Odysseus ( or ; Greek: , ''Odusseus'') or Ulysses (; ) was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's ''Iliad'' and other works in the Epic Cycle.

King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his guile and resourcefulness, and is hence known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (''mētis'', or "cunning intelligence"). He is most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the ten-year Trojan War and his famous Trojan Horse trick.

Name, etymology and epithets

The name has several variants: Olysseus (), Oulixeus (), Oulixes () and he was known as in Latin or in Roman mythology.

The etymology of the name is contested, according to one view, the name ''Odysseus'' derives from the verb (), meaning "to be wroth against', 'hate", suggesting that the name could be rendered as "the one who is wrathful/hated". Alternatively, it has been also suggested that this is of non-Greek origin and probably of non-Indo-European origin too, while it is of an unknown etymology.

In the Iliad and Odyssey there are several epithets to describe Odysseus. In ''Odyssey'' 19, in which Odysseus's early childhood is recounted, Euryclea asks Autolycus, to name him. Euryclea tries to guide him to naming the boy ''Polyaretos'', "for he has ''much'' been ''prayed for''" (19.403f). In Greek, however, ''Polyaretos'' can also take the opposite meaning: much ''accursed''. Autolycus seems to infer this connotation of the name and accordingly names his grandson Odysseus. Odysseus often receives the patronymic epithet ''Laertiades'' (Greek: ), ''son of Laërtes''.

His name and stories were adopted into Etruscan religion under the name ''''.

Genealogy

Relatively little is known of Odysseus's background other than that his paternal grandfather (or step-grandfather) is Arcesius, son of Cephalus and grandson of Aeolus, whilst his maternal grandfather is the thief Autolycus, son of Hermes and Chione. According to ''The Odyssey'', his father is Laertes and his mother Anticlea, although there was a non-Homeric tradition that Sisyphus was his true father. Odysseus is said to have a younger sister, Ctimene, who went to Same to be married and is mentioned by the swineherd Eumaeus, whom she grew up alongside, in Book XV of ''the Odyssey''. Ithaca, an island along the Ionian northwestern coastline of Greece, is one of several islands that would have comprised the realm of Odysseus's family, but the true extent of the Cephallenian realm and the actual identities of the islands named in Homer's works are unknown.

"Cruel Odysseus"

Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' portrayed Odysseus as a culture hero, but the Romans, who believed themselves the scions of Prince Aeneas of Troy, considered him a villainous falsifier. In Virgil's ''Aeneid'', he is constantly referred to as "cruel Odysseus" (Latin "''dirus Ulixes''") or "deceitful Odysseus" ("''pellacis''", "''fandi fictor''"). Turnus, in ''Aeneid'' ix, reproaches the Trojan Ascanius with images of rugged, forthright Latin virtues, declaring (in John Dryden's translation), "You shall not find the sons of Atreus here, nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear." While the Greeks admired his cunning and deceit, these qualities did not recommend themselves to the Romans who possessed a rigid sense of honour. In Euripides's tragedy ''Iphigenia at Aulis'', having convinced Agamemnon to consent to the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Artemis, Odysseus facilitates the immolation by telling her mother, Clytemnestra, that the girl is to be wed to Achilles. His attempts to avoid his sacred oath to defend Menelaus and Helen offended Roman notions of duty; the many stratagems and tricks that he employed to get his way offended Roman notions of honour.

Before the Trojan War

The majority of sources for Odysseus' antebellum exploits—principally the mythographers Apollodorus and Hyginus—postdate Homer by many centuries. Two stories in particular are well known:

When Helen was abducted, Menelaus called upon the other suitors to honour their oaths and help him to retrieve her, an attempt that would lead to the Trojan War. Odysseus tried to avoid it by feigning lunacy, as an oracle had prophesied a long-delayed return home for him if he went. He hooked a donkey and an ox to his plough (as they have different stride lengths, hindering the efficiency of the plough) and (some modern sources add) started sowing his fields with salt. Palamedes, at the behest of Menelaus's brother Agamemnon, sought to disprove Odysseus's madness, and placed Telemachus, Odysseus's infant son, in front of the plough. Odysseus veered the plough away from his son, thus exposing his stratagem. Odysseus held a grudge against Palamedes during the war for dragging him away from his home.

Odysseus and other envoys of Agamemnon then traveled to Scyros to recruit Achilles because of a prophecy that Troy could not be taken without him. By most accounts, Thetis, Achilles's mother, disguised the youth as a woman to hide him from the recruiters because an oracle had predicted that Achilles would either live a long, uneventful life or achieve everlasting glory while dying young. Odysseus cleverly discovered which of the women before him was Achilles when the youth stepped forward to examine an array of weapons. Odysseus arranged for the sounding of a battle horn, which prompted Achilles to clutch a weapon; with his disguise foiled, he joined Agamemnon's army.

During the Trojan War

The ''Iliad''

Odysseus was one of the most influential Greek champions during the Trojan War. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he was one of the most trusted counsellors and advisers. He always championed the Achaean cause, especially when the king was in question, as in one instance when Thersites spoke against him. When Agamemnon, to test the morale of the Achaeans, announced his intentions to depart Troy, Odysseus restored order to the Greek camp. Later on, after many of the heroes had left the battlefield due to injuries (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuaded Agamemnon not to withdraw. Along with two other envoys, he was chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to combat.

When Hector proposed a single combat duel, Odysseus was one of the Danaans who reluctantly volunteered to battle him. Telamonian Ajax, however, was the volunteer who eventually did fight Hector. Odysseus aided Diomedes during the successful night operations in order to kill Rhesus, because it had been foretold that if his horses drank from the Scamander river Troy could not be taken.

After Patroclus had been slain, it was Odysseus who counselled Achilles to let the Achaean men eat and rest rather than follow his rage-driven desire to go back on the offensive—and kill Trojans—immediately. Eventually (and reluctantly), he consented.

During the funeral games for Patroclus, Odysseus became involved in a wrestling match with Telamonian Ajax, as well as a foot race. With the help of the goddess Athena, who favoured him, and despite Apollo's helping another of the competitors, he won the race and managed to draw the wrestling match, to the surprise of all.

Odysseus has traditionally been viewed in the ''Iliad'' as Achilles's antithesis: while Achilles's anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills. He is more conventionally viewed as the antithesis of Telamonian Ajax (Shakespeare's "beef-witted" Ajax) because the latter has only brawn to recommend him, while Odysseus is not only ingenious (as evidenced by his idea for the Trojan Horse), but an eloquent speaker, a skill perhaps best demonstrated in the embassy to Achilles in book 9 of the Iliad. And the two are not only foils in the abstract but often opposed in practice; they have many duels and run-ins (for examples see the next section).

Other stories from the Trojan War

When the Achaean ships reached the beach of Troy, no one would jump ashore, since there was an oracle that the first Achaean to jump on Trojan soil would die. Odysseus tossed his shield on the shore and jumped on his shield. He was followed by Protesilaus, who jumped on Trojan soil and later became the first to die.

Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for unmasking his feigned madness, leading him to frame him as a traitor. At one point, Odysseus convinced a Trojan captive to write a letter pretending to be from Palamedes. A sum of gold was mentioned to have been sent as a reward for Palamedes's treachery. Odysseus then killed the prisoner and hid the gold in Palamedes's tent. He ensured that the letter was found and acquired by Agamemnon, and also gave hints directing the Argives to the gold. This was evidence enough for the Greeks and they had Palamedes stoned to death. Other sources say that Odysseus and Diomedes goaded Palamedes into descending a wall with the prospect of treasure being at the bottom. When Palamedes reached the bottom, the two proceeded to bury him with stones, killing him.

When Achilles was slain in battle, it was Odysseus and Telamonian Ajax who successfully retrieved the fallen warrior's body and armour in the thick of heavy fighting. During the funeral games for Achilles, Odysseus competed once again with Telamonian Ajax. Thetis said that the arms of Achilles would go to the bravest of the Greeks, but only these two warriors dared lay claim to that title. The two Argives became embroiled in a heavy dispute about one another's merits to receive the reward. The Greeks dithered out of fear in deciding a winner, because they did not want to insult one and have him abandon the war effort. Nestor suggested that they allow the captive Trojans decide the winner. Some accounts disagree, suggesting that the Greeks themselves held a secret vote. In any case, Odysseus was the winner. Enraged and humiliated, Ajax was driven mad by Athena. When he returned to his senses, in shame at how he had slaughtered livestock in his madness, Ajax killed himself by the sword that Hector had given him.

Together with Diomedes, Odysseus went to fetch Achilles' son, Pyrrhus, to come to the aid of the Achaeans, because an oracle had stated that Troy could not be taken without him. A great warrior, Pyrrhus was also called Neoptolemus (Greek: "''new warrior''"). Upon the success of the mission, Odysseus gave Achilles' armor to him.

It was later learned that the war could not be won without the poisonous arrows of Heracles, which were owned by the abandoned Philoctetes. Odysseus and Diomedes (or, according to some accounts, Odysseus and Neoptolemus) went out to retrieve them. Upon their arrival, Philoctetes (still suffering from the wound) was seen still to be enraged at the Danaans, especially Odysseus, for abandoning him. Although his first instinct was to shoot Odysseus, his anger was eventually diffused by Odysseus's persuasive powers and the influence of the gods. Odysseus returned to the Argive camp with Philoctetes and his arrows.

Odysseus and Diomedes would later steal the Palladium that lay within Troy's walls, for the Greeks were told they could not sack the city without it. Some sources indicate that Odysseus schemed to kill his partner on the way back, but Diomedes thwarted this attempt.

Perhaps Odysseus' most famous contribution to the Greek war effort was devising the strategem of the Trojan Horse, which allowed the Greek army to sneak into Troy under cover of darkness. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors, led by Odysseus. After Troy was sacked, Odysseus threw Hector's son Astyanax from the city walls to his death, lest the child reach manhood and avenge his father.

Journey home to Ithaca

Odysseus is probably best known as the eponymous hero of the ''Odyssey''. This epic describes his travails as he tries to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place as rightful king of Ithaca.

