A new, revealing biography by Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys casts fresh light on Constantine P. Cavafy, the Alexandrian poet whose work reshaped modern Greek and world literature. Drawing on extensive archival research, the authors reconstruct Cavafy’s inner world, his social circles, and the city that forged his imagination: Alexandria.
From guarded publication to global fame
Cavafy died in 1933, on his 70th birthday, leaving 154 poems along with fragments and drafts. Though he tightly controlled the circulation of his work during his lifetime, his reputation soared posthumously, transforming “Constantine Cavafy” into C.P. Cavafy, a poet read far beyond geography and time.
Jusdanis and Jeffreys follow Cavafy from his early family years to adulthood in Alexandria, mapping the friendships and acquaintances that influenced his art. They reveal personal concerns and private relationships while situating the poems within the cultural fabric of the cosmopolitan city where he lived and wrote.
The evolution of a voice
The biography tracks Cavafy’s development, from early experiments to the midlife crystallisation of the unmistakable Cavafian style: erotic, philosophical, and linguistically allusive. It shows how his poems, at once intimate and historical, continue to inspire translations and global readership.
The volume includes photographs and reflections by notable writers and critics. Early notices praise it as a major biography: lauded as “a great biography of a singular poet” and “the most comprehensive portrait of the Alexandrian poet in fifty years,” with authors like André Aciman and Mark Doty calling it both scholarly and passionate.
Why it matters
Cavafy pioneered the depiction of young men with vast ambitions and modest means, and his life embodies creative devotion and personal sacrifice for art. This biography celebrates his intellectual and literary grandeur while acknowledging the human vulnerabilities that helped make his work unforgettable.
Source: cnn.gr