Nikos Erinakis
- Greece -
Nikos Erinakis [b. 1988, Athens] is an Assist. Professor of Social & Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Culture at the University of Crete. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy [University of London & recognised research student at the University of Oxford], having studied Economics [AUEB], Philosophy & Literature [Warwick] and Philosophy of the Social Sciences [LSE]. He is a published, critically acclaimed, poet [Soon Everything Will Be Burning and Will Lit Up Your Eyes, Printa/Roes, 2009; In Between Where the Shadow Falls, Gavrielides, 2013 (trans. and publ. in France by Desmos Press); Still Getting Baptized, Keimena, 2022] and translator of modern European poets [Georg Trakl: Dark Love of a Wild Generation, Gavrielides, 2011; Paul Celan: North of Future, Gavrielides, 2017]. He has taught at the University of London and he also teaches at the University of Athens, the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Hellenic Open University. He is the Director of Research at ENA Institute for Alternative Policies. He is also a board member of the Greek Youth Symphony Orchestra and has been a board member of the Athensand Epidaurus Festival. His poems, articles and papers have been translated and published in peer-reviewed journals, edited collections, anthologies and the popular press. He has also published a philosophy book Authenticity and Autonomy: From Creativity to Freedom (Keimena, 2020) and he is the editor of two collective volumes on contemporary philosophical and literary thought. In 2022 he was honoured withthe Academy of Athens Award.
Soon Everything Will Be Burning and Will Lit Up Your Eyes (Printa/Roes, 2009)
“This is a particularly noteworthy first appearance in Greek letters.
The young poet has an innate gift as a conjurer of meanings, a translator of feelings, an orchestrator of ideas - his speech is fresh and mature.
It represents a generation that is certainly insecure, angrily aloof, but also of infinite potential, innovative skills, genetic wisdom and keen instinct. It is addressed to this generation, but he also directs the lyrical dynamics of his verses to all living people. He writes crucial lyrics sharing with us secrets of substance (instead of writing them on the walls)...”
In Between Where the Shadow Falls (Gavrielides, 2013; Keimena 2021)
“The axis is ambiguous, we are either in the dark or in the thin strip between what the shadow falls, that is, in the light. There is no question of optimism or pessimism, victory or defeat. Only the project of an unprecedented opening towards the future is adequate. It is not certain whether the words of the book are more characterized by a rebellious love or a love revolution. In any case, they would probably betray the second for the first.
Through the four units of this poetic composition, a path is drawn from the collectivesubject to the intersubjectivity of the erotic you and I, back again to the collective and finally to the renewed but still weathered collectivized person. A path from myth to reality and back to myth again and again until the two become one. Until the mythbeats the numbers in his quest to establish a new sanctuary. Imagination is proposed as an evolution of rationality and instinct. it is the last refuge and main bulwark, the starting point from which everything will creatively spontaneously combust. So the dilemmas are lined up and the words of the book are chosen: disturbed beauty.
Poetry reserves the right to decline, the person does not. This poetry book expressesthe flatulence distance from individual human nature to collective poetics.”
Still Getting Baptized (Keimena, 2022)
“And as before was not a celebration
Likewise, now is not despair
We will suffer this peace too
Whatever was cosmos;
Cosmos remains
Nikos Erinakis, after 9 years of creative absence, presents his new poetry collection Still Getting Baptized. It consists of four sections, which do not divide the book into parts but create a unified synthesis as a path of reading this poetic composition. Thetitles of the sections read as follows: ‘in the realm of needs’, ‘in unwanted colonies’, ‘on the distant shore’, ‘in the land of the living’.”
Poetry
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[Still Getting Baptized] / [ακόμα βαφτιζόμαστε]
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Ø [The fifth hammer] / Ø [Το Πέμπτο Σφυρί]
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[We have seen her] / [την έχουμε δει]
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[I want to kiss you where death seems easier] / [Θέλω να σε φιλήσω εκεί που ο θάνατος μοιάζει πιο εύκολος]
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[The shine will meet us as you dance the shout] / [Η λάμψη θα μας συναντήσει όπως χορεύεις την κραυγή]
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[the most fascinating curve of rupture] / [στην πιο συναρπαστική καμπύλη της ρωγμής]
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[the wise trees] / [τα σοφά δέντρα]
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[on the distant shore] / [στη μακρινή ακτή]
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[The New Symmetry] / [Η Νέα Συμμετρία]
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[Death jump; I ‘ll catch you] / [Θάνατε πήδα· θα σε πιάσω]
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[this was supposed to be the future] / [αυτό υποτίθεται θα ήταν το μέλλον]
