An Andreas Karavis Companion

Drawing on his friendship with Karavis, David Solway has leavened the critical commentary and biographical background with a selection of letters and extracts from the notebooks of this enigmatic Greek poet. Includes never-before published new poems Karavis has sent to Solway.The works and days of Andreas Karavis together constitute a rare phenomenon in the cultural life of contemporary Greece. A poet who was largely unknown until the late eighties, working indefatigably but in almost total obscurity from youth to later middle age, he suddenly finds himself in the public eye as a powerful but enigmatic presence … yet his life remains an almost impenetrable secret.

Reviews

“It is a great poem, the kind that will make future readers take seriously Solway’s claim to be our Yeats […] Saracen Island and An Andreas Karavis Companion constitute a vast allegory of the Canadian Literary landscape […] perhaps you will find yourself in them.” –Derek Webster, The Fiddlehead, No. 210

“In Saracen Island [Solway] has his own special brand of fun, creating a detailed poetic biography for Karavis. The poems are, as Solway says of Karavis, “deceptively simple and profoundly resourceful.” […] Karavis, whoever he may be, is an engaging persona, . . . seldom relinquishing Solway’s characteristic energy.” –Diana Fitzgerald Bryden, National Post

“In Solway’s able hands, Karavis has become an Aegean pirate’s vessel, carrying within it a rich booty of seas, desolate shores, compass roses and wild emeralds.” –Fred A. Reed, Montreal Review of Books