«He was a man who rose through art. He lived through it and for it: he read incessantly, he was a deep connoisseur of music and theatre. Our conversations outside of work always revolved around these topics: what we each read, what performance we saw that made an impression on us,» says Giota Kritzeli, editor of Kichli.
Our discussion takes place on the occasion of the recent loss of the poet, writer, translator, but also painter, graphic artist and photographer Alexandros Isaris. Isaris - Yannis Dimitriadis by name - entrusted his writing to Kichli Publications almost two decades ago, with a book that in 2010 marked his turn towards the large form.
The title is «Vinkelman or Destiny» and the cover, which was designed by him, is based on a family photograph, a walk alongside his mother, with whom, as Mrs. Kritzelis recalls, he had «a contradictory but close and decisive relationship». Perhaps that is why he humorously interjected into the photo and painted it with one of the countless colored, well-cut pencils that littered his desk.
He was born in Serres in 1941, started studying Architecture in Austria, returned to Thessaloniki and lived in this city until he was 38 years old, during the «golden age» of its intellectual creation. «Most of my friends are dead, but so is the soul of old Thessaloniki,» he wrote in one of the texts contained in the «Six Walks» section.
In 1978 he settled permanently in Athens and since then his neighbourhood was Mets. He first appeared in Greek letters in 1976 with the poetry collection «Group of Friends of Thalassa - The Equalizer». The whole of his poetic work is collected in the publication «I am a stranger» (Kichli, 2013) and covers the period 1967-2011. He has collaborated with many literary magazines from time to time. With knowledge and dedication he translated books by Max Frisch, Thomas Mann, Robert Musil, Georg Beechner, Arthur Schnitzler, Thomas Bernhard, etc. He was awarded many prizes for his translations, and he considered that the work that completed his translation work was R. M. Rilke's «The Notes of Malte Laurents Brige» (Kichli, 2018), to which he devoted two and a half years of work.
Alexandros Isaris made his living in the field of books. As a graphic designer he designed dozens of covers and also painted. He said that painting freed him, while the struggle with words was painful. He did not see death as a dark end. Perhaps the best farewell are the words of Marguerite Joursenard, which he chose as the motto for his text «Headboard with lemon leaves»: «Let us try, if we can, to go through death with our eyes open».
