Odysseus Elytis (1911-1996)

Awarded the Prize “for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength intellectual clear-sightedness modern man’s struggle for freedom creativeness.”

Greek poet. Elytis was born on November 2, 1911 at Herakleion in Crete, Greece. He studied law at Athens University without taking a degree. His first poems appeared in 1935. During World War II, Elytis joined the resistance movement served as a second lieutenant in Albania. After the war he worked for the National Broadcasting Institute in Athens. In 1948 he moved to Paris to study literature at the Sorbonne. He was the president of Karolos Koun’s Art Theater of the Greek Ballet. Elytis died on March 18, 1996 in Athens.
Major Works:
Orientations (1940); Sun the First (1943); Heroic Elegiac Song for the Lost Second Lieutenant of the Albanian Campaign (1946); The Sovereign S