Nikos Engonopoulos, The Noble Novel

NIKOS ENGONOPOULOS

THE NOBLE NOVEL

LITERARY EDITING: ELISAVET ARSENIOU

#ΑΓΡΑ, June 2026

Pages: 64, Price: 10.50 Euro

ISBN : 978-960-505-723-7

The lyrical narrative "The Noble Novel" describes the arrival in an abandoned port at sunset of an impressive red-haired young man who, after ritually indulging in a mysterious recitation, mnemonically depicts a woman and a landscape of Hydra, his entrance to a Hydra mansion and his love encounter there with his beloved.

The "Noble Novel", with the characteristics of a lyrical drama conducted partly within a visual work, seems to put the young red-haired Engonopoulos in front of critical decisions that mark the end of an era; The exuberant self-representational carrier of his poetic and artistic speech is paired with the mysterious mistress in a hybrid poetic setting. Hydra, with the "keresbino" Erotokastro of poetry, remains the place of the poetic funnel, Sinope, his own Parnassos. As he approaches the writing of "Bolívar", Engonopoulos develops a more synthetic and figurative poetics, testing ideas, principles and techniques.

Answering the question of what "Bolívar" was before he took his final form and what his voice was before it became a "deafening" noise, the "Noble Novel", a personal amulet and heirloom, incorporates the very great and hidden pain of loss and the symbolic language of surrealist heroism that has not yet been sealed by the harsh experience of war.

For the author of the book:

NIKOS ENGONOPOULOS (1907-1985) was one of the most important figures of modern Greek art, combining painting and poetry in a unique way. He was born in Athens and lived his childhood and youth between Istanbul, Paris and Greece, experiences that marked his imagination and artistic identity. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, under Konstantinos Parthenis, while he also studied under Fotis Kontoglou. One of the pioneers of surrealism in Greece in the 1930s, he was distinguished for both his visual and poetic work.