Alkis Thrylos, Haris, Zevgas and co. (for all who take them seriously) – Athens 1936
by Yorgis Zarkos
English, 32 pp. (unnumbered)
$5.00 (AUD)
Cycladic Press (2024)
An English translation of left-wing writer Yorgis Zarkos’s 1936 libel “Alkis Thrylos, Haris, Zevgas & co.”
“Dearest Aimilios,
It is not my fault that you haven’t written already. If I had a minister for a brother and you were cantankerous, I would get him to order you on the phone to write something.
To kindly ask you is impossible, I don’t have the means to force you, my pride doesn’t allow me to snub you (I never snub anyone and I don’t ignore anyone) I would have readily given you a punch to the throat but that wouldn’t have been in good taste, nor would it be in agreement with my new strategies.
I have something in store for you however, and I have you in mind for one of my forthcoming libels.”
Yorgis Zarkos (1902-1967) was one of the most radical and uncompromising figures in interwar Greek literature. The poet Thomas Gorpas remarked on Zarkos’ singular oeuvre, writing that “rarely do writers like Zarkos appear in world literature who make art in order to destroy it.” He was born in 1902 in the village of Amaliada and died in Athens on April 7, 1967, barely two weeks before tanks stormed the city and ushered in the military dictatorship of the Colonels.
Cycladic Press 