* Constantine P. Cavafy - Complete Poetry and Selected Prose (12 books)
CONSTANTINE P. CAVAFY (1863 – 1933) was a Greek poet, journalist, and civil servant from Alexandria. His work, as one translator put it, "holds the historical and the erotic in a single embrace." His consciously individual style earned him a place among the most important figures not only in Greek poetry, but in Western poetry as a whole.
Cavafy's friend E. M. Forster, the novelist and literary critic, introduced his poems to the English-speaking world in 1923, famously describing him as "a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe."
His most important poetry was written after his 40th year, and with some justification he called himself a "poet of old age." They are, typically, concise but intimate evocations of real or literary figures and milieux that have played roles in Greek culture. Uncertainty about the future, sensual pleasures, the moral character and psychology of individuals, homosexuality, and a fatalistic existential nostalgia are some of the defining themes. He is known for his prosaic use of metaphors, his brilliant use of historical imagery, and his aesthetic perfectionism. These attributes, amongst others, have assured him an enduring place in the literary pantheon of the Western World.
One of Cavafy's most important works is his 1904 poem "Waiting for the Barbarians". It begins by describing a city-state in decline, whose population and legislators are waiting for the arrival of the barbarians. When night falls, the barbarians have still not come. The poem ends: "And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians? / They were, those people, a kind of solution."
My personal favorite, "Ithaka" (1911), is inspired by Odysseus' return journey to his home island, as depicted in Homer's Odyssey. The poem's theme is the destination which produces the journey of life: "Keep Ithaka always in your mind. / Arriving there is what you are destined for" [tr. Keeley & Sherrard].
Among the translations below, I would suggest starting with the COMPLETE POEMS (2012), translated by Daniel Mendelsohn, or the COLLECTED POEMS (2009), a bilingual translation by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (2009). Both represent definitive collections of Cavafy’s published and unpublished works.
The following books are in ePub and/or PDF format as indicated:
