Never solve or ever end the hidden stories, to turn faces cleaned by the memory, and the feeling

Always hold the sails, such as vessels that were to be done, and

against their House frustrated them, or the sails non -existent, probably

the boats.

(Not to be solved, Jenny Mastoraki, from the poetic collection with a wreath of light, Kedros editions)

A sunny afternoon in early August, in the hospitable and crowded event hall of the Ingborg-Drevic Municipal Library in Berlin in Berlin, the issue 63 entitled Ohne Dich, Hellas (no Greek), Berlin’s Elfenbein Verlag Publishing House. The Greek pension of DW was there.

Without you, Greece, what would the world be? The title of the latest issue of the literary magazine Metamorphosen comes from the verse of German poet and writer Wilhelm Muller, a staunch supporter of Greece, also known as the nickname “Greek Miller”. With this issue, publishers Ingo Dretsnik and Roman Pliske attempt to direct the German readership to modern Greek literature, an integral and important part of the great European literature. According to the contributors, “in Ohne Dich, Hellas is hiding a lot of soul and the opportunity to change the way the Germans take on Greece.” The presentation of the issue was predicted by Ingo Dretsnik, who also coordinated the event.

Andrea Sellinger’s Seferis

Also present was the award -winning, tireless translator Andrea Sellinger, who read an excerpt from personal diaries under the title of the days of George Seferis, the first Greek to be honored with Nobel Prize in Literature, in translation by myself. The text he chose was from days D and reflects the period of the German invasion of Greece in April 1941.

During her interpretive and expressive reading, the audience kept her breath. Sellinger, with a place of residence in Athens and Karlsruhe, translates modern Greek literature and publishes issues on Greek -German cultural exchanges. He worked with the Goethe Institute in Athens and was a member of the editorial team of the Greek -German cultural portal diablog.eu. Andrea Sellinger emphasized the “urgent need to change the way the Germans perceive Greece”.

Quoting published research, he said that “the image that has been consolidated by the Germans for Greece is limited to the four-year” sun-sea-zeal-philoxia “. 2/3 of the respondents cannot express an opinion on the German occupation in Greece and consider it to be irrelevant. Every year, millions of German tourists visit Greece, but few are aware of the rich literary and cultural work of Greek artists. As Ingo Dretsnik typically said, “without Andrea Sellinger’s contribution there would be no issue.”

The publisher then read the work on the way of the Philhellenes of the poet and psychoanalyst Andreas Empirikos, who introduced surrealism to Greece, but remains unknown to the German readership.

The event was also attended by the poet, literary critic and essayist George Lillis, who lives and works in Bilefeld, expressing excitement with his excellent collaboration with Elfenbein Verlag. His assets already have seven poetry collections that have received very positive reviews, while his works have been translated into various languages. Usual day, instructions for use, Generation X and stigma from the poetry collections The Murtis-Bing pill and the tank man are some of Lill’s poems presented.

Jenny Mastoraki and Phoebe Giannissis

Poems of important Greek poets have been rendered by publisher Peter Holland from Berlin. He presented texts by Jenny Mastorakis, the great poetic voice of modernism, which was honored in 2020 with the Grand Award of the Ministry of Culture and died in 2024.

At the same time, he also focused on Phoebe Giannissis, whose work is mediocre, is on the borders between poetry, performance, theory and installation and explores the connections of language, voice, writing with body, place and memory. Peter Holland curated the performance of the texts in German in collaboration with translator Elena Palladza.

“Jenny Mastorakis’ work was complex and had something magical, he wrote with humor and irony and had to deal with the censorship of the dictatorship,” Holland said, adding that she translated her poems because she wanted to understand her deeper. The translation process “was a challenge, opening open and punctuation of non -existent”.

Peter Holland’s reading rate was fast, a torrent of words without pauses, no breaths. When someone from the public begged him to read more slowly, he replied that he did it deliberately, as this was the style of both poets. With a dose of humor, he motivated attendees to buy the issue and read it quietly.

“All the citizens of the world are Greeks …”

The tribute circulates in a bilingual edition (Greek and German) in the shortest poetic texts. In the 128 pages of the issue, one can find lesser known in the general public of the younger classic Greek writers of modernism, such as Konstantinos Kavafis, George Seferis, Andreas Empirikos and Yiannis Ritsos, as well as Modern: Theodorakis, Thanassis Lambrou, Giorgos Lillis, Jenny Mastorakis, Maria Stefanopoulou, Ursoula Foskolou, Panagiotis Chatzimosiadis. The issue Ohne Dich, Hellas, focuses on modern expressors of modern Greek literature.

In addition to Greek works, in the issue you will also find texts of contemporary German writers, such as Herbert Gentsmer, Tobia Herold, Andreas Holsos and Konstantinos Kammenos, who have a motif of Greek landscapes and modern Greek culture. Their inclusion in Ohne Dich, Hellas, confirms the saying of the German expressionist Clubed “all the citizens of the world are Greeks – even if we do not know it”, which one meets in the prologue note of the issue.

It is worth noting the key role of translators and translators, who not only attribute literary texts to German, but bridge the linguistic and cultural gap, allowing the communication, understanding and dissemination of modern Greek literature to the German -speaking public. Typically, Peter Holland said that “the best way to read and understand a literary work is translation.” Publisher Ingo Dretsnik’s wish would be more funded for translations in order to allow literary works to be rendered in other languages.

The Filokali edition is accompanied by eleven black and white photographs by Klaus Pichler depicting island landscapes, archaeological monuments and portraits.

The presentation of the new issue of the literary magazine Metamorphosen was attended by writers, translators, bookstores, lovers of Greece and modern Greek literature, such as an elderly gentleman who was informed of the event by the teacher who teaches him a neo -Greek. Style to mark something from his conversation with Andrea Sellinger, and ardent supporters of Elfenbein Verlag.

In a warm and friendly climate, “wells” were created, kneading in both languages, old acquaintances met and exchanged their news, new interesting acquaintances became. Everything with Greece and its literature at the center, until the … smiling library employee reminded us kindly that we had to leave, because the opening hours had long expired.

“Little Greek Library”

The independent and many award -winning Elfenbein Verlag publishing house in Berlin is characterized by its elegant editions and its very careful literary choices.

Its creation came from Metamorphosen magazine, which has been published since 1991, and began to publish Greek literature books in 2001. Thus, the “Small Greek Library” was created, a series that hosts 17 titles so far, including real -life creators, such as the first creators, such as the first creators – Cavafy, Nikos Kazantzakis, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Yiannis Ritsos and George Seferis. Note that Elfenbein Verlag is the only one in Germany to create such a series of modern Greek literature works.

At the time of the internet, social media and e -books, the book in printed form still has something magical and irreplaceable. The August 6th event proved it.

The event was organized by the branch of the Hellenic Book and Culture Foundation (Elivip) in Berlin in collaboration with Elfenbein Verlag.