Since the opening of the Cavafy house in the heart of Plaka, the historic district of Athens, Marianna Christofi, the coordinator of the archives of the famous Greek poet translated into French by Marguerite Yourcenar, has been overwhelmed with requests for visits. "They areresearchers, students or curious, alone or with their families, from the United States, from all over Europe and even Asia," says Marianna Christofi. Constantin Cavafy (1863-1933) was born and died in Alexandria, Egypt. A country whose cosmopolitanism and the melting pot of cultures have greatly inspired him. But the political situation and his desire for recognition will push him to flee the country to France and Greece via Constantinople for a while. This original and modern poet, confidential during his lifetime, "fascinates today" says Marianna Christofi.
She is very proud of the work she has done to ensure that the poet's archives are classified and exhibited in this neoclassical building at the foot of the Acropolis. There are more than 2000 documents, a library of 966 books and the artist's personal belongings that were in his home in Alexandria, Egypt, including the velvet armchair that stood in his living room. A thin window houses his rosary, a copy of his round glasses or the snuffbox stamped with his initials that he carried everywhere with him, and which followed him to Paris. The same is true of his collections of poems. His first verses in English, French and Greek.
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'One of the greatest'
Six portraits of the poet by contemporary artists. Alexia Kefalas / Le Figaro
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Cavafy did not publish any collections during his lifetime, explains Marianna Christofi. He printed his own poetry books and sent them or gave them away to friends and admirers of his work, even meticulously jotting down the lists of this distribution. He knew very well what he had given and to whom," she notes. Seeking recognition, Cavafy saw Athens as a Mecca, a springboard, far from Alexandria, especially since his verses were far removed from the sentimentalism of the time. Resolutely modern, his texts always turn to Greco-Roman antiquity, being part of the Parnassian movement. Each of his words erects as a dogma the "corporeality" of man in eternity, a "carnal reminiscence that has made the artist the master of time; its fidelity to sensual experience leads to a theory of immortality," notes Marguerite Yourcenar, who speaks of it as "one of the greatest, the most subtle in any case, the newest perhaps, the most nourished yet by the inexhaustible substance of the past."
But recognition, translations, and consecration will only come post-mortem. An irony, which can be read in the six portraits of the poet made by contemporary artists, which bring him to life in this Cavafy house, erected at the end of last November, 160 years after his birth thanks to the personal collection of one of Cavafy's most enthusiasts, Antonis Papadimitriou, president of the Onassis Foundation.
Cavafy House. Address: 16b, rue Frinihou, Plaka open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 18 p.m. Requests for visits: cavafy.onassis.org/