On this day, Kostas Karyotakis committed suicide in Preveza – “I am leaving with my forehead held high. I was sick”

The young lawyer Kostas Karyotakis arrived in Preveza by boat on June 18, 1928, after an unfavorable transfer to the Prefecture of Preveza, to the Office of Settlement and Resettlement of Refugees.

After many attempts, the unhappy poet finally managed to kill himself on July 21, 1928, at 4.30 pm, and at the age of only 32.

The son of the arms dealer Ioannis Anagnostopoulos, civil engineer TE, states in the documentary by Freddy Germanos that “on the previous day of the suicide, Karyotakis bought a pistol from his father’s shop, with which he returned in a few hours complaining that it was damaged, while he had forgotten to remove the safety”. This was explained as his intention to kill himself on the same day

The suicide

On July 21 at noon, two hours before he committed suicide, he went to the then beach cafe “O Uranios Kipos” at Vrysoula street, where he ordered and drank a cherry soda.

The coffee seller was then surprised, because the poet left 75 drachmas of pourboir on the table, while the price of the soft drink was 5 drachmas. He asked for a cigarette to smoke and a piece of sticky paper (notebook) where he wrote his last notes, which were found in his pocket and were saved.

At the end of these notes he wrote among others: “I advise those who know how to swim not to attempt suicide by sea. All night tonight, for ten hours, I was riding the waves. I drank plenty of water, but every now and then, without knowing how, my mouth would rise to the surface. Someday, when I have the opportunity, I will write the impressions of a drowned man.’

Finally, Kostas Karyotakis walked from the cafe “Uranios Kipos” of Vrysoula to Vathi place of Margarona, a distance of about 400 meters. He lay down under a eucalyptus tree and committed suicide with a pistol to the heart.

The gendarmerie at the time took a photo of the body which has been published and shows him in costume, with a mat and hand with the pistol on his chest.

In this place today is the fuel camp of the 8th Infantry Division and there is a commemorative marble inscription placed there by the Preveza Tourist Club in 1970. The sign reads: “Here, on July 21, 1928, the poet Kostas Karyotakis found peace with a bullet in his heart.”

Last letter

According to the modern definition of clinical depression, the poet certainly suffered from the disease. His work, long before he learned that he was suffering from syphilis in the summer of 1922, his life and death are strong evidence of this. How the first disease essentially led him to the second is described in his last note.

A letter was found in the pocket of the suit of the corpse of Kostas Karyotakis which reads:

“It is time to reveal my tragedy. My biggest flaw was my unbridled curiosity, my morbid imagination and my attempt to learn about all the emotions, without being able to feel them most of them. However, I hate the vulgar act attributed to me.

I only sought its ideal atmosphere, its ultimate bitterness. I am not even the right person for that profession. My entire past convinces me of this. Every reality was repulsive to me.

I had the vertigo of danger. And the danger that came I accept with a willing heart. I pay for those, like me, who did not see any ideal in their lives, always remained stubborn in their hesitations, or considered their existence a game without substance. I see them coming more and more over the centuries. I am addressing them.

Having tasted all the joys (!!!), I am ready for an undignified death. I pity my unhappy parents, I pity my siblings. But I leave with my forehead held high. I was sick.

I am asking you to telegraph, in order to predispose my family, to my uncle Demosthenes Karyotakis, Monis Prodromou street, Aristotelous lane, Athens.

K.G.K.

[Υ.Γ.] And to change the tone. I advise those who know how to swim to never attempt to kill themselves by swimming. All night tonight for ten hours, I was beating the waves. I drank plenty of water, but every now and then, without understanding how, my mouth rose to the surface. Indeed, one day, when I have the opportunity, I will write the impressions of a drowned man”.

Love with Maria Polydouri

The role that woman and love may have played in Karyotakis’ suicide is not even hinted at in his last note, but it should not be ignored.

The beautiful and emancipated poet Maria Polydouri had fallen in love with him and he seemed to reciprocate. According to Polydouris, he was actually the one who first confessed his love. She proposed to him that they marry, but he did not want to. She attributed it to the chronic venereal disease she suffered from.

Testimony of Charilaos Sakellariadis’s friend, as well as Polydouri’s diary, show that the two did not have complete sexual relations, although he had sexual relations with common women.[ Όπως παρατηρεί ο καθηγητής της Ψυχιατρικής Πέτρος Χαρτοκόλλης, «ήταν περισσότερο η αδυναμία ν’ αγαπήσει η αιτία που τον ώθησε στην αυτοκτονία, παρά η στέρηση της γυναικείας αγάπης».

Και συνεχίζει : «Το πρόβλημα του Καρυωτάκη ήταν ότι δεν μπορούσε να αγαπήσει τις γυναίκες που μπορούσαν να τον αγαπήσουν. Έχοντας μια πολύ κακήν ιδέα για τον εαυτό του την προέβαλλε στους άλλους – πολύ εύκολο για την φθονερή πραγματικότητα μέσα στην οποία ζούσε – πλάθοντας για τον εαυτό του μια ψεύτικη εικόνα ανωτερότητας που κατέρρεε όταν μια γυναίκα τον απέρριπτε, ενώ τον έκανε να χάνει την εκτίμησή του για μια γυναίκα που, σαν την Πολυδούρη, μπορούσε να τον αγαπήσει».