Tasos Leivaditis (; 20 April 1922 – 30 October 1988) was a Greek poet, short story writer and literary critic. He belonged to the postwar generation that was deeply marked by the struggles and failures of the communist movement.For a chronological overview of Leivaditis’ life and work, see Yannis Kouvaras, “Χρονολόγιο Τάσου Λειβαδίτη (1922-1988),” Διαβάζω, no.228, December 13, 1989, pp.20-24. His early and politically committed poetry travelled through the ‘fire and sword’ of history, transforming in the end into powerful and paradoxical prose-poems, and displaying an erotically charged form of ‘neo-romanticism’ mixed with ‘melancholic minimalism’ where “genuine humility offers obeisance to the magic of language.”From the editorial of Το Δέντρο, special issue on Leivaditis, no. 171-72, October 2009, p.7.
Early life Leivaditis was born in Athens, Greece, on 20 April 1922. As this happened to be the eve of Easter Saturday, he was given the name of 'Tasos' short for 'Anastasios' (Αναστάσιος), derived from the Greek word for 'resurrection' (ανάσταση). He grew up in Metaxourgeio, a working-class neighborhood at the time, located northwest of the historical centre of Athens. His father, Lysandros, moved from Kontovazaina (a village in mountainous Arcadia, in the Peloponnese) to Athens, where he set up a prosperous textiles store. Tasos had four older siblings: a sister (Chrysaphenia), two brothers (the eldest Alexandros, and Dimitris), and a half-brother (Konstantinos) from his mother's previous marriage. The elder brother Alexandros or Alekos (1914–1980) was to become a successful actor in theatre and film, while his brother Dimitris worked as a musician for the Greek National Opera. (Contrary to popular opinion, the acclaimed television actor, Thanos Leivaditis (1934–2005), was not related to Tasos Leivaditis.)
Tasos' childhood has been described by those who grew up with him as happy and carefree,See the quotation from Leivaditis’ childhood friend, Nikos Drettas, in Λευτέρης Παπαδόπουλος, “Κείμενα με ψυχή,” in Tasos Leivaditis, Μεγάλες μορφές της λογοτεχνίας (Athens: Kastaniotis, 2008), pp.9-10. and according to his own testimony he began writing poetry at 12 or 13 years of age,See the interview with Leivaditis in “Συζήτηση με τον Τάσο Λειβαδίτη,” in Δρόμοι της Ειρήνης: Μηνιαία έκδοσις της Ελληνικής Επιτροπής για τη Διεθνή Ύφεση και Ειρήνην, issue no. 39, April 1961, p.8. even earning the nicknames 'Byron' and 'Leopardi' at school.See the testimony of Tasos Leivaditis’ daughter, Vaso: “Ο καλύτερός μου φίλος, εν τέλει…,” in Το Δέντρο, no. 171-72, Autumn 2009, p.133. It was during this time, while still at school, that he also began to take a serious interest in communism.See Nikos Drettas’ account in “Το πορτραίτο του Τάσου Λειβαδίτη από τον φίλο του Νίκο Δρέττα,” in Οδός Πανός, no. 140, April – June 2008, p.50.
Resistance during the Occupation Leivaditis enrolled in the Law School of the University of Athens in 1940, and soon after (in October of that year) Greece entered World War II. By April the following year German troops had overrun Athens. Leivaditis eventually abandoned his studies and joined the leftist resistance movement known as EAM (Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο, National Liberation Front), becoming a member of the youth wing of the movement, known as EPON (Ενιαία Πανελλαδική Οργάνωση Νέων, United Panhellenic Organization of Youth), soon after its formation in February 1943.
Exile and imprisonment The internal conflict between EAM and right-wing forces that had begun during the Occupation erupted again soon after the Germans withdrew from Greece. Fierce fighting broke out in Athens, in December 1944 (which has therefore become known as the Dekemvriana), and for his part in the battle Leivaditis was arrested and imprisoned; he was released after the Varkiza Agreement of February 12, 1945.
The following year, 1946, Leivaditis married Maria Stoupas, and they were to have one daughter, Vasiliki (or Vaso). Also in 1946, Leivaditis made his literary debut, publishing the poem “Το τραγούδι του Χατζηδημήτρη (απόσπασμα)” (‘The Song of Hadjidimitri (excerpt)’) in the November issue of the periodical Elefthera Grammata; and in the December issue of the same periodical he published the Dekemvriana-inspired poem “Απ’ το Δεκέμβρη” (‘From December’).For a discussion and partial translation of these poems, see Tasos Leivaditis’ Triptych, ed. and trans. N.N. Trakakis (London: Anthem Press, 2022), pp.10-12.
In 1947, Leivaditis, along with a group of other leftist youths (including Alexandros Argyriou, Titos Patrikios, and Mihalis Katsaros), helped put together the short-lived literary journal, Θεμέλιο (themelio, foundation). In the second, and last, issue of the journal, published in September 1947, Leivaditis contributed a translation of Loys Masson’s “Épitaphe” (rendered as “Επιτάφιος”, Funeral Hymn).See Θεμέλιο, no. 2, September 1947, p.32. In the same year, Leivaditis also published the poem “Η κυρά της Όστριας” (‘The Lady of Ostro’) in Greece’s longest-running literary journal, Νέα Εστία (Nea Hestia).Leivaditis, “Η κυρά της Όστριας,” Νέα Εστία, vol. 42, no. 482, 1 August 1947, pp.917-18. For a translation of the first half of this poem, see Tasos Leivaditis’ Triptych, ed. and trans. N.N. Trakakis (London: Anthem Press, 2022), pp.15-16.
