The Blind Man with the Lamp

Tasos Leivaditis (1922-1988) is one of the unacknowledged greats of Modern Greek literature. Not only is he unacknowledged in the English-speaking world, largely because nearly all of his writing remains untranslated, but he also has limited recognition within modern Greek literary circles, where he is often overshadowed by twentieth-century giants such as Cavafy, Seferis, Elytis, Ritsos and Kazantzakis, who have become established names in the literary world at large. The Blind Man with the Lamp, originally published in Greek in 1983, is the first English translation of a complete collection of poetry by Leivaditis. A pioneering book of prose-poems, Leivaditis here gives powerful voice to a post-war generation divested of ideologies and illusions, imbued with the pain of loss and mourning, while endlessly questing for something wholly other, indeed for the holy Other.
A substantial introduction by the translator, N. N. Trakakis, situates and reviews the poet and his work within his times with special reference to this present collection.
N. N. (Nektarios Nikolaos) Trakakis was born in Melbourne, Australia, to parents from the island of Crete. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University, and he has published extensively in philosophy of religion. He also writes poetry, his most recent collection being From Dusk to Dawn (2012), and he has edited Southern Sun, Aegean Light: Poetry of Second-Generation Greek-Australians (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011). (From the publisher