Κρυμμένα ποιήματα 1877;–1923 (review)

298 Reviews C. P. Cavafy. K. Î . Καβάφης, ΚϕυμμÎ-να ποιήματα 1877;-1923. Edited by G. P. Savidis. Adiens: Ikaros. 1993. Pp. 209. 2180 drachmas. In recent years there have been some extremely valuable additions to die Cavafy bibliography, especially George Savidis's new edition of the "Published Poems" (K. Î . Καβάφη Ποιήματα [Athens: Ikaros, 1991]), the selection of critical essays edited by Mihalis Pieris (Εϊσαγωγή στην ποίηση του Καβάφη: 'Επιλογή κϕιτικών κειμÎ-νων [Iraklio: University of Crete, 1994]), which brings together for the first time a number of seminal pieces ranging from Xenopoulos, through E. M. Forster and Seferis, to Savidis, Pontani, Maronitis, and Pieris himself, and the present edition of Cavafy's "Hidden Poems." A furdier important contribution is Diana Haas's 1987 doctoral dissertation, now in press, Le Probleme religieux dans l'oeuvre de Cavafy. Les Années deformation 1882-1905, which charts the poet's early engagement widi Byzantium, tiie Church, and the European Esoteric Movement, and presents a meticulous account of Cavafy's sources and also of unpublished archival materials. With the exception of the volume of critical essays, all of these works rely heavily on the C. P. Cavafy Archive, which remains in private hands. Savidis's revised edition of die "Published Poems" contains numerous textualchanges.Someofthese(e.g.,τώϕαποϕψυχήμουforτώϕαποϕήψυχήμου in «Του πλοίου») are presumably typographical errors while others (e.g., με τά χϕόνια for μετά χϕόνια in «Ή αϕχή των») may be deliberate. In any case, no explanation is offered for any of tiie alterations. Savidis followed a similar practice in the 1981 revision of his 1965 edition of Sikelianos. Consequently, neither die new edition of Cavafy nor diat of Sikelianos fully superseded the old edition. Similarly, "Hidden Poems" is not, stricdy speaking, a new book, but a revamped old one. It follows a pattern familiar from earlier publications of Cavafy's "unpublished" poems, namely die "Unpublished Poems" (K. Î . Καβάφη 'ΑνÎ-κδοτα ποιήματα [Athens: Ikaros, 1977]) and the "Disowned Poems" ( K. Î . Καβάφη Τά αποκηϕυγμÎ-να [Athens: Ikaros, 1983]). Including translations and prose poems, "Hidden Poems" contains a total of eighty-five texts, plus brief notes on dates of publication, metrical features, difficult words, and historical and biographical points. Seventy-seven of these texts overlap with those in "Unpublished Poems," which in turn overlaps with "Disowned Poems." Two of the poems in "Hidden Poems" appear in "Disowned Poems" but not in "Unpublished Poems," while a further three from "Unpublished Poems" appear in "Hidden Poems" under slighdy different tides (e.g., «[Σπάϕαγμα άτιτλου ποιήματος]» for «[Ή κόϕη του Μενκεϕά]». However, since such textual discrepancies between "Unpublished Poems" and "Hidden Poems" are kept to a minimum, and since the latter volume includes eight "new" poems, it ought to have been a replacement for "Unpublished Poems." Yet the severely truncated version of tiie notes to "Unpublished Poems" that is retained in "Hidden Poems" means that die reader still needs both books. A further problem is that the notes in "Hidden Poems" contain numerous references by page number to Diana Haas's book, which has not yet been published. Reviews 299 Aldiough die eight "new" texts have all appeared in print already, seven of diem in Savidis's Μικϕά καβαφικά B' (Athens: Ermis, 1987), it is of course valuable to have them collected in a single volume of Cavafy's poetry. The title "Hidden Poems" raises a question. In what sense can texts unpublished in die poet's lifetime but not destroyed by him, texts sold by his heir's widow and now in private hands, be said to be "hidden"? There is a distinction to be made between, on the one hand, poems never intended for publication because die poet meant to rework diem or because he regarded them as having "autobiographical" rather dian artistic merit (the label "Not for publication but may remain here as autobiographical" was attached by the poet to some of them) and, on die other hand, poems that, for all we know, may have been secredy circulated in manuscript but were considered too personal or too risqué to be privately printed and added to the hand-pinned folders that the poet distributed to friends and admirers. This distinction is not explored in "Hidden Poems." Savidis glosses his title as follows: "I think that die enigmatic title which Seferis gave to his last collection (Τϕία κϕυφά ποιήματα, 1966) probably owes something to our conversations about the then unpublished poems of Cavafy, which Seferis was already familiar with in typescript in...