarian. The issue also includes Papadiamántis's translation of a story by Bret Hart initially published in a volume entitled ArgonaftikaÃ- diigiseis in 1909. It concludes with short notes and comments mostly by the editor; information on individuals and activities associated with Papadiamantis; reviews of new editions of his poems and stories as well as books on his life and work; and, finally, a diary of talks, conferences, and festivities throughout 1991 organized to commemorate the 80th anniversary of his death. These short pieces are useful; indeed, they provide us with a wealth of concentrated information on current research on Papadiamantis. On the whole, this first issue represents a promising start that one hopes will be...