Cavafy: A critical biography

Constantine Cavafy, though the foremost modern Greek poet, has only recently begun to gain widespread recognition in this country. He was admired by T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster and W.H. Auden and appeared as the unnamed "old poet of the city" in Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet. New translations continue to be published as succeeding generations of scholars attempt to capture the deceptively simple and pene-trating beauty of Cavafy’s work. From his twenties onwards, Cavafy fought to deny his homosexual nature that took him into the depths of the "whorish places" of Alexandria. Paradoxically, some of his most lyrical and enduring works came from his unhappiness. This timely reissue of Robert Liddell’s first biography of the poet has been updated for studentsand poetry lovers alike.