Nikos Kavvadis from the Mediterranean to the oceans

Abstract

Nikos Kavvadias (1910-1975), a different poet – as a sailor – uses his travels at sea as metaphors. Charles Baudelaire and the poètes maudits influenced his work, which is connected to the Symbolism movement and recalls memories of the poet in words and music.  In the first collection stories emerge that took place at sea (Marabù) and in the various ports visited; in these stories the poet reproduces characters marked by boredom, apathy and evil spirits, in the wake of Baudelaire’s Spleen. In later collections (Pousi and Traverso), myth becomes involved with reality, images become more nuanced and words evocative. His only novel (Turno di guardia) is a chronicle of the journey through the cursed life of sailors, according to them, but on the other hand accepted and desired. The poet, with a great narrative skill, conveys a heavy atmosphere, in which the destination of this journey offers the traveler nothing but desolation, prostitution, sickness and death. Life is a continuous journey, all sea and poetry, but it is not utopian or non-existent. The inner map is in constant motion, supported by readings and experiences, by real and concrete contacts but also by images and sensations. In this way, he captures not only the Mediterranean air but also that of more distant horizons, harmonizing the rhythms of his life with the rhythms of the sea.