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George Seferis (1900 - 1971)

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  • George Seferis (1900–1971) was born near Smyrna in Asia Minor. His long and distinguished diplomatic career began in 1925: he was appointed Ambassador to the UK, a post which he held from 1957 to 1962. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963. He famously opposed the Greek junta of the Colonels in a BBC radio broadcast in 1969. Roderick Beaton’s biography, George Seferis: Waiting for the Angel, appeared in 2003.

    Praise for George Seferis (1900 - 1971) 'Seferis' poetic observations of the world are unique and memorable [...] There is an immense sensuality and depth throughout [...] Carcanet Press have produced a handsome volume where the poems are clearly reproduced and given breathing space on the page.'

    Maria Taylor, Nine Arches Press Blog

     'Seferis' extraordinary gift occupies...the realm of the marvellous real.'

    'Rather than an inventory of ruins, or setting up of monuments, his is a poetry of recovery. He achieves this with an uncanny simplicity. The directness of tone feels personal. The pitch works against poetical memory...towards the difficult, unresolved enigma, that of a collective of individuals, buried in the Greek landscape....Seferis raises them up for sympathy and compassion.'
    Ishion Hutchinson, The Poetry Review
    'One of the greatest writers in this century in any language ... From Seferis it was possible to learn ... what seriousness about poetry is.'
    Peter Levi
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