Tasos Leivaditis

Tasos Leivaditis
Tasos Leivaditis
Born	20 April 1922; Athens, Greece
Died	30 October 1988 (aged 66); Athens, Greece
Occupation	Poet, literary critic
Citizenship	Greek
Literary movement	Post-WWII leftist literature; "poetry of defeat"
Notable awards	National Poetry Prize, 1979 (for "Euthanasia Manual")

Tasos Leivaditis (Greek: Τάσος Λειβαδίτης; 20 April 1922 – 30 October 1988) was a Greek poet, short story writer and literary critic who belonged to the postwar generation that was deeply marked by the struggles and failures of the communist movement.^[1] His early and politically committed poetry travelled through the ‘fire and sword’ of history, transforming in the end into powerful and paradoxical prose-poems, and displaying an erotically charged form of ‘neo-romanticism’ mixed with ‘melancholic minimalism’ where “genuine humility offers obeisance to the magic of language.”^[2]

^ For a chronological overview of Leivaditis’ life and work, see Yannis Kouvaras, “Χρονολόγιο Τάσου Λειβαδίτη (1922-1988),” Διαβάζω, no.228, December 13, 1989, pp.20-24.
^ From the editorial of Το Δέντρο, special issue on Leivaditis, no. 171-72, October 2009, p.7.

[1] For a chronological overview of Leivaditis’ life and work, see Yannis Kouvaras, “Χρονολόγιο Τάσου Λειβαδίτη (1922-1988),” Διαβάζω, no.228, December 13, 1989, pp.20-24.

[2] From the editorial of Το Δέντρο, special issue on Leivaditis, no. 171-72, October 2009, p.7.

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Tasos Leivaditis
Born	(1922-04-20)20 April 1922 Athens, Greece
Died	30 October 1988(1988-10-30) (aged 66) Athens, Greece
Occupation	Poet, literary critic
Citizenship	Greek
Literary movement	Post-WWII leftist literature; "poetry of defeat"
Notable awards	National Poetry Prize, 1979 (for "Euthanasia Manual")