On the way home from Troy, after a piratical raid on Ismaros in the land of the Cicones, he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms. They visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters and were captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus, only escaping by blinding him with a wooden stake. While they were escaping, however, Odysseus foolishly told Polyphemus his identity, and Polyphemus told his father, Poseidon, who had blinded him. They stayed with Aeolus, the master of the winds; he gave Odysseus a leather bag containing all the winds, except the west wind, a gift that should have ensured a safe return home. However, the sailors foolishly opened the bag while Odysseus slept, thinking that it contained gold. All of the winds flew out and the resulting storm drove the ships back the way they had come, just as Ithaca came into sight.

After pleading in vain with Aeolus to help them again, they re-embarked and encountered the cannibalistic Laestrygones. Odysseus' ship was the only one to escape. He sailed on and visited the witch-goddess Circe. She turned half of his men into swine after feeding them cheese and wine. Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe and gave Odysseus a drug called moly, a resistance to Circe’s magic. Circe, being attracted to Odysseus' resistance, fell in love with him and released his men. Odysseus and his crew remained with her on the island for one year, while they feasted and drank. Finally, Odysseus' men convinced Odysseus that it was time to leave for Ithaca.

Guided by Circe's instructions, Odysseus and his crew crossed the ocean and reached a harbor at the western edge of the world, where Odysseus sacrificed to the dead and summoned the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias to advise him. Next Odysseus met the spirit of his own mother, who had died of grief during his long absence; from her, he learned for the first time news of his own household, threatened by the greed of Penelope's suitors. Returning to Circe's island, they were advised by her on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirted the land of the Sirens, passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, and landed on the island of Thrinacia. There, Odysseus' men ignored the warnings of Tiresias and Circe, and hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. This sacrilege was punished by a shipwreck in which all but Odysseus drowned. He was washed ashore on the island of Calypso, where she compelled him to remain as her lover for seven years before he escaped.

Odysseus finally escapes and is shipwrecked and befriended by the Phaeacians. After telling them his story, the Phaeacians agree to help Odysseus get home. They deliver him at night, while he is fast asleep, to a hidden harbor on Ithaca. He finds his way to the hut of one of his own former slaves, the swineherd Eumaeus, and also meets up with Telemachus returning from Sparta. Athena disguises Odysseus as a wandering beggar in order to learn how things stand in his household. Odysseus then returns to his own house, still pretending to be a beggar. He experiences the suitors' rowdy behavior and plans their death. He meets Penelope and tests her intentions. Odysseus' identity is discovered by the housekeeper, Eurycleia, as she is washing his feet and discovers an old scar Odysseus received during a boar hunt. Odysseus swears her to secrecy, threatening to kill her if she tells anyone.

The next day, at Athena’s prompting, Penelope maneuvers the suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus' bow. The man who can string the bow and shoot it through a dozen axe heads would win. Odysseus takes part in the competition himself; he alone is strong enough to string the bow and shoot it through the dozen axe heads, making him the winner. He turns his arrows on the suitors and with the help of Athena, Telemachus, Eumaeus and Philoteus the cowherd, all the suitors are killed. Now at last, Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope.

The next day Odysseus and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laertes. The citizens of Ithaca follow Odysseus on the road, planning to avenge the killing of the Suitors, their sons. The goddess Athena intervenes and persuades both sides to make peace.

Other stories

Odysseus is one of the most recurrent characters in Western culture.

Classical

According to some late sources, most of them purely genealogical, Odysseus had many other children besides Telemachus, the most famous being:

with Penelope: Poliporthes (born after Odysseus's return from Troy)

with Circe: Telegonus, Ardeas, Latinus

with Calypso: Nausinous

with Callidice: Polypoetes

Most such genealogies aimed to link Odysseus with the foundation of many Italic cities in remote antiquity.

He figures in the end of the story of King Telephus of Mysia.

The supposed last poem in the Epic Cycle is called the ''Telegony'', and is thought to tell the story of Odysseus's last voyage, and of his death at the hands of Telegonus, his son with Circe. The poem, like the others of the cycle, is "lost" in that no authentic version has been discovered.

In 5th century BC Athens, tales of the Trojan War were popular subjects for tragedies. Odysseus figures centrally or indirectly in a number of the extant plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, (''Ajax'', ''Philoctetes'') and Euripides, (''Hecuba'', ''Rhesus'', ''Cyclops'') and figured in still more that have not survived. In the ''Ajax'', Sophocles portrays Odysseus as a modernistic voice of reasoning compared to the title character's rigid antiquity.

As Ulysses, he is mentioned regularly in Virgil's ''Aeneid'', and the poem's hero, Aeneas, rescues one of Ulysses's crew members who was left behind on the island of the Cyclops. He in turn offers a first-person account of some of the same events Homer relates, in which Ulysses appears directly. Virgil's Ulysses typifies his view of the Greeks: he is cunning but impious, and ultimately malicious and hedonistic.

Ovid retells parts of Ulysses's journeys, focusing on his romantic involvements with Circe and Calypso, and recasts him as, in Harold Bloom's phrase, "one of the great wandering womanizers." Ovid also gives a detailed account of the contest between Ulysses and Ajax for the armor of Achilles.

Greek legend tells of Ulysses as the founder of Lisbon, Portugal, calling it ''Ulisipo'' or ''Ulisseya'', during his twenty-year errand on the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Olisipo was Lisbon's name in the Roman Empire. Basing in this folk etymology, the belief that Ulysses is recounted by Strabo based on Asclepiades of Myrleia's words, by Pomponius Mela, by Gaius Julius Solinus (3rd century A.D.), and finally by Camões in his epic poem ''Lusiads''.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Dante, in Canto 26 of the Inferno of his ''Divine Comedy'', encounters Odysseus ("Ulisse" in the original Italian) near the very bottom of Hell: with Diomedes, he walks wrapped in flame in the eighth ring (Counselors of Fraud) of the Eighth Circle (Sins of Malice), as punishment for his schemes and conspiracies that won the Trojan War. In a famous passage, Dante has Odysseus relate a different version of his final voyage and death from the one foreshadowed by Homer. He tells how he set out with his men for one final journey of exploration to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules and into the Western sea to find what adventures awaited them. Men, says Ulisse, are not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.

After travelling west and south for five months, they saw in the distance a great mountain rising from the sea (this is Purgatory, in Dante's cosmology) before a storm sank them. Dante did not have access to the original Greek texts of the Homeric epics, so his knowledge of their subject-matter was based only on information from later sources, chiefly Virgil's ''Aeneid'' but also Ovid; hence the discrepancy between Dante and Homer.

He appears in Shakespeare's ''Troilus and Cressida,'' set during the Trojan War.

Modern

Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" presents an aging king who has seen too much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away. Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".

James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom. Bloom’s day turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus’ twenty years of wandering.

In Virginia Woolf's response novel, Mrs. Dalloway, the comparative character is Clarisse Dalloway, who also appeared in Voyage Out and several short stories.

Cream's song "Tales of Brave Ulysses" speaks somewhat of the travels of Odysseus including his encounter with the Sirens. An unnamed Odysseus figure is the narrator of the Steely Dan song, "Home at Last."

Frederick Rolfe's ''The Weird of the Wanderer'' has the hero Nicholas Crabbe (based on the author) travelling back in time, discovering that he is the reincarnation of Odysseus, marrying Helen, being deified and ending up as one of the three Magi.

In Dan Simmons' novels ''Ilium'' and ''Olympos'', Odysseus is encountered both at Troy and on a futuristic Earth.

Nikos Kazantzakis' ''The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel'', a 33,333 line epic poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of Penelope's suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen; incites revolutions in Crete and Egypt; communes with God; and meets representatives of various famous historical and literary figures, such as Vladimir Lenin, Don Quixote and Jesus.

''Ulysses 31'' is a Japanese-French anime series, published in 1981, which updates the Greek and Roman mythologies of Ulysses (or Odysseus) to the 31st century. In the series, the gods are angered when Ulysses, commander of the giant spaceship ''Odyssey'', kills the giant Cyclops to rescue a group of enslaved children including Telemachus. Zeus sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived and he will be able to return to Earth. In one episode, he travels back in time and meets the Odysseus of the Greek myth.

Early 20th century British composer Cecil Armstrong Gibbs's second symphony (for chorus and orchestra) is named after and based on the story of Odysseus, with text by Essex poet Mordaunt Currie.

Suzanne Vega's song "Calypso" shows Odysseus from Calypso's point of view, and tells the tale of him coming to the island and his leaving.

Joel and Ethan Coen's film ''O Brother Where Art Thou?'' (2000) is loosely based on the ''Odyssey''. However, the Coens have stated that they hadn’t ever read the epic. George Clooney plays Ulysses Everett McGill, leading a group of escapees from a chain gang through an adventure in search of the proceeds of an armoured truck heist. On their voyage, the gang encounter—amongst other characters—a trio of Sirens and a one-eyed bible salesman.

In S.M. Stirling's ''Island in the Sea of Time'' trilogy, Odikweos (Mycenean spelling) is a 'historical' figure who is every bit as cunning as his legendary self and is one of the few Bronze Age inhabitants who discerns the time-traveller's real background. Odikweos first aids William Walker's rise to power in Achaea and later helps bring Walker down after seeing his homeland turn into a police state.

Between 1978 and 1979, German director Tony Munzlinger made a documentary series called ''Unterwegs mit Odysseus'' (roughly translated: "Journeying with Odysseus"), in which a film team sails across the Mediterranean Sea trying to find traces of Odysseus in the modern-day settings of the ''Odyssey''. In between the film crew's exploits, hand-drawn scissor-cut cartoons are inserted which relate the hero's story, with actor Hans Clarin providing the narratives.

''The Penelopiad'' by Margaret Atwood retells the story from the point of view of Penelope.

Lindsay Clarke's ''The War at Troy'' features Odysseus, and its sequel, ''The Return from Troy'', retells the voyage of Odysseus in a manner which combines myth with modern psychological insight.

Progressive metal band Symphony X have a song based on Odysseus's journey, and called "The Odyssey", on the album of the same name. At 24 minutes and 7 seconds long, it has a six-part orchestra playing in it, each part comprising about sixty musicians.

