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Notes
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'Helen of Troy and Other Poems is Dimitris Tsaloumas's last book of poems written in English.' - (back cover)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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In Transit : Migration and Memory in the Writings of Martin Johnston and Dimitris Tsaloumas
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019;'In August 1964 Martin Johnston boarded the Ellinis in the port of Piraeus, destined for Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end his 14-year estrangement from the land of his birth. Johnston, who had lived abroad most of his life in England and Greece, would return as a literal migrant to his own country. It was a theme that would prove fecund and deeply allegorical for the then 17-year-old son of authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift, later manifesting in his poetic works such as In Transit: a sprawling 14-part paean to Johnston’s immutable sense of displacement.
'A little over a decade before, in 1952, Greek poet Dimitris Tsaloumas would complete the same metamorphic journey, fleeing his Dodecanese homeland and arriving in Melbourne, Australia where he would take up the uneasy mantle of Australia’s Hellenic poet in exile. Despite parabolic overtures of assimilation, paradoxical themes of longing and dislocation pockmark Tsaloumas’s vast canon, tethering an uneasy union between his two divergent worlds both ancient and contemporary; familiar and profoundly alien.
'This essay explores the lives and comparative themes of exile in the works of both Johnston and Tsaloumas—writers who both identified as Xenos, a Greek word that translates as both ‘guest’ and ‘stranger’—and investigates the often incorporeal, irredeemable and contradictory natures of nostalgia and belonging.' (Publication abstract)
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A Lens on Leros : The Poet as Iconographer
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019;'The focus of this essay is on the presence and significance of Leros in the poetry of Dimitris Tsaloumas. Of particular interest is the quality and agency of light; and the inclusion of Greek Orthodox references and imagery in many of his poems. These corporeal and incorporeal aspects of that island are those which Tsaloumas internalised as integral elements of his identity long before he embarked on what was to be a protracted period of voluntary exile. During his years in Australia, which contributed new input to enrich and expand his personal and poetic consciousness, Tsaloumas never lost sight of his original reference points: the natural and cultural context of Leros, and the spiritual precepts with which he was imbued by the Greek Orthodox Church.' (Publication abstract)
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A Diasporic Journey: Greek-Australian Poetry in Bilingual and English Publications
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 41 2013; This article 'is an attempt to give an expository overview of some of the major Greek-Australian poets of the first generation who arrived in Australia in the fifties and the early sixties. They are: Dimitris Tsaloumas (from the island of Leros, arrived in 1952 and settled in Melbourne); Vasso Kalamaras (from Athens, arrived in 1951 and settled in outback Western Australia before moving to Perth in 1960); Yota Krili (from the Peloponnese, arrived in 1959 and settled in Sydney); Dina Amanatides (also from the Peloponnese, arrived in 1958 and settled in Melbourne); and finally, Antigone Kefala (a Greek from Romania who went first to New Zealand in 1951 and finally settled in Sydney in 1960).' -
Oneiric Semblances
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Foam:e , March no. 5 2008;
— Review of Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Ali Alizadeh Reviews Dimitris Tsaloumas
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , no. 27 2008;
— Review of Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry
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Towards the End of Things
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 10-11 February 2007; (p. 36)
— Review of Westering 2006 selected work poetry ; Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry ; Sweeping the Light Back into the Mirror 2006 selected work poetry -
Poems Draw on Great Greek Tradition
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 12 May 2007; (p. 20)
— Review of Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
This Week's Selections
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 23 June 2007; (p. 10)
— Review of Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
Gryphons and Mobsters
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July-August no. 293 2007; (p. 54)
— Review of Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry -
'So You Make a Shadow' : Australian Poetry in Review 2006-2007
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 52 no. 2007; (p. 81-98)
— Review of Vertigo (a Cantata) 2007 selected work poetry ; All the Time in the World 2006 selected work poetry ; The Escape Sonnets and Other Poetry 2006 selected work poetry ; Sometimes Gladness : Collected Poems, 1954 to 2005 2006 selected work poetry ; Ocean Island 2006 selected work poetry ; I'm Not Racist, But... : A Collection of Social Observations 2007 selected work poetry ; Excess Baggage and Claim 2007 selected work poetry ; The Passion Paintings : Poems 1983-2006 2006 selected work poetry ; Typewriter Music 2007 selected work poetry ; Fredy Neptune 1998 single work novel ; Lawrie and Shirley, The Final Cadenza : A Movie in Verse 2006 single work novel ; A Difficult Faith : Poems 2006 selected work poetry ; A Paddock in His Head 2007 selected work poetry ; The City of Empty Rooms 2006 selected work poetry ; Helen of Troy and Other Poems 2007 selected work poetry ; The Incoming Tide 2007 selected work poetry -
Visitor Distils Essence of Sunshine
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 - 28 January 2007; (p. 24) -
A Diasporic Journey: Greek-Australian Poetry in Bilingual and English Publications
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 February no. 41 2013; This article 'is an attempt to give an expository overview of some of the major Greek-Australian poets of the first generation who arrived in Australia in the fifties and the early sixties. They are: Dimitris Tsaloumas (from the island of Leros, arrived in 1952 and settled in Melbourne); Vasso Kalamaras (from Athens, arrived in 1951 and settled in outback Western Australia before moving to Perth in 1960); Yota Krili (from the Peloponnese, arrived in 1959 and settled in Sydney); Dina Amanatides (also from the Peloponnese, arrived in 1958 and settled in Melbourne); and finally, Antigone Kefala (a Greek from Romania who went first to New Zealand in 1951 and finally settled in Sydney in 1960).' -
A Lens on Leros : The Poet as Iconographer
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019;'The focus of this essay is on the presence and significance of Leros in the poetry of Dimitris Tsaloumas. Of particular interest is the quality and agency of light; and the inclusion of Greek Orthodox references and imagery in many of his poems. These corporeal and incorporeal aspects of that island are those which Tsaloumas internalised as integral elements of his identity long before he embarked on what was to be a protracted period of voluntary exile. During his years in Australia, which contributed new input to enrich and expand his personal and poetic consciousness, Tsaloumas never lost sight of his original reference points: the natural and cultural context of Leros, and the spiritual precepts with which he was imbued by the Greek Orthodox Church.' (Publication abstract)
-
In Transit : Migration and Memory in the Writings of Martin Johnston and