Menelaos Lountemis


Menelaos Lountemis, was the pen name one of the most important essayists in the Greek interwar period and post-World War II era. His pen name was inspired by his later homeland's river Loudias.

Early life

Lountemis was born to a Greek family as Dimitrios "Takis" Balassoglou either in 1906 in Agia Kyriaki in Asia Minor or in 1912 in Constantinople. He was the only son among the five children of Grigoris Balassoglou and Domna Tsouflidi. His family came as refugees from Yalova after Greek genocide, and they initially settled in Aegina, then in Edessa and finally in the village Exaplatanos of Pella, where he lived from 1923 to 1932 when he moved to Kozani. He lived for a while in the state boarding house of Edessa. His family was wealthy, but bankrupted in the Greco-Turkish War and Lountemis had to work hard in his adolescence as a scullion, shoeblack, cantor, and teacher in villages of Almopia, and even as a foreman at the then under construction Gallikos river infrastructure works. In the 10th grade – of the six-grade secondary school of that time – he left school due to political reasons and he was expelled from all secondary schools of his country.
Through an odyssey of successive resettlements, from Edessa to state boarding house in Kozani and then to Volos, following a wandering group of that time, he finally reached Athens and became a close connection of Kostas Varnalis, Angelos Sikelianos and Miltiadis Malakassis. The latter helped him to be appointed to the "Athenian Club" as a librarian in 1938 and financially recover. At the same time his friendship with professor of Philosophy Nikolaos Veis, would allow him to attend courses at the School of Philosophy of Athens. A lot of literary successes followed and he became a member of the :el:Εταιρία Ελλήνων Λογοτεχνών|Hellenic Association of Litterateurs, under the presidency of Nikos Kazantzakis.

Career

He first appeared in Greek literature at very young age, publishing his poetry collections in "Agrotiki Idea" of Edessa in 1927 and 1928, which signed under his real name. Around 1930 he publishes poems and short stories in "Nea Estia" magazine. The first time he used his pen name was in 1934 for the short story "One night with many lights under a city with many stars" . In 1938 was one of the 3 that shared the Greek National Literature Prize, for his short stories collection "The ships never came at shore" and in 1951 Golden Daphne Award in Paris. Hellenic Association of Litterateurs established the annual "Menelaos Lountemis" award in his honor. A public building in Bucharest was named after him. According to Vassilis Vassilikos, "he is considered the most widely read Greek writer after Nikos Kazantzakis". His "One child counts the stars" was a best Greek best-seller of the 1950s and the most known of his books.

Works

  1. "Τα πλοία δεν άραξαν", Athens, PUB: Γκοβόστης, short stories
  2. «Περιμένοντας το ουράνιο τόξο», Athens, short stories
  3. «Γλυκοχάραμα», Athens, short stories
  4. «Το τραγούδι των διψασμένων», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, short stories
  5. «Βουρκωμένες μέρες», Athens, short stories
  6. «Αυτοί που φέρανε την καταχνιά», Athens, short stories
  7. «Έκσταση», Athens, PUB: Αετός, novel
  8. «Καληνύχτα ζωή», Athens, novel
  9. «Οι κερασιές θ' ανθίσουν και φέτος», Athens, PUB: Μόρφωση, novel
  10. «Συννεφιάζει», Athens, novel
  11. «Ένα παιδί μετράει τ' άστρα», Athens, PUB: Δίφρος, novel
  12. «Η φυλακή του Kάτω Kόσμου», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, novel
  13. «Το ρολόι του κόσμου χτυπά μεσάνυχτα», Athens, PUB: Κέδρος, novel
  14. "Τότε που κυνηγούσα τους ανέμους", Athens, PUB: Δίφρος, novel
  15. «Λύσσα», novel
  16. «Τρόπαια Α΄»,, novel
  17. «Τρόπαια Β΄»,, novel
  18. «Κάτω απ' τα κάστρα της ελπίδας», novel
  19. «Το κρασί των δειλών»,, Athens, Πολιτικές και λογοτεχνικές εκδόσεις, novel
  20. "Οι ήρωες κοιμούνται ανήσυχα",, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, novel
  21. «Ο άγγελος με τα γύψινα φτερά»,, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, novel
  22. «Οδός Αβύσσου αριθμός 0», Athens, PUB: Βιβλιοεκδοτική, novel
  23. «Θυμωμένα στάχυα», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, novel
  24. «Αγέλαστη Άνοιξη», novel
  25. «Της γης οι αντρειωμένοι...», Athens, βιογραφίες
  26. «Οι αρχιτέκτονες του τρόμου», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, satirical novel
  27. «Οι κεραυνοί ξεσπούν», Athens, PUB: Κάδμος, play
  28. «Θα κλάψω αύριο»,, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, play
  29. «Ανθισμένο όνειρο», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, play
  30. «Ταξίδια του χαμού», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, play
  31. «Πικρή θάλασσα»,, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, play
  32. «Μπατ-Τάι»,, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, travel literature
  33. «Ταξίδι στην απεραντοσύνη»,, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, political essay
  34. «Οι Δήμιοι με τ’ άσπρα γάντια», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, play δράμα
  35. «Δαίδαλος», σε εικονογράφηση Γ.Πανετέα, Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, short stories for children
  36. «Ίκαρος», short stories for children
  37. «Ηρακλής», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, short stories for children |
  38. "Θησέας", short stories for children
  39. "Ο μεγάλος Δεκέμβρης", Athens, PUB: Μαρής-Κοροντζής, short stories for children
  40. «Κραυγή στα πέρατα», Athens, PUB: Παλμός, poetry collection
  41. «Θρηνολόι και άσμα για το σταυρωμένο νησί», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, poetry collection
  42. «Το σπαθί και το φιλί», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, poetry collection
  43. «Κοντσέρτο για δύο μυδράλια και ένα αηδόνι», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, poetry collection
  44. «Πυρπολημένη μνήμη», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός
  45. «Οι εφτά κύκλοι της μοναξιάς», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, poetry collection
  46. «Τραγουδώ για την Κύπρο», Athens, PUB: Μόρφωση, poem
  47. «Ο λυράρης », Athens, PUB: Δωρικός
  48. «Ο κονταρομάχος », Athens, PUB: Δωρικός
  49. «Ο εξάγγελος », Athens, PUB: Δωρικός, poetry
  50. «Καραγκιόζης ο Έλληνας», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός
  51. «Ο γολγοθάς μιας ελπίδας», Athens, PUB: Δωρικός
  52. «Μενέλαος Λουντέμης Απανθίσματα», Athens, PUB: Ελληνικά Γράμματα του Δαυίδ Ναχμία
  53. «Μια Νύχτα με πολλά φώτα,κάτω από μια πόλη με πολλά Αστέρια», PUB: Ελληνικά Γράμματα

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