Irish poet Eilean Ni Chuilleanain wrote "The Second Voyage", a poem in which she makes use of the story of Odysseus.

A cartoon show named ''Class of the Titans'' has a character named 'Odie' who is a direct descendant of Odysseus. One of the episodes, "The Odie-sey", portrays the story of the ''Odyssey'', with characters like Calypso, Scylla, and Aeolus, and also including modern twists.

Actor Sean Bean portrayed Odysseus in the feature film ''Troy''. Actor Armand Assante played Odysseus in the TV miniseries ''The Odyssey''. He had also been played by John Drew Barrymore in the 1961 film ''The Trojan Horse'' and by Piero Lulli in the 1962 film ''The Fury of Achilles''.

Odysseus is also a character in David Gemmell's ''Troy'' trilogy, in which he is a good friend and mentor of Helikaon. He is known as the ugly king of Ithaka. His marriage with Penelope was arranged, but they grew to love each other. He is also a famous storyteller, known to exaggerate his stories and heralded as the greatest storyteller of his age. This is used as a plot device to explain the origins of such myths as those of Circe and the Gorgons. In the series, he is fairly old and an unwilling ally of Agamemnon.

In the second book of the Percy Jackson series, ''The Sea of Monsters'', Percy and his friends encounter many obstacles similar to those in the ''Odyssey'', including Scylla and Charybidis, the Sirens, Polyphemus, and others.

He is the hero of ''The Luck of Troy'' by Roger Lancelyn Green, whose title refers to the theft of the Palladium.

Comparative mythology

A similar story exists in Hindu mythology with Nala and Damayanti where Nala separates from Damayanti and is reunited with her. The story of stringing a bow is similar to the description in Ramayana of Rama stringing the bow to win Sita's hand in marriage.

"Odysseus himself was the only one who was able to strain his bow … he beat his competitors and regained his wife after his long absence due to the Trojan War. We can discover the same theme … for example in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata ….

See also

Homer's Ithaca

''Odysseus Unbound''

Odyssey

References

Odysseus Unbound website

Ernle Bradford, ''Ulysses Found'', Hodder and Stoughton, 1963

Notes

External links

"Archaeological discovery in Greece may be the tomb of Odysseus" from the ''Madera Tribune''

Category:Aeolides Category:Characters in the Iliad Category:Characters in the Odyssey Category:Greek mythological hero cult Category:Kings in Greek mythology Category:Heroes who ventured to Hades Category:Monomyths

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:''For the album, see Guccini (album). Francesco Guccini (born June 14, 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter and author. His songs are renowned for their poetic and literary value; in 1992 he was awarded the Premio Librex Montale in category "Poetry for Music".

Biography

Guccini was born in Modena.

As recalled by a verse of one of his songs, "it was fate that in three months" moved his family out of Modena because of World War II. Guccini spent his childhood and part of his youth at his grandparents' place in a small village in the Apennine Mountains called Pàvana in the province of Pistoia, northern Tuscany. The memory of the years of his youth spent in the somewhat archaic society of the mountains of central Italy was to be ever-present in his songs and books.

He then moved back to his family in Modena and attended the local "istituto magistrale". He worked for a couple of years as a reporter for a local newspaper, the ''Gazzetta di Modena''. In 1960 the Guccinis moved to Bologna where Guccini studied at the local university. From 1965 to 1985 he taught Italian at Dickinson College (an American school) in Bologna.

He played in local bands such as The Hurricanes and Gatti and achieved success in the 1960s writing songs for an Italian band, Nomadi, also from Modena. Some of these successes include "Noi non ci saremo" and "Dio è morto". In the 1970s, Nomadi recorded two albums of Guccini's songs as well as a live album, ''Album Concerto'', featuring him. Guccini's own debut album was ''Folk beat n. 1'' (1967).

Guccini has always stated that his first two works, ''Folk beat n. 1'' and ''Due anni dopo'', were essays or experiements, which is noticeable in the quite spare accompaniment to many of the songs on these albums. The latter, however, contained classics like the title-track and "La primavera di Praga". His first mature album is ''L'Isola non trovata'' of 1970, which displays many of the themes which were to be present in future releases: for example, a certain melancholy because of the perceived nearness of death. Also characteristic are the portraits of outcasts like "Il frate".

''Radici'' ("Roots", 1972), is one of Guccini's finest works, and contains some of his most famous songs. These include: the title-track, a nostalgic declaration of love for his own youth spent in the Apennine mountains; "La locomotiva", a long ballad about the solitary, unlucky revolt of a Bolognese railwayman during the 19th century; and "Piccola città", about Guccini's early years in provincial Modena.

''Stanze di vita quotidiana'' from 1974 deals with more private themes. The album contains at least one success, the nostalgic "Canzone delle osterie di fuori porta".

In 1976 Guccini scored his greatest commercial success with the album ''Via Paolo Fabbri 43''. The title is the street where he still resides in Bologna. The album features the famous "L'avvelenata", a ballad in which Guccini unleashes his rage against music critics. "Piccola storia ignobile" deals with the true story of a woman forced to have an illegal abortion, while "Canzone quasi d'amore" is a parody of love songs masked under Guccini's literary language.

''Amerigo'' (1978), whose title-track is about the story of the emigration of Guccini's uncle to the United States, ''Metropolis'' (1981), and ''Guccini'' (1983), showed that the Bolognese singer's inspiration was left untouched by the general change to more commercial themes that characterized the Italian musical world from the end of 1970s.

The 1984 live tour was highly successful, and was soon collected in a double live LP, ''Fra la via Emilia e il West''. Emilia Romagna and the Old West symbolize well the double ties of Guccini to his native land and to America. Guccini has said that he encountered the latter early on in life through the comics and magazines imported by US soldiers during World War II, but also through his uncle's stories. After the war, like many Italians of the period, he was of course influenced by American songs and Hollywood movies, and finally travelled to America, even enjoying an affair with an American woman.

His last album in the 1980s was ''Signora Bovary'' (1987), containing notable pieces like "Scirocco". After several albums in the 1990s, Guccini returned at his best with ''Stagioni'' in 2000: the title-track is a jeremiad against media invasiveness and the moral corruption of Italy.

Guccini's last studio release, ''Ritratti'', was published in 2004.

Other activities

In the 1970s Guccini made appearances in some bizarre TV shows: in one of them he worked with the then unknown comedian Roberto Benigni.

In recent years, starting with ''Radiofreccia'' directed by other Emilian singer and songwriter Luciano Ligabue (1998), Guccini has been featured as an actor in several movies from Italian directors, both comedies and dramas.

The collaborations between the two songwriters extended of course to some songs, one of them present in Guccini's album ''Stagioni''. Guccini also wrote the soundtracks for the movies ''Nenè'' by Salvatore Samperi (1977) and ''Nero'' by Giancarlo Soldi (1992).

Recently, Guccini has distinguished himself as a writer, publishing some books about his youth in Pàvana and, in collaboration with Loriano Macchiavelli, four mystery books also set in that city and pivoting around the figure of a Carabinieri officer. He has also published a dictionary of the "pavanese" dialect, and told of his youth in the novels ''Vacca d'un cane'' and ''Croniche epafániche''.

One of his lesser known activities is as a comics writer. His main productions in this field are the ''Storie dello spazio profondo'' ("Deep Space Stories"): it a series of short, humoristic science fiction stories created from 1972 together with his Bolognese friend, the cartoonist Franco Bonvicini.

Awards

He received several awards for his artistic work, among them the "Premio Tenco" in 1975 and the "Targhe Tenco" received in 1987 for the song "Scirocco", in 1994 for ''Parnassius Guccinii'' and in 2000 for "Ho ancora la forza", written together with Luciano Ligabue.

In 1992 he received the "Librex-Guggenheim" award and in 2003 the municipality of Carpi (in the Modena province) organized an exhibition on his works.

Cultural references

The ''Parnassius guccinii'' butterfly species, first identified in 1992 in the Apennine Mountains, is named after him. Guccini later used the name as a title for one of his albums.

Luciano Tesi and Gabriele Cattani named asteroid 39748 Guccini after Francesco Guccini.

"Auschwitz", also called "Il bambino nel vento", was recorded and released in translation by American singer-songwriter Rod MacDonald in 1994 on his CD ''The Man on the Ledge'' (Shanachie Records/USA). The version as translated was heard and approved by Guccini himself, who observed "it captures the original intent of my song better than the hit version".

Discography

''Folk beat n. 1'' (1967)

''Due anni dopo'' (1970)

''L'isola non trovata'' (1970)

''Radici'' (1972)

''Opera buffa'' (1973)

''Stanze di vita quotidiana'' (1974)

''Via Paolo Fabbri 43'' (1976)

''Amerigo'' (1978)

''Album concerto'' (1979, with Nomadi, live)

''Metropolis'' (1981)

''Guccini'' (1983)

''Fra la via Emilia e il west'' (1984, live)

''Signora Bovary'' (1987)

''...quasi come Dumas...'' (1989, live)

''Quello che non...'' (1990)

''Parnassius Guccinii'' (1993)

''D'amore di morte e di altre sciocchezze'' (1996)

''Guccini live collection'' (1998, live)

''Stagioni'' (2000)

''Guccini live @ RTSI'' (2001, live)

''Ritratti'' (2004)

''Sette veli intorno al re'' (2004, with Franco Battiato and Francesco De Gregori, album for children)

''Anfiteatro Live'' (2005, live)

''Guccini Platinum Collection'' (2006)

Bibliography

''Croniche epafániche'' (1991)

''Vacca d'un cane'' (1993)

''Storie d'inverno'' (1994, with Giorgio Celli and Valerio Manfredi)

''Macaronì'' (1998, with Loriano Macchiavelli)

''Un disco dei Platters'' (1999, with Loriano Macchiavelli)

''Un altro giorno è andato - Francesco Guccini si racconta a Massimo Cotto'' (1998, by Massimo Cotto)

''Questo sangue che impasta la terra'' (2001, with Loriano Macchiavelli)

