By Ilektra Takuridu.

Penelope Delta was an author whose books have influenced generations of Greeks. Her work is particularly significant as she is the first female children’s book author in Greece. Penelopes books were very popular and widely read, as well as her children’s books her Historical novels were extremely influential on the Greek people’s views of national identity and culture.

Early Life

Penelope Delta was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to Virginia Choremi and Emmanuel Benakis, a prosperous cotton merchant. She had five siblings, whom she would later use as inspiration for characters in her books. In 1882, the Benaki family relocated to Athens.

Marriage

Whilst living in Athens, Penelope married Stephanos Delta, a wealthy Phanariote merchant, with whom she had three children, Sophia Mavrogordatou, Virginia Zanna, and Alexandra Papadopoulou. In 1905, they returned to Alexandria, where she met Ion Dragoumi, the Vice-Consul of Greece in Alexandria at the time. Dragoumi, who like Penelope Delta, was an author.  Their books shared the same themes of the Macedonian Struggle, and their own accounts of it. The pair was briefly romantically involved but out of respect for Delta and her children, Dragoumi decided not to pursue the romance and separated from her. Even so, they continued to correspond passionately, until 1912, when Dragoumi started a serious relationship with the famous stage actress Marika Kotopouli. Heartbroken and suffering from depression Penelope twice attempted suicide. Despite the relationship not working out, in 1920 Dragoumi died, and following his death Penelope would only be seen wearing black just as widows do.

Writing career

In 1906 , Delta relocated to Frankfurt, Germany, and her first novel, Gia tin Patrida (For the Sake of the Fatherland), was published in 1909. Delta collaborated with historian Gustave Schlumberger, a renowned expert on Byzantine Empire history to make her novel more accurate. Her novel The Life of Christ was published in 1925, the same year she was diagnosed with Polio. In 1927 she began writing the trilogy Romiopoules (Young Greek Girls), an autobiography that she did not complete until 1939. Part one of the trilogy, To Xypnima (The Awakening), was set in Anthens and covers the early years of her life, from 1895 to 1907, while the second part, H Lavra (The Heat is between 1907 and 1909 and the final section, To Souroupo (The Dusk), spans the years 1914 to 1920.

Whilst writing the Trilogy, she also worked on other books. Three memorable novels she wrote in this period were (Crazy Anthony; 1932), Mangas (1935), and Ta Mystika tou Valtou (The Secrets of the Swamp; 1937). Trelantonis was written about and inspired by her brother Antonis and his cheeky behavior as a child and antics.

Death and Legacy

Penelope Delta died on May 2, 1941, she decided to take her life by drinking poison. As per her request she was buried in the garden of the stately Delta mansion in Kifissia. The funeral was officiated by Chrysanthos, the Archbishop of Athens at the time. The word σιώπη (“silence”) was etched on her grave in her house’s backyard. Delta’s daughter, Alexandra Papadopoulou, donated the house to the Benaki Museum in 1977, and it has since stored the museum’s significant archives. Benaki Museum is still one of Greece most famous museums with many exponents of Greek culture and history. Penelope Delta left behind books that were adored by children and novels that were admired by proud Greeks.

By Ilektra Takuridu

Yiannis Ritsos was a Greek poet and member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. Although he hated being named as a political poet, he has been referred to as “the great poet of the Greek left” due to the fact he was proud Communist.

Early Life:

He was born May 1st 1909, to a wealthy landowning family in Monemvasia, Laconia. Yiannis had three οlder brothers and one sister. Despite being born into a wealthy family, his childhood was tragic. The families wealth deteriorated in the 1920’s they were completely financially ruined. As a result of their economic problems, Yiannis’ father begun gambling and eventually became insane. In 1921 Yiannis’ Mother and brother Mimis died from tuberculosis when he was just 12 years old. Yiannis himself was also hospitalised for tuberculosis from 1927 till 1931. All of these tragic events affected the life of a young Yiannis, and he expressed this pain through his poetry.

Poetry:

Yiannis started poetry at a young age, in 1924 (at age 15) the magazine “Edification of Children” published his first poems. In 1934 he joined the KKE (Communist party of Greece) and published collections of poems called ‘Tractor’. These poems were the first glimpse of his communist ideology expressed through words. Following Tractor, another collection inspired by the Communist movent was publish by Yiannis, called “Pyramids”. Both collections were an insight into his own personal life and suffering, integrated with socialist philosophies.

An important moment for Ritsos poetry was the tobacco workers strike on May 9, 1936. The workers’ strikes were in Thessaloniki and escalated into violent protests. The next day, Ritsos saw a photograph in Rizospastis (a Greek communist newspaper) of a woman sobbing over her dead son (a tobacco factory worker), who had been killed by police during the strike. The events of the protest inspired one of his most famous poem, Epitaphios. The poem expressed a message of solidarity for all people, a strong theme in Communism. It’s success and popularity was in part due to it being written in plain and simple language that could be understood by all. The poem was his most popular and had a print run of 10,000 copies.

The Axis occupation, Civil Greek War and the Junta:

During Greece’s Axis occupation (1941–1945), Ritsos joined the EAM (National Liberation Front) and wrote many poems for the Greek Resistance. Ritsos also supported the Left during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949); in 1948, he was jailed and imprisoned for four years for his involvement with the Communist movement. His poem Epitaphios was set to music by famous music composer Mikis Theodorakis which immediately became the Greek Left’s anthem in the 1950s. The Papadopoulos regime imprisoned him in 1967 and sent him to a prison camp in Gyaros, then to Samos and Lemnos.

Death and Legacy:

Yiannis Ritsos died in November 1990 in Athens, and his body was buried in his birthplace. He left behind fifty unpublished collections. Ritsos has been recognised as one of the greatest Greek writers of the twentieth century’s. He was also twice nominated for the Nobel Prize awards.