BROWSE Columns
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"Αγγελικό και μαύρο, φως". These words - 'light, angelic and black' - appear in Giorgos Seferis' 1946 ode to light, the final element of his long-form poem, 'Thrush'.
Like an angel's epiphany, light bears little exposition. It is the language of sense and sight. Seferis was both a poet and dedicated photographer; the two disciplines marry and meet in his work. Photography, after all, is the language of light.
Ollie is a freelance writer currently living in Athens. Her writing has appeared in the Oxford Review of Books, Oxon Review, JAR and Ash. She studied Classics and English at the University of Oxford, where she first encountered Seferis. Since, she has spent much time with Seferis, Cavafy, Ristsos and Liddell & Scott. To her, translation is not simply an act of conversion, but a practice in seeing. It is in it's moments of "ἄῗδρις" (the ancient greek term for 'un-seeing' or 'unknowing') that translation most excites her.