''Storia di altre storie'' (2001, with Vincenzo Cerami)

''Lo spirito e altri briganti'' (2002, with Loriano Macchiavelli)

''Cittanova blues'' (2003)

''La legge del bar e altre comiche'' (2005)

''Tango e gli altri, storia di una raffica anzi due'' (2007, with Loriano Macchiavelli)

Comics

''Storie dello spazio profondo'' (1975, with Bonvi)

''Poche ore all'alba'' (1975, with Magnus)

''Vita e morte del brigante Bobino detto Gnicche'' (1980, with F. Rubino)

''Barbùn vs. Realtà'' (1981, with F. Scozzari)

''Gerry Pompa''

Movies

''Bologna. Fantasia, ma non troppo, per violino'' (1976, actor)

''Nenè'' (1977, soundtrack)

''I giorni cantati'' (1979, actor and soundtrack)

''Le lunghe ombre'' (1987, actor)

''Musica per vecchi animali'' (1989, actor)

''Nero'' (1992, soundtrack)

''Radiofreccia'' (1998, actor)

''Ormai è fatta'' (1999, actor)

''Ti amo in tutte le lingue del mondo'' (2006, actor)

''Una moglie bellissima'' (2007, actor)

''Io & Marilyn'' (2009, actor)

References

External links

Official website

Bio of Guccini in English from Rai International

Bio of Guccini in Italian at MusicaItaliana.com

Fan site

Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:People from Modena Category:Italian novelists Category:Italian singer-songwriters

ar:فرانشيسكو غوتشيني de:Francesco Guccini eml:Francesco Guccini es:Francesco Guccini eo:Francesco Guccini fr:Francesco Guccini it:Francesco Guccini nl:Francesco Guccini pms:Francesco Guccini pl:Francesco Guccini sl:Francesco Guccini uk:Франческо Гуччіні

birth name	Shaun Mark Bean
birth date	April 17, 1959
birth place	Handsworth, Sheffield, England
occupation	Actor
years active	1986–present
spouse	Debra James (1981-90)Melanie Hill (1990-97)Abigail Cruttenden (1997-2000)Georgina Sutcliffe (2008-10) }}

Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for starring roles in the films ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', ''GoldenEye'', ''Patriot Games'', ''Troy'', ''National Treasure'' and ''Silent Hill''. Bean has acted in a number of television productions, such as ITV's ''Sharpe'', and most recently HBO's ''Game of Thrones'', as well as performing voice work for computer games, most famously voicing Martin Septim in ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'', and in television adverts.

Early life and family

Bean was born Shaun Mark Bean in the Handsworth district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, the son of Rita (née Tuckwood) and Brian Bean. Bean's father owned a fabrication shop, which he had set up with a colleague. The business employed 50 people, including Bean's mother, who worked as a secretary. He has a younger sister named Lorraine. Despite becoming relatively wealthy (his father owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow), the family never moved away from the council estate, because they preferred to remain close to friends and family.

As a child, Bean smashed a glass door due to an argument over scissors. It left a piece of glass embedded in his leg that briefly impeded his walking and left a large scar. This accident prevented him from pursuing his dream of playing football professionally. In 1975, Bean left Brook Comprehensive School with two O Levels in Art and English. After a job at a supermarket and another for the council, Bean started working for his father's firm with a day release at Rotherham College of Arts and Technology to take a welding course. While at Rotherham he stumbled into an arts class and decided to pursue his interest in art. After attending courses at two other colleges, one for half a day and the other for less than a week, he returned to Rotherham College, where he came across a drama course for which he subsequently enrolled. After some college plays and one at Rotherham Civic Theatre, he applied for and received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), starting a seven term course in January 1981.

Career

Early career

He graduated from RADA in 1983 having won the Silver Medal for his performance in ''Waiting for Godot''. He made his professional acting début in 1983 at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire as Tybalt in ''Romeo and Juliet''. His early work involved a mixture of stage and screen work. As an actor, he adopted the Irish spelling "Sean" of his first name. His first national exposure came in an advert for non-alcoholic lager. Between 1986 and 1988 he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in productions of ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''The Fair Maid of the West'', and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He appeared in his first film in 1986 when he played Ranuccio Tomassoni in Derek Jarman's film ''Caravaggio.'' He then reunited with the director on ''War Requiem'' in 1988, which also starred Sir Laurence Olivier. In 1989 he starred as the evil Dominic O'Brien in Catherine Cookson's "The Fifteen Streets" where he gained a dedicated following.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he became an established actor on British television. He had notable performances in the BBC productions ''Clarissa'' and ''Lady Chatterley''. His role in the latter became infamous for his sex scenes with Joely Richardson. In 1990, Bean co-starred with Richard Harris in Jim Sheridan's adaption of the John B. Keane play, ''The Field''; also in 1990, his role as the journalist Anton in ''Windprints'' examined the difficult problems of apartheid in South Africa.

In 1996 he appeared in what became a famous Sky Sports commercial for the Premier League and, that year, he combined his love of football with his career, to finally achieve his childhood dream of playing for Sheffield United, albeit as Jimmy Muir in the film ''When Saturday Comes''. Although the film was not critically acclaimed, Sean Bean received credit for a good performance.

''Sharpe''

His critical successes in Caravaggio and Lady Chatterley contributed to his emerging image as a sex symbol, but he became most closely associated with the character of Richard Sharpe, the maverick Napoleonic Wars rifleman. Bean was not the first actor to be chosen to play Sharpe, but Paul McGann, the first choice, was injured while playing football two days into filming. Initially, producers tried to work around McGann's injury, but it proved impossible and Bean received the call. The 16-episode ''Sharpe'' television series was based loosely on Bernard Cornwell's novels about the Peninsular War, and the fictional experiences of a band of soldiers in the famed 95th Rifles. Starting with ''Sharpe's Rifles'', the series followed the fortunes and misfortunes of Richard Sharpe as he rose from the ranks as a Sergeant to Lieutenant Colonel by the time of the Battle of Waterloo. It ran from 1993 to 1997, with three episodes produced each year. The series was filmed under challenging conditions, first in Ukraine, and later in Portugal. After several years of rumours, more episodes were produced, called ''Sharpe's Challenge'', which aired in April 2006, and ''Sharpe's Peril'' which aired on ITV in the autumn of 2008 and was later released on DVD.

Hollywood villain

With a mini-series role as enigmatic Lord Richard Fenton in the TV miniseries ''Scarlett'', loosely based on the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's ''Gone with the Wind'', Bean made the transition to Hollywood feature films. His first notable Hollywood appearance was that of an Irish republican terrorist in the 1992 film adaptation of ''Patriot Games''; in a fight scene, Harrison Ford hit him with a boat hook, giving him a permanent scar. Bean's rough-cut looks made him a patent choice for a villain, and this role in ''Patriot Games'' was the first of several villains that he would portray, all of whom come to sticky ends.

He played Alec Trevelyan (MI6's 006) and James Bond's nemesis in the 1995 film ''GoldenEye''; the weak-stomached Spence (with Robert de Niro) in ''Ronin'' (1998); a wife-beating ex-con in ''Essex Boys'' (2000); the malevolent kidnapper-jewel thief in ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001). He was also widely recognised as villainous treasure hunter Ian Howe in the popular ''National Treasure'' opposite Nicolas Cage. He played a villainous scientist in ''The Island'' (2005) and a dedicated father in ''Silent Hill''. In the independent film, ''Far North'', he played a Russian mercenary, lost in the tundra and rescued by an Inuit woman and her daughter; he ends up pitting his two female rescuers against one another.

''The Lord of the Rings''

In arguably Bean's most prominent role, as Boromir in Peter Jackson's ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy, his major screen-time occurs in the first installment, ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. He appeared briefly in flashbacks in the theater releases of ''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' and ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''; he also appears in a scene from the extended edition of ''The Two Towers''. Before casting finished, rumors circulated that Jackson had considered Bean for the role of Aragorn, but neither Bean nor Jackson confirmed this in subsequent interviews. Bean's well-known fear of flying caused him difficulties in mountainous New Zealand, where the trilogy was filmed. After a particularly rough ride, he vowed not to fly to a location again. In one instance, he chose to take a ski lift into the mountains and then hike the final few miles, in full costume complete with shield, armour and sword.

Bean has a tattoo of the English word "nine" written in Tengwar on his shoulder, a reference to his involvement in the ''Lord of the Rings'' and the fact that his character was one of the original nine companions of the Fellowship of the Ring. The other actors of "The Fellowship"—Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, and Viggo Mortensen—acquired the same tattoo. John Rhys-Davies, whose character was Gimli, also one of the original nine companions, arranged for his stunt double to get the tattoo.

Recent career

Other roles gave more scope for his acting abilities, particularly those involving death scenes. In 1999's ''Extremely Dangerous'', his character walked a fine line between villain and hero, reminiscent of the 1960s American TV series, ''The Fugitive''. He became a repentant, poetry-reading Grammaton cleric who succumbs to his emotions in 2002's ''Equilibrium''; a quirky alien cowboy in 2003's ''The Big Empty'', and a sympathetic and cunning Odysseus in the 2004 film ''Troy''.

He cameoed with other Hollywood stars in Moby's music video "We Are All Made of Stars" in February 2002. In the same year, he returned to the stage in London performing in ''Macbeth'' alongside Samantha Bond. Due to popular demand, the production ran until March 2003.

Bean's high profile and recognisable voice have created opportunities for voice-over work, especially in the British advertising industry. He has featured in television adverts for O2, Morrisons and Barnardos as well as for Acuvue and the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States. He also does the voice over for the National Blood Service's television and radio campaign. For the role playing video game, ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'', he voiced Martin Septim.

Bean has completed a one hour pilot, ''Faceless'', for US television. He has also appeared in ''Outlaw'', an independent British production, and a remake of 1986 horror film, ''The Hitcher'' (released in January 2007); here he used an American accent again. He also starred in ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'', playing the role of Zeus, the king of Mount Olympus and God of lightning, in February 2010. Also that year, Bean starred in ''CASH (CA$H)'', playing the lead role of Pyke Kubic, a dangerous man determined to recover his wealth in a bad economy. ''CASH (CA$H)'', which co-starred Chris Hemsworth, explored the role money plays in today's hard economic times. Bean also played the villain's twin brother, Reese. The film was directed and written by Stephen Milburn Anderson (''South Central'').

Bean stars in the first season of ''Game of Thrones'', HBO's adaptation of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels by George R. R. Martin, playing the part of Lord Eddard Stark. Bean will star in ''Soldiers of Fortune'', alongside Ving Rhames and Christian Slater.

Bean has just completed filming ''Cleanskin'', in which he plays a secret service agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a suicide bomber and his terrorist cell. The film stars Charlotte Rampling, James Fox, Abhin Galeya, Tuppence Middleton and Michelle Ryan. The film was written, produced and directed by Hadi Hajaig.

Bean will reprise his role as Christopher Da Silva in the Silent Hill film sequel ''Silent Hill: Revelation 3D''.

Despite Bean's commercial success, he has demonstrated a willingness to participate in less high profile projects such as the independent film ''Far North''.

Possible roles

The actor also has said that he would like to have a cameo in ''Coronation Street'' (joking that he could be the milkman). Bean has also stated that he would like to do some wildlife presenting sometime in the future. In February 2010, Bean was cast in the planned production of ''Death Race: Frankenstein Lives''.

Image

Often described as down to earth, Sean Bean has retained his Sheffield accent, despite now living in London. Partly due to his role as Sharpe, he is also described as a sex symbol. He was voted the UK's second sexiest man in 2004; his Trilogy co-star Orlando Bloom received the highest votes. He admits he does not mind being considered as a "bit of rough" by women. Bean's first love was football and he has been a passionate Sheffield United supporter from a young age; he has a tattoo on his left shoulder that reads 100% Blade. He was until December 2007 one of the directors of the club, but decided to "go back to the terraces, where (he) truly belong(s)". He had some issues with Neil Warnock, former manager of Sheffield United, after Warnock claimed that Bean stormed into his office and shouted at him in front of his wife and daughter after the 2006–07 season. Bean denies it, calling Warnock "bitter" and "hypocritical". He also wrote the foreword and helped to promote a book of anecdotes called ''Sheffield United: The Biography''. He also follows Yorkshire County Cricket Club. a recent interviewer even called him surprisingly shy. Although he admits he can be a workaholic, in his spare time he relaxes with a book or listens to music, and is a talented pianist. He is also a keen gardener, and does both welding and sketching.

Acting style

Despite being professionally trained, Sean Bean adopts an instinctive style of acting that some say makes him especially well-suited to portraying his characters' depths. He has said in interviews that the most difficult part is at the start of filming when trying to understand the character. After achieving this he can snap in and out of character instantly. This ability to go from the quiet man on set to the warrior Boromir "amazed" Sean Astin during filming of ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. Other fans include the directors Mike Figgis (''Stormy Monday'') and Wolfgang Petersen (''Troy''), who described working with Bean as a "beautiful thing".

Personal life

Bean has been married and divorced four times. He married his high-school sweetheart Debra James on 11 April 1981. The marriage ended in divorce in 1990. He met actress Melanie Hill at RADA, and they married on 27 February 1990. The couple's first daughter, Lorna, was born in October 1987; their second, Molly, was born in September 1991. Bean and Hill's marriage ended in divorce in August 1997.

During the filming of ''Sharpe'', Bean met actress Abigail Cruttenden, and they married on 22 November 1997. Their daughter, Evie Natasha, was born in November 1998. Bean and Cruttenden divorced in July 2000. Bean began dating actress Georgina Sutcliffe in 2006. After cancelling their planned January 2008 wedding on the eve of the ceremony for "personal reasons", Bean married Sutcliffe at the Marylebone Register Office in London on 19 February 2008. Amid allegations that Bean physically abused Sutcliffe in 2009, domestic disturbances resulted in the police being called to their home in Belsize Park on three occasions. Bean and Sutcliffe's separation was announced on 6 August 2010, and the divorce was finalised on 21 December 2010. He was recently seen with English glamour model April Summers.

Awards and honours

Bean has yet to receive a major individual award in the film industry. However he did receive three separate awards as part of the ensemble cast in ''The Return of the King'': from the Screen Actors Guild, the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association all in 2004.

In his home city of Sheffield, he received an honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 1997 and a second doctorate, a Doctor of Letters in English Literature from the University of Sheffield in July 2007. Afterward, Bean commented, "I did get a doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University about 11 or 12 years ago so now I'm a double doctor. But this was wonderful, especially from my home city." He was also selected as one of the inaugural members of Sheffield Legends, the Sheffield equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He now has a plaque in his honour placed in front of Sheffield Town Hall.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1986 | ''Caravaggio'' | Ranuccio | |- | rowspan="2"| 1988 | ''Stormy Monday'' | Brendan | |- | ''The True Bride'', Jim Henson's The Storyteller'' | Prince | |- | rowspan="3"| 1989 | ''How to Get Ahead in Advertising'' | Larry Frisk | |- | ''The Fifteen Streets'' | Dominic O'Brien | |- | ''War Requiem'' | German Soldier | |- | rowspan="4"| 1990 | ''Windprints'' | Anton | |- | ''The Field'' | Tadgh McCabe | |- | ''Lorna Doone'' | Carver Doone | TV programme |- | ''Wedded'' | Man | TV programme |- | rowspan="5"| 1991 | ''Prince'' | Jack Morgan | TV programme |- | ''Clarissa'' | Robert Lovelace | TV programme |- | ''Tell Me that You Love Me'' | Gabriel Lewis | TV programme |- | ''In The Border Country'' | Smith | |- | ''My Kingdom for a Horse'' | Steve | TV programme |- |rowspan="3"| 1992 | ''Inspector Morse: Absolute Conviction'' | Alex Bailey | TV programme |- | ''Patriot Games'' | Sean Miller | |- | ''Fool's Gold: The Story Of The Brink's Mat Robbery'' | Micky McAvoy | |- |rowspan="3"| 1993 | ''Sharpe's Rifles'' |Sergeant/Lieutenant Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Eagle'' | Captain Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Lady Chatterley'' | Oliver Mellors | |- |rowspan="5"| 1994 | ''Sharpe's Company'' | Captain Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Enemy'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Honour'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Black Beauty'' | Farmer Grey | |- | ''Shopping'' | Venning | |- |rowspan="4"| 1995 | ''Sharpe's Gold'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Battle'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Sword'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''GoldenEye'' | Alec Trevelyan | |- |rowspan="4"| 1996 | ''When Saturday Comes'' | Jimmy Muir | |- | ''Sharpe's Regiment'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Siege'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Mission'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- |rowspan="4"| 1997 | ''Anna Karenina'' | Vronsky | |- | ''Sharpe's Revenge'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Justice'' | Major Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | ''Sharpe's Waterloo'' | Lieutenant Colonel Richard Sharpe |TV programme |- | rowspan="3"| 1998 | ''Ronin'' | Spence | |- | ''Airborne'' | Dave Toombs | |- | ''The Canterbury Tales'' | The Nun's Priest |TV programme |- |rowspan="2"| 1999 | ''Extremely Dangerous'' | Neil Byrne | |- | ''Bravo Two Zero'' | Andy McNab | |- | 2000 | ''Essex Boys'' | Jason Locke | |- |rowspan="2"| 2001 | ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' | Boromir | |- | ''Don't Say a Word'' | Patrick Koster | |- |rowspan="3"| 2002 | ''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' | Boromir | |- | ''Equilibrium'' | Errol Partridge | |- | ''Tom and Thomas'' | Paul Shepherd | |- |rowspan="3"| 2003 | ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' | Boromir |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureNational Board of Review Award for Best Cast |- | ''The Big Empty'' | Cowboy | |- | ''Henry VIII'' | Robert Aske | |- |rowspan="3"| 2004 | ''Pride'' | Dark (voice) | |- | ''National Treasure'' | Ian Howe | |- | ''Troy'' | Odysseus | |- |rowspan="3"| 2005 | ''North Country'' | Kyle | |- | ''Flightplan'' | Captain Marcus Rich | |- | ''The Island'' | Dr. Merrick | |- |rowspan="4"| 2006 | ''The Dark'' | James | |- | ''Silent Hill'' | Chris DeSilva | |- | ''The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' (video game) | Martin Septim | voice/video game |- | ''Sharpe's Challenge'' | Lt Col (ret'd) Richard Sharpe | TV programme |- |rowspan="3"| 2007 | ''The Hitcher'' | John Ryder | |- | ''Outlaw'' | Danny Bryant | |- | ''Far North'' | Loki | |- |rowspan=2|2008 | ''Sharpe's Peril'' | Lt Col (ret'd) Richard Sharpe | TV programme |- | ''Crusoe'' | James Crusoe | TV programme |- | 2009 | ''Red Riding'' | John Dawson | TV programme |- |rowspan="4"| 2010 | ''Black Death'' | Ulric | |- | ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'' | Zeus | |- |''Ca$h (Cash)'' | Pyke KubicReese Kubic | |- |''The Lost Future'' | Amal | |- |rowspan="5"| 2011 | ''Death Race 2'' | Markus Kane | |- | ''Game of Thrones'' | Eddard Stark | TV programme (9 Episodes) |- | ''Age of Heroes'' | Jones | |- | ''Silent Hill: Revelation 3D'' | Chris DeSilva | post-production |- | ''Cleanskin'' | Ewan | Post-production |- | 2012 | ''Let Them Eat Jake'' | Doug | Pre-production |}

References

Further reading

Trowbridge, Simon: ''The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company'', Oxford: Editions Albert Creed (2010) ISBN 9780955983023

External links

The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the RSC: Online database

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Sheffield Category:Sheffield Legends

ar:شون بين bg:Шон Бийн ca:Sean Bean cs:Sean Bean cy:Sean Bean da:Sean Bean de:Sean Bean es:Sean Bean eu:Sean Bean fr:Sean Bean gl:Sean Bean id:Sean Bean it:Sean Bean he:שון בין sw:Sean Bean lt:Sean Bean hu:Sean Bean nl:Sean Bean ja:ショーン・ビーン no:Sean Bean pl:Sean Bean pt:Sean Bean ro:Sean Bean ru:Бин, Шон simple:Sean Bean sl:Sean Bean sr:Шон Бин fi:Sean Bean sv:Sean Bean tr:Sean Bean uk:Шон Бін zh:肖恩·賓

name	Joseph Brodsky
birth name	Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky
birth date	May 24, 1940
birth place	Leningrad, Russia, USSR
death date	January 28, 1996
death place	New York City, New York, USA
occupation	Poet, essayist
citizenship	United States
nationality	Russian - American
ethnicity	Russian Jew
spouse	Maria Sozzani (1990–1996)
awards	Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award (1991)
signature	}}

Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (, ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996), was a Russian-American poet and essayist. He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 for alleged "social parasitism" and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters. He taught thereafter at universities including those at Yale, Cambridge and Michigan.

Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity". He was appointed American Poet Laureate in 1991.

A movie based on his life has been made, "A Room And A Half", directed by Andrey Khrzhanovsky.

Early years

Brodsky was born into a Jewish family in Leningrad. His father, Aleksandr Brodsky, was a professional photographer in the Soviet Navy and his mother Maria Volpert Brodsky was a professional interpreter, whose work often helped to support the family. They lived in communal apartments, in poverty, marginalized by their Jewish status. In early childhood Brodsky survived the Siege of Leningrad when he and his parents nearly died of starvation, and later he suffered from various health problems caused by the siege. Brodsky commented that many of his teachers were anti-Semitic and that he felt like a dissident from an early age. He noted "I began to despise Lenin, even when I was in the first grade, not so much because of his political philosophy or practice [...] but because of his omnipresent images."

At fifteen, Brodsky left school and tried to enter the School of Submariners without success. He went on to work as a milling machine operator. Later, having decided to become a physician, he worked at the morgue at the Kresty prison, cutting and sewing bodies. He subsequently held a variety of jobs in hospitals, in a ship's boiler room, and on geological expeditions. At the same time, Brodsky engaged in a program of self-education. He learned Polish so he could translate the works of Polish poets like Czesław Miłosz, and English so he could translate John Donne, acquiring a deep interest in classical philosophy, religion, mythology, and English and American poetry.

Career and family

In 1955, Brodsky began writing his own poetry and producing literary translations, circulating them in secret, some published by the underground journal ''Sintaksis''.His writings were apolitical. The young Brodsky met the great poet of the Silver age Anna Akhmatova in 1960. She encouraged his work, and would go on to become his mentor. By 1958 he was already well known in literary circles for his poems "The Jewish cemetery near Leningrad" and "Pilgrims". Asked when he first felt called to poetry, he recollected, "In 1959, in Yakutsk, when walking in that terrible city, I went into a bookstore. I snagged a copy of poems by Baratynsky. I had nothing to read. So I read that book and finally understood what I had to do in life. Or got very excited, at least. So in a way, Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky is sort of responsible". His friend Ludmila Shtern recalled working with Brodsky on an irrigation project in his "Geological Period" (working as a geologist's assistant): "We bounced around the Leningrad Province examining kilometers of canals, checking their embankments, which looked terrible. They were falling down, coming apart, had all sorts of strange things growing in them. [...] It was during these trips, however, that I was privileged to hear the poems "The Hills" and "You Will Gallop in the Dark." Brodsky read them aloud to me between two train cars as we were going towards Tikhvin.

In 1962, in Saint Petersburg, Anna Akhmatova introduced Brodsky to the artist Marina Basmanova. From then until his exile in 1972 they were occasional partners and together they had a son, Andrey, registered under her surname. A severe disruption in their relations occurred on New Year's Eve at the end of 1963, when Basmanova, whom Brodsky (who had fled to Moscow to avoid arrest) had left in the care of his friend and fellow poet Dmitri Bobyshev, slept with Bobyshev; as soon as Brodsky heard of this, he hurried back to Leningrad and confronted them, breaking off relations with Bobyshev. Basmanova later joined Brodsky in his sentence in Archangelsk, disappearing from time to time to rejoin Bobyshev, but she refused to marry Brodsky or join him when he was exiled from the country.

Denunciation

In 1963, Brodsky's poetry was denounced by a Leningrad newspaper as "pornographic and anti-Soviet." His papers were confiscated, he was interrogated, twice put in a mental institution and then arrested. After a secret trial in 1964, he was charged with social parasitism by the Soviet authorities, finding that his series of odd jobs and role as a poet were not a sufficient contribution. They called him "a pseudo-poet in velveteen trousers" who failed to fulfill his "constitutional duty to work honestly for the good of the motherland." The trial judged asked "Who has recognized you as a poet? Who has enrolled you in the ranks of poets?" — "No one," Brodsky replied, "Who enrolled me in the ranks of the human race?" For his "parasitism" Brodsky was sentenced to five years hard labor and served 18 months on a farm in the arctic Archangelsk region where he chopped wood, hauled manure and crushed rocks, and at night read his anthology of English and American poetry. His sentence was commuted in 1965 after protests by prominent Soviet and foreign cultural figures, including Evgeny Evtushenko, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Jean-Paul Sartre as well as Akhmatova Brodsky became a cause celebre in the West also when the secret trial manuscript was smuggled out of the country, transmuting him into a symbol of artistic dissidence in a totalitarian society, much like his mentor Akhmatova.

Brodsky returned to Leningrad and continued to write over the next seven years, many of his works being translated into German, French and English and published abroad. ''Verses and Poems'' was published by Inter-Language Literary Associates in Washington in 1965, ''Elegy to John Donne and Other Poems'' was published in London in 1967 by Longmans Green, and ''A Stop in the Desert'' was issued in 1970 by Chekhov Publishing in New York. Only four of his poems were published in Leningrad anthologies in 1966 and 1967, most of his work appearing outside the Soviet Union or circulated in secret (samizdat) until 1987. Persecuted for his poetry and his Jewish heritage, he was denied permission to travel. In 1972, while Brodsky was being considered for exile, the authorities consulted mental health expert Andrei Snezhnevsky, a key proponent of the notorious pseudo-medical diagnosis of "paranoid reformist delusion". This political tool allowed the state to lock up dissenters in psychiatric institutions indefinitely. Without examining him personally, Snezhnevsky diagnosed Brodsky as having schizophrenia, concluding that he was "not valuable person at all and may be let go." In 1971, Brodsky was twice invited to emigrate to Israel. When called to the Ministry of the Interior in 1972 and asked why he had not accepted, he stated that he wished to stay in the country. Within 10 days officials broke into his apartment, took his papers, and on 4 June 1972 put him on a plane for Vienna.

In Austria, he met Carl Proffer and Auden, who would both help in Brodsky's transit to America and prove influential to Brodsky's career. Proffer of the University of Michigan, one of the co-founders of Ardis Publishers, became Brodsky's Russian publisher from this point on. Recalling his landing in Vienna, Brodsky commented "I knew I was leaving my country for good, but for where, I had no idea whatsoever. One thing which was quite clear was that I didn't want to go to Israel... I never even believed that they'd allow me to go. I never believed they would put me on a plane, and when they did I didn't know whether the plane would go east or west... I didn't want to be hounded by what was left of the Soviet Security Service in England. So I came to the States." Although the poet was invited back after the fall of the Soviet Union, Brodsky never returned to his country.

America

After a short stay in Vienna, Brodsky settled in Ann Arbor, with the help of poet Auden and Proffer and became poet in residence at the University of Michigan for a year. Brodsky went on to become a Visiting Professor at Queens College (1973–74), Smith College, Columbia University, and Cambridge University, later returning to the University of Michigan (1974–80). He was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Literature and Five College Professor of Literature at Mount Holyoke College, brought there by poet and historian Peter Viereck. In 1978, Brodsky was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Yale University, and on 23 May 1979, he was inducted as a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He moved to New York's Greenwich Village in 1980 and In 1981, Brodsky received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius" award. He was also a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. In 1986, his collection of essays ''Less Than One'' won the National Book Critics Award for Criticism and he was given an honorary doctorate of literature from Oxford University.

In 1987, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the fifth Russian-born writer to do so. In an interview he was asked: "You are an American citizen who is receiving the Prize for Russian-language poetry. Who are you, an American or a Russian?" He responded: "I am Jewish – a Russian poet and an English essayist". The Academy stated that they had awarded the prize for his "all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity." It also called his writing "rich and intensely vital," characterized by "great breadth in time and space." It was "a big step for me, a small step for mankind," he joked. The prize coincided with the first legal publication in Russia of Brodsky's poetry as an exile.

In 1991, Brodsky became Poet Laureate of the United States. The Librarian of Congress said that Brodsky had "the open-ended interest of American life that immigrants have. This is a reminder that so much of American creativity is from people not born in America". His inauguration address was printed in ''Poetry Review''. Brodsky held an honorary degree from the University of Silesia in Poland and was an honorary member of the International Academy of Science. In 1995, Gleb Uspensky, a senior editor at the Russian publishing house Vagrius, asked Brodsky to return to Russia for a tour but he could not agree. For the last ten years of his life, Brodsky was under considerable pressure from those that regarded him as a "fortune maker". He was a greatly honored professor, was on first name terms with the heads of many large publishing houses, and connected to the significant figures of American literary life. His friend Ludmila Shtern wrote that many Russian intellectuals in both Russia and America assumed his influence was unlimited, that a nod from him could secure them a book contract, a teaching post or a grant, that it was in his gift to assure a glittering career. A helping hand or a rejection of a petition for help could create a storm in Russian literary circles, which Shtern suggests became very personal at times. His position as a lauded émigré and Nobel Prize winner won him enemies and stoked resentment, the politics of which, she writes, made him feel "deathly tired" of it all towards the end.

In the 1990s, Brodsky invited his son Andrey to visit him in New York for three months, and they maintained a father-son relationship until Brodsky's death. Andrey married in the 1990s and had three children, all of whom were recognized and supported by Brodsky as his grandchildren; Marina Basmanova, Andrey and Brodsky's grand-children live in Saint Petersburg. In 1990, while teaching literature in France, Brodsky married a young student, Maria Sozzani, who has a Russian-Italian background; they had one daughter, Anna.

