June 20, 1952
MALANOS AGAINST DIMARAS: (From a commentary by Timos Malanos titled «A Criticism of the Least Effort» of «The History of Modern Greek Literature» by C.T. Dimaras.) «(…) Writing about Elytis, (Mr Dimaras) says, ‘Although he successfully expressed the feeling of being Greek with grace and majesty, we must not forget he simply achieved something greater than what was already in his people’s soul.’ In other words, underestimating the contribution of the poet, Mr Dimaras reduces him to a «diver» – who simply successfully dove into the soul of his people and retrieved the priceless jewel of Greekness. How easy and simple he makes poetry out to be. However, what Elytis achieved was not expressing that which is in his people’s soul (and even if this were so, that is not why he was so successful), he was even more successful because that was what was contained within his own soul. Secondly, Elytis the poet had great vision. And thirdly, this vision from his soul was identifiable as that which we call Greekness (…).» KOTOPOULI-MERCOURI: In Ioannina today, Mrs Marika Kotopouli is appearing in her stage hit «Miss Mabel.» Seats have been sold out for days now and a warm welcome is being organized for the great actress. The Kotopouli company is to remain in Ioannina until the end of the month, when Miss Melina Mercouri is to begin appearances in Jacques Deval’s «Tonight in Samarkand.»
