Around the Lagoon

Reminiscences to a friend

by Alexandros Papadiamandis

Alexandros Papadiamandis (1851-1911) was born on the island of Skiathos, the fourth child of a priest. Initially he wrote novels which appeared in serial form in newspapers, then later mainly short stories which became his most favoured medium. Long considered one of Greece’s most important writers, his reflections on and observations of modern Greek life define the Greek experience in a way unmatched by any of his contemporaries. ‘Around the Lagoon’ is one of Papadiamandis’s most finely crafted and densely written stories. Unusually, it is written in the second person and addressed to a ‘friend’, who can be seen as the narrator’s younger self. The narrator evokes his childhood experiences of unrequited love and betrayed friendship amid an idyllic natural setting. The lagoon around which the story is set is situated immediately to the east of Skiathos town and is separated from the bay by a strip of land, some of which is still occupied by the boatyard that Papadiamandis describes. The runway of Alexandros Papadiamandis Airport now covers the whole of the western part of the lagoon but, despite this, much of what remains seems to have changed little since Papadiamandis’s day, and it is still a rich wildlife habitat. As is usual in his stories, ‘Around the Lagoon’ combines a plot involving individual characters with descriptions of work, customs and manners practised by the whole community. Work plays a major role in this particular story, especially in the detailed and vivid descriptions of boat-building, the preparations leading up to the launch of a boat into the bay, and the launch itself with its associated traditional ceremony and the celebration which follows. This translation of 'Around the Lagoon' is a revised version of the translation which first appeared in The Boundless Garden, Volume I of the Selected Short Stories of Alexandros Papadiamandis (2007). Peter Mackridge is Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek at the University of Oxford. He has published several books on modern Greek language and literature, including two co-authored grammars. His translations of stories by the 19th-century author Georgios Vizyenos and a collection of haikus by the 21st-century poet Haris Vlavianos are due to be published in 2014.

Cover type: Soft
65 pages
Edition #1 published in 2007 by Denise Harvey.
ISBN: 978-960-7120-33-5