Brodsky died of a heart attack aged 55, in his New York City apartment on January 28, 1996. He had had open-heart surgery in 1979 and later two bypass operations, remaining in frail health since that time. He was buried in the Episcopalian section at Isola di San Michele cemetery in Venice, Italy. In 1997, a plaque was placed on his house in St Petersburg (Leningrad) with his portrait in relief, and the words "In this house from 1940 to 1972 lived the great Russian poet Iosif Aleksandrovich". Brodsky's close friend, the Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, memorialized him in his collection ''The Prodigal'' (2004).

Work

Brodsky is perhaps most known for his poetry collections ''A Part of Speech'' (1977) and ''To Urania'' (1988) and the essay collection ''Less Than One'' (1986), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Other notable works include the play ''Marbles'' (1989) and ''Watermark'', a prose collection (1992). Throughout his career he wrote in Russian and English, self-translating and working with eminent poet-translators.

Themes and forms

In his introduction to Brodsky's ''Selected Poems'' (New York and Harmondsworth, 1973), W. H. Auden described Brodsky as a traditionalist lyric poet fascinated by "encounters with nature, [...] reflections upon the human condition, death, and the meaning of existence". He drew on wide-ranging themes, from Mexican and Caribbean literature to Roman poetry, mixing "the physical and the metaphysical, place and ideas about place, now and the past and the future". Critic Dinah Birch suggests that Brodsky's " first volume of poetry in English, ''Joseph Brodsky: Selected Poems (1973)'', shows that although his strength was a distinctive kind of dry, meditative soliloquy, he was immensely versatile and technically accomplished in a number of forms."

''To Urania: Selected Poems 1965–1985'' collected translations of older work with new work written during his American exile and reflect on themes of memory, home and loss. His two essay collections consist of critical studies of such poets as Osip Mandelshtam, W. H. Auden, Thomas Hardy, Rainer Maria Rilke and Robert Frost, sketches of his own life, and those of contemporaries such as Akhmatova, Nadezhda Mandelshtam, and Stephen Spender.

A recurring theme in Brodsky's writing is the relationship between the poet and society. In particular, Brodsky emphasized the power of literature to positively impact its audience and to develop the language and culture in which it is situated. He suggested that the Western literary tradition was in part responsible for the world having overcome the catastrophes of the twentieth century, such as Nazism, Communism and the World Wars. During his term as the Poet Laureate, Brodsky promoted the idea of bringing the Anglo-American poetic heritage to a wider American audience by distributing free poetry anthologies to the public through a government-sponsored program. Billington wrote "Joseph had difficulty understanding why poetry did not draw the large audiences in the United States that it did in Russia. He was proud of becoming an American citizen in 1977 (the Soviets having made him stateless upon his expulsion in 1972) and valued the freedoms that life in the United States provided. But he regarded poetry as "language's highest degree of maturity," and wanted everyone to be susceptible to it. While poet laureate, he suggested that inexpensive anthologies of the best American poets be made available in hotels and airports, hospitals and supermarkets. He thought that people who are restless or fearful or lonely or weary might pick up poetry and discover unexpectedly that others had experienced these emotions before and had used them to celebrate life rather than escape from it. Joseph's idea was picked up, and thousands of such books have in fact been placed where people may come across them out of need or curiosity."

This passion for promoting the seriousness and importance of poetry comes through in Brodsky's opening remarks as poet laureate in October, 1991. He says "By failing to read or listen to poets, society dooms itself to inferior modes of articulation, those of the politician, the salesman or the charlatan. [...] In other words, it forfeits its own evolutionary potential. For what distinguishes us from the rest of the animal kingdom is precisely the gift of speech. [...] Poetry is not a form of entertainment and in a certain sense not even a form of art, but it is our anthropological, genetic goal, our evolutionary, linguistic beacon." This sentiment is echoed throughout his work. In interview with Sven Birkerts in 1979 Brodsky reflected" In the works of the better poets you get the sensation that they're not talking to people any more, or to some seraphical creature. What they're doing is simply talking back to the language itself, as beauty, sensuality, wisdom, irony, those aspects of language of which the poet is a clear mirror. Poetry is not an art or a branch of art, it's something more. If what distinguishes us from other species is speech, then poetry, which is the supreme linguistic operation, is our anthropological, indeed genetic, goal. Anyone who regards poetry as an entertainment, as "a read", commits an anthropological crime, in the first place, against himself. "

Influences

Librarian of Congress Dr James Billington, wrote "He was the favored protégé of the great lady of Petersburg, Anna Akhmatova, and to hear him read her poems in Russian in the Library of Congress was an experience to make one's hair stand on end even if one did not understand the Russian language. Joseph Brodsky was the embodiment of the hopes not only of Anna Akhmatova, the last of the great Petersburg poets from the beginning of the century, but also Nadezhda Mandelstam, the widow of another great martyred poet [ Osip Mandelstam ]. Both of them saw Joseph as part of the guiding light that might some day lead Russia back to her own deep roots." Brodsky was also deeply influenced by the English metaphysical poets from John Donne to Auden. Many works were dedicated to other writers such as Tomas Venclova, Octavio Paz, Robert Lowell, Derek Walcott, and Benedetta Craveri.

Brodsky's work is seen to have been vitally enhanced by the work of renowned translators. ''A Part of Speech'' (New York and Oxford, 1980), his second major collection in English, includes translations by Anthony Hecht, Howard Moss, Derek Walcott and Richard Wilbur. Critic and poet Henri Cole notes that Brodsky's "own translations have been criticized for turgidness, lacking a native sense of musicality."

Awards and honors

1978 honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, Yale University

1979 Fellowship of American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

1981 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation award.

1986 Honorary doctorate of literature from Oxford University

The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence

1986 National Book Critics Award for Criticism, for ''Less Than One'' (essay collection)

1987 Nobel Prize

1991 United States Poet Laureate

1991 Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award

1993 Honorary degree from the University of Silesia in Poland

Honorary member of the International Academy of Science.

Works

Poetry collections

1967: ''Elegy for John Donne and Other Poems'', selected, translated, and introduced by Nicholas William Bethell, London: Longman

1968: ''Velka elegie'', Paris: Edice Svedectvi

1972: ''Poems'', Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis

1973: ''Selected Poems'', translated from the Russian by George L. Kline. New York: Harper & Row

1977: ''A Part of Speech''

1977: ''Poems and Translations'', Keele: University of Keele

1980: ''A Part of Speech'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1981: ''Verses on the Winter Campaign 1980'', translation by Alan Myers.–London: Anvil Press

1988: ''To Urania : Selected Poems, 1965-1985'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1995: ''On Grief and Reason: Essays'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1996: ''So Forth : Poems'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1999: ''Discovery'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

2000: ''Collected Poems in English, 1972-1999'', edited by Ann Kjellberg, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

2001: ''Nativity Poems'', translated by Melissa Green–New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Essay and interview collections

1986: ''Less Than One: Selected Essays'', New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award)

1992: ''Watermark'', Noonday Press; New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1996: ''On Grief and Reason: Essays''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

2003: ''Joseph Brodsky: Conversations'', edited by Cynthia L. Haven. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi Literary Conversations Series.

Plays

1989: ''Marbles : a Play in Three Acts'', translated by Alan Myers with Joseph Brodsky.–New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

1991: ''Democracy!'' in Granta 30 New Europe, translated by Alan Myers and Joseph Brodsky.

See also

List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References

Sources

Bethea, David (1994) ''Joseph Brodsky and the Creation of Exile'', Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ)

Miłosz, Czesław and Haven, Cynthia L. (Ed.) (2006) ''Czesław Miłosz: Conversations''. Includes "Interview between Joseph Brodsky and Czeslaw Milosz". University Press of Mississippi ISBN 978-1578068296

Loseff, Lev (2010) ''Joseph Brodsky: a Literary Life'', Yale University Press (New Haven, CT)

Speh, Alice J (1996) ''The Poet as Traveler: Joseph Brodsky in Mexico and Rome'', Peter Lang (New York, NY)

Shtern, Ludmila (2004) ''Brodsky: A Personal Memoir'', Baskerville Publishers ISBN 978-1880909706

External links

19 February 1996 "Death of a Poet Laureate: Joseph Brodsky Turned Exile into Inspiration" Library of Congress, obituary.

Interview 29 January 1996 PBS (US)

Profile, poems and audio files from the Academy of American Poets.

Brodsky Biography and bibliography, Poetry Foundation (US)

Obituary ''New York Times'' "Joseph Brodsky, Exiled Poet Who Won Nobel, Dies at 55" 29 January 1996.

Short Biography

Joseph Brodsky–Biography at Nobelprize.org

Written in Stone - Burial locations of literary figures.

Finding aid for the Joseph Brodsky Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Category:1940 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Russian essayists Category:Russian poets Category:Russian Nobel laureates Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American writers of Russian descent Category:Russian Jews Category:Soviet dissidents Category:American Poets Laureate Category:American poets Category:Burials at Isola di San Michele Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish poets Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:Mount Holyoke College faculty Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Nobel laureates in Literature Category:People from Saint Petersburg Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States Category:Soviet expellees Category:Soviet prisoners and detainees

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name	Odysseas Elytis
birth date	November 02, 1911
birth place	Heraklion, Greece
death date	March 18, 1996
death place	Athens, Greece
occupation	Poet
nationality	Greek
awards	}}

Odysseas Elytis or Elytes (; real name: Odysseas Alepoudellis, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης) (November 2, 1911 – March 18, 1996) was a modernist Greek poet. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

Descendant of the Alepoudellis, an old industrial family from Lesbos, Odysseas was born in Heraklion on the island of Crete, on November 2, 1911. His family later moved to Athens, where the poet graduated from high school and later attended courses as an auditor at the Law School at University of Athens.

In 1935 Elytis published his first poem in the journal ''New Letters'' (''Νέα Γράμματα'') at the prompting of such friends as George Seferis. His entry with a distinctively earthy and original form assisted to inaugurate a new era in Greek poetry and its subsequent reform after the Second World War.

From 1969-1972, under the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, Elytis exiled himself to Paris. He was romantically linked to the lyricist and musicologist Mariannina Kriezi, who subsequently produced and hosted the popular children's radio broadcast "Here Lilliput Land". Elytis was intensely private and vehemently solitary in pursuing his ideals of poetic truth and experience.

The war

In 1937 he served his military requirements. As an army cadet, he joined the National Military School in Corfu. During the war he was appointed Second Lieutenant, placed initially at the 1st Army Corps Headquarters, then transferred to the 24th Regiment, on the first-line of the battlefields. Elytis was sporadically publishing poetry and essays after his initial foray into the literary world.

He was a member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, International Association of Art Critics.

Programme director for ERT

He was twice Programme Director of the Greek National Radio Foundation (1945–46 and 1953–54), Member of the Greek National Theatre's Administrative Council, President of the Administrative Council of the Greek Radio and Television as well as Member of the Consultative Committee of the Greek National Tourist's Organisation on the ''Athens Festival''. In 1960 he was awarded the First State Poetry Prize, in 1965 the Order of the Phoenix and in 1975 he was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa in the Faculty of Philosophy at Thessaloniki University and received the Honorary Citizenship of the Town of Mytilene.

Travels

During the years 1948-1952 and 1969-1972 he settled in Paris. There, he audited philology and literature seminars at the Sorbonne and was well received by the pioneers of the world's avant-garde (Reverdy, Breton, Tzara, Ungaretti, Matisse, Picasso, Francoise Gilot, Chagall, Giacometti) as Tériade's most respected friend. Teriade was simultaneously in Paris publishing works with all the renowned artists and philosophers (Kostas Axelos, Jean Paul Sartre, Francoise Gilot, Rene Daumal...) of the time. Elytis and Teriade had formed a strong friendship that solidified in 1939 with the publication of Elytis first book of poetry entitled "Orientations". Both Elytis and Teriade hailed from Lesbos and had a mutual love of the Greek painter Theophilos. Starting from Paris he travelled and subsequently visited Switzerland, England, Italy and Spain. In 1948 he was the representative of Greece at the ''International Meetings of Geneva'', in 1949 at the Founding Congress of the ''International Art Critics Union'' in Paris and in 1962 at the ''Incontro Romano della Cultura'' in Rome.

In 1961, upon an invitation of the State Department, he traveled through the U.S.A.; and —upon similar invitations— through the Soviet Union in 1963 and Bulgaria in 1965.

Death

Odysseas Elytis had been completing plans to travel overseas when he died in Athens on 18 March 1996, at the age of 84. He was survived by his niece Myrsene and his older brother Evangelos, who received a writ of condolence from the mayor of Athens on behalf of the nation at the funeral at the First National Cemetery.

The Poetry of Elytis

Elytis' poetry has marked, through an active presence of over forty years, a broad spectrum of subject matter and stylistic touch with an emphasis on the expression of that which is rarefied and passionate. He borrowed certain elements from Ancient Greece and Byzantium but devoted himself exclusively to today's Hellenism, of which he attempted—in a certain way based on psychical and sentimental aspects—to reconstruct a modernist mythology for the institutions. His main endeavour was to rid people's conscience from unjustifiable remorses and to complement natural elements through ethical powers, to achieve the highest possible transparency in expression and finally, to succeed in approaching the mystery of light, ''the metaphysics of the sun'' of which he was a "worshiper" -''idolater'' by his own definition. A parallel manner concerning technique resulted in introducing the ''inner architecture'', which is evident in a great many poems of his; mainly in the phenomenal landmark work ''Worthy It Is'' (''Το Άξιον Εστί''). This work due to its setting to music by Mikis Theodorakis as an oratorio, is a revered anthem whose verse is sung by all Greeks for all injustice, resistance and for its sheer beauty and musicality of form. Elytis' theoretical and philosophical ideas have been expressed in a series of essays under the title ''The Open Papers'' (''Ανοιχτά Χαρτιά''). Besides creating poetry he applied himself to translating poetry and theatre as well as creating a series of collage pictures. Translations of his poetry have been published as autonomous books, in anthologies or in periodicals in eleven languages.

Works

Poetry

Orientations (''Προσανατολισμοί'', 1939)

Sun The First Together With Variations on A Sunbeam (''Ηλιος ο πρώτος, παραλλαγές πάνω σε μιαν αχτίδα'', 1943)

An Heroic And Funeral Chant For The Lieutenant Lost In Albania (''Άσμα ηρωικό και πένθιμο για τον χαμένο ανθυπολοχαγό της Αλβανίας'', 1946)

To Axion Esti—It Is Worthy (''Το Άξιον Εστί'', 1959)

Six Plus One Remorses For The Sky (''Έξη και μια τύψεις για τον ουρανό'', 1960)

The Light Tree And The Fourteenth Beauty (''Το φωτόδεντρο και η δέκατη τέταρτη ομορφιά'', 1972)

The Sovereign Sun (''Ο ήλιος ο ηλιάτορας'', 1971)

The Trills Of Love (''Τα Ρω του Έρωτα'', 1973)

The Monogram (''Το Μονόγραμμα'', 1972)

Step-Poems (''Τα Ετεροθαλή'', 1974)

Signalbook (''Σηματολόγιον'', 1977)

Maria Nefeli (''Μαρία Νεφέλη'', 1978)

Three Poems under a Flag of Convenience (''Τρία ποιήματα με σημαία ευκαιρίας'' 1982)

Diary of an Invisible April (''Ημερολόγιο ενός αθέατου Απριλίου'', 1984)* Krinagoras (''Κριναγόρας'', 1987)

The Little Mariner (''Ο Μικρός Ναυτίλος'', 1988)

The Elegies of Oxopetra (''Τα Ελεγεία της Οξώπετρας'', 1991)

West of Sadness (''Δυτικά της λύπης'', 1995)

Eros, Eros, Eros: Selected and Last Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 1998) (translated by Olga Broumas)

Prose, essays

The True Face and Lyrical Bravery of Andreas Kalvos (''Η Αληθινή φυσιογνωμία και η λυρική τόλμη του Ανδρέα Κάλβου'', 1942)

2x7 e (collection of small essays) (''2χ7 ε'' (συλλογή μικρών δοκιμίων))

(Offering) My Cards To Sight (''Ανοιχτά χαρτιά'' (συλλογή κειμένων), 1973)

The Painter Theophilos (''Ο ζωγράφος Θεόφιλος'', 1973)

The Magic Of Papadiamantis (''Η μαγεία του Παπαδιαμάντη'', 1975)

Report to Andreas Empeirikos (''Αναφορά στον Ανδρέα Εμπειρίκο'', 1977)

Things Public and Private (''Τα Δημόσια και τα Ιδιωτικά'', 1990)

Private Way (''Ιδιωτική Οδός'', 1990)

Carte Blanche (''«Εν λευκώ»'' (συλλογή κειμένων), 1992)

The Garden with the Illusions (''Ο κήπος με τις αυταπάτες'', 1995)

Open Papers: Selected Essays, (Copper Canyon Press, 1995) (translated by Olga Broumas and T. Begley)

Translations

Second Writing (''Δεύτερη γραφή'', 1976)

Sappho (''Σαπφώ'')

The Apocalypse (by John) (''Η αποκάλυψη'', 1985)

Reference works

Mario Vitti: ''Odysseus Elytis. Literature 1935-1971'' (Icaros 1977)

Tasos Lignadis: ''Elytis' Axion Esti'' (1972)

Lili Zografos: ''Elytis - The Sun Drinker'' (1972); as well as the special issue of the American magazine ''Books Abroad'' dedicated to the work of Elytis (Autumn 1975. Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.A.)

Odysseas Elytis: ''Analogies of Light''. Ed. I. Ivask (1981)

A. Decavalles: ''Maria Nefeli and the Changeful Sameness of Elytis' Variations on a theme'' (1982)

E. Keeley: ''Elytis and the Greek Tradition'' (1983)

Ph. Sherrard: 'Odysseus Elytis and the Discovery of Greece', in ''Journal of Modern Greek Studies'', 1(2), 1983

K. Malkoff: 'Eliot and Elytis: Poet of Time, Poet of Space', in ''Comparative Literature'', 36(3), 1984

A. Decavalles: 'Odysseus Elytis in the 1980s', in ''World Literature Today'', 62(l), 1988

Translations of Elytis' work

''Poesie. Procedute dal Canto eroico e funebre per il sottotenente caduto in Albania''. Trad. Mario Vitti (Roma. Il Presente. 1952)

''21 Poesie''. Trad. Vicenzo Rotolo (Palermo. Istituto Siciliano di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici. 1968)

''Poèmes''. Trad. Robert Levesque (1945)

''Six plus un remords pourle ciel''. Trad. F. B. Mache (Fata Morgana. Montpellier 1977)

''Korper des Sommers''. Übers. Barbara Schlörb (St. Gallen 1960)

''Sieben nächtliche Siebenzeiler''. Übers. Günter Dietz (Darmstadt 1966)

''To Axion Esti - Gepriesen sei''. Übers. Güinter Dietz (Hamburg 1969)

''The Axion Esti''. Tr. E. Keeley and G. Savidis (Pittsburgh 1974 - Greek & English)(repr. London: Anvil Press, 1980 - English only)

''The Sovereign Sun: selected poems''. Tr. K. Friar (1974; repr. 1990)

''Selected poems''. Ed. E. Keeley and Ph. Sherrard (1981; repr. 1982, 1991)

''Maria Nephele'', tr. A. Anagnostopoulos (1981)

''What I love: selected poems'', tr. O. Broumas (1986) [Greek & English texts]

References

External links

Official site of Nobel Prize

Biography in the site of Greek National Book Centre

Recitations of poems by Elytis

Parts of works of his

Books in Greek about Elytis

''From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1968-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Sture Allén, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1993''

Category:1911 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Cretan poets Category:National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Category:Modern Greek poets Category:Nobel laureates in Literature Category:Greek Nobel laureates Category:Greek art critics Category:Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Category:People from Heraklion Prefecture

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