C. P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (Hardcover)

~ C.P. Cavafy (Author), Daniel Mendelsohn (Translator)
Key Phrases: Regiment of Pleasure

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Already a celebrated critic, memoirist and classicist, Mendelsohn drew together his interests in ancient history, literature, gay life and culture, and beautiful language to produce the finest, most readable version of the modern Greek poet Cavafy (1863–1933) to come along in decades. Cavafy has long been highly regarded by American readers, especially for the straightforward, seemingly timeless, hard-to-pin-down tone of his poems—which alternately revel in and suffer from both ancient Greek history and homoerotic desire—but, as Mendelsohn observes in his deeply impassioned and informative introduction, many American readers overlook those poems that are deliberately set in the obscurer margins, both geographical and temporal, of the Greek past... in favor of the works with more obvious contemporary appeal. With this new, completely annotated, translation, Mendelsohn says he aims to restore the balance, to help readers reanimate Greek history with Cavafy, to see how relevant and pressing his whole oeuvre truly is. This larger volume (Knopf is also publishing Mendelsohn's version of Cavafy's Unfinished Poems, never before translated into English, as a separate volume, reviewed below) contains all the poems by Cavafy we have known in English, from famous works like Ithaka (you will understand, by then, these Ithacas; what they mean) and The First Step (you must claim your right to be/ a citizen of the city of ideas), all rendered with a lucid music. This is likely to be the definitive Cavafy for some time to come. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* The first decade of the twenty-first century ends as it began, with a new, near-complete translation of Cavafy. But whereas Theoharis Constantine Theoharis’ literarily distinguished Before Time Could Change Them (2001) let several naive impressions of Greek-less readers stand, and Aliki Barnstone’s yet more readable Collected Poems of C. P. Cavafy (2006) did nothing to dispel them, Mendelsohn’s effort corrects them. Besides sketching Cavafy’s rather bland life and appraising his poetry as a whole, the introduction explains Cavafy’s poetic techniques and Mendelsohn’s approximation of them in English. Cavafy’s Greek originals are mostly rhymed, metrically regular verses, in familiar forms early on and relaxing into verse paragraphs as he matured. His diction became more demotic as he developed, though he always used bits of nineteenth-century literary Greek for historical and cultural nuance. This technical information may be revelatory for ardent yet unscholarly admirers of the poetry but should only increase their admiration. More revelation, for those who haven’t ferreted out the historical references in the poems, comes in the 282 pages of notes Mendelsohn has written as clearly and gracefully as the introduction. There are at least three older translations than Mendelsohn’s, Barnstone’s, and Theoharis’, and in them Cavafy is the same. But Mendelsohn has gone the extra mile, so to speak. If it was a great effort for him, it is an immensely gratifying pleasure for Cavafians to follow in his footsteps. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375400966
• ISBN-13: 978-0375400964
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feast of poetry, August 2, 2009

By	Christopher W. Coffman (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a feast of a book.

Thirty years ago I acquired the translation by Keeley & Sherrard, who were friends of the great Cavafy scholar George Seferis . . . at that time, Cavafy was one of those forbidden pleasures like the PARIS AND NEW YORK DIARIES OF NED ROREM, and OUR LADY OF FLOWERS by Jean Genet that were available in serious LA and New York bookshops of the period.

I was bored by Rorem and Gide, but there were a few great Cavafy poems, it seemed to me at the time, for example "Waiting for the Barbarians", that set apart this late 19th century-early 20th century Greek speaking poet who lived in Alexandria, Egypt from the other merely transgressive, but certainly not transcendent, purveyors of illicit literary pleasures.

I almost didn't bother to pick up the Mendelsohn translation when I saw it in a Sydney bookstore this week, because in my mind I had long ago pigeon-holed Cavafy as a second tier poet of historically subtle poems and of ardent, but somewhat tiresome, gay eroticism.

I am so glad that I bought this book. Reading Cavafy in Mendelsohn's translation is a revelation, a rebirth of a splendid poetic sensibility, and also one of the sure signs of the maturity and stature of American culture in the 21st century, for Mendelsohn is an American. This edition is not simply an accidental conjunction between the poet and a scholar who happened to have a relationship with figures close to Cavafy, it is the union of two complementary and deeply sympathetic spirits, that of Cavafy himself and Mendelsohn. We seem to be emerging from a generation-long desert of American cultural mediocrity imposed upon us by the spiritual tyranny of Theory.

Everything about this edition is first class and saturated in learning and great artistic insight. The scholarly apparatus is extensive but non-intrusive and always edifying. Mendelsohn seems to be that rare scholar who is generous in spirit, repeatedly referring in the text by name to colleagues who have made contributions he considers significant to understanding Cavafy--rather than relegating them to footnotes. The way he has chosen to organise the poems, with characteristic thoughtfulness and sympathy, is far superior to the order in Keeley & Sherrard.

I have found it a deeply moving experience to read Cavafy's poetry in this edition. Please note this review doesn't contain even a hint of the wonders of the poetry itself: I want to preserve that as a pristine pleasure for anyone who choses to read Cavafy in this edition

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Poems, September 9, 2009

By	Harlan "harlan8" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I think this must be a really good translation. I read a review to that effect. But the few poems I have read are SO powerful. He is a great writer. I am not really a poetry person, but find Cavafy so emotionally evocative.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hellenic peotry., August 7, 2009

By	Gregory K. Tobkes "Gregory K. Tobkes" (East Meadow New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you enjoy themes of ancient and Byzantine Greece you will revel in this. Can't comment on translation but must assume it is well done to get publshed in such a handsome edition. One note of caution, many of the images allude to encounters with other men of all ranks and classes. Nevertheless,I got a very vivid picture of Alexandria both current (early 1900's) and ancient.It has a place of honor next to my edition of Robert Graves.
Gregory K. Tobkes
East Meadow, NY
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