As the civil war in Greece escalated and the persecution of communists intensified, Leivaditis was arrested in June 1948 and, without trial, sent into internal exile. He was to spend close to three years on various prison camps spread across the Aegean. Initially he was sent to Moudros, a town on the island of Lemnos. After a year, in the summer of 1949, he was transferred to the dreaded island of Makronisos, off the Attica coast (his fellow poet and lifelong friend, Yannis Ritsos, also arrived at Makronisos at this time). Despite the appalling living conditions and the brutality and violence he witnessed and experienced, Leivaditis refused to denounce his communist beliefs and sign a ‘repentance declaration’ (δήλωση μετάνοιας). He would also continue writing, in secret, as did many others interned in Makronisos, including Ritsos, Alexandrou, Patrikios and Theodorakis, who “wrote poems there. Often they committed these to memory, but occasionally they scrawled them on paper, which was almost impossible to find, and hid them in bottles or in crevices, trying to save them from the raids of the Military Police.”Neni Panourgiá, Dangerous Citizens: The Greek Left and the Terror of the State (New York: Fordham University Press, 2009), p.101. In the summer of 1950, Leivaditis was transferred again, this time to Ai-Stratis (Agios Efstratios), a small island in the northern Aegean Sea. In late 1951 he was moved to the Chatzikosta Prison in Athens, and by the end of the year he was finally free, albeit as an ‘αδειούχος εξόριστος’: a detainee who has been granted leave to return to the community, but who remains under constant surveillance.
Triptych and trial In 1954 Leivaditis began working for the weekly newspaper, Η Αυγή (‘The Dawn’), which had begun circulation in 1952 as the mouthpiece of the broadly leftist political party, Ενιαία Δημοκρατική Αριστερά (ΕΔΑ), the United Democratic Left (EDA). Leivaditis was to work as the newspaper’s literary critic, reviewing newly published poetry books, a role he occupied for the remainder of his life (except for the period of the 1967-74 junta, when the paper was shut down).A selection of Leivaditis’ poetry reviews has been published as Tasos Leivaditis, Έλληνες Ποιητές (Athens: Kastaniotis Editions, 2005).
While working at the newspaper, Leivaditis was also involved in setting up the literary journal, Επιθεώρηση Τέχνης (‘Cultural Review’), which has been described as “possibly the most significant leftist literary periodical of the time,”Elisabeth Arseniou, Νοσταλγοί και Πλαστουργοί: Έντυπα, κείμενα και κινήματα στη μεταπολεμική λογοτεχνία (Athens: Typothito Editions, 2003), p.62. and which was issued monthly from January 1955, with each issue averaging around 100 pages. Although initially closely involved with the journal, Leivaditis was to drift away from the editorial committee from early 1957, though he continued to contribute to the journal until it was closed down in 1967 when the junta came to power.For an explanation of Leivaditis’ reasons for distancing himself from the journal, see Kostas Koulouphakos, “Η Επιθεώρηση Τέχνης και η παρουσία της Αριστεράς στον πνευματικό χώρο,” Αρχειοτάξιο, no. 2, June 2000, p.55.
After returning from enforced exile Leivaditis published his first poetry books in fairly quick succession: Μάχη στην άκρη της νύχτας (‘Battle at the Edge of the Night’, 1952), Αυτό το αστέρι είναι για όλους μας (‘This Star Is For All Of Us’, 1952), and Φυσάει στα σταυροδρόμια του κόσμου (‘The Wind at the Crossroads of the World’, 1953). This triptych, which was begun on Makronisos, gives expression to the terrors and horrors of the prison camps and the abject conditions of the civil war years, which incite the exploited and destitute masses to come together to fight for a new, more equal and just, society. However, the last of these three works, The Wind at the Crossroads of the World, was to land Leivaditis in trouble again with the authorities, who banned the book because of its “seditious” content and soon after put Leivaditis on trial. On February 10, 1955, before a packed courtroom, Leivaditis gave a spirited defence of his work and was acquitted. Leivaditis was further vindicated that summer when The Wind was awarded first prize in the poetry competition of the World Festival of Youth and Students, hosted in Warsaw, Poland.For further discussion and a translation of Leivaditis' first three poetry books, see Tasos Leivaditis' Triptych, ed. and trans. N.N. Trakakis (London: Anthem Press, 2022).
The 'poetry of defeat' After a promising start with his first poetry volumes, Leivaditis was to make an important turn which would continue and deepen for the remainder of his career. His turning-point came, as it did for many leftist intellectuals of the time, in 1956, a year in which faith in the communist cause was severely tested by Khrushchev’s secret denunciation of Stalin at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and by the anti-Soviet uprisings in Poland and Hungary and their brutal suppression. These events profoundly affected Leivaditis, causing him to rethink his allegiance to communism.See Kostas Koulouphakos, “Η Επιθεώρηση Τέχνης και η παρουσία της Αριστεράς στον πνευματικό χώρο,” Αρχειοτάξιο, no. 2, June 2000, p.55, where Koulouphakos states that Khrushchev’s revelations caught Leivaditis’ completely off guard and thus had a devastating effect upon him. With the Left in Greece defeated in the civil war, and with hopes in Soviet communism dashed, Leivaditis’ poetry begins to move in a different direction, one that is increasingly melancholic, resigned, solitary and skeptical. Many other poets of Leivaditis’ generation were also making a similar turn, giving rise to the ‘poetry of defeat’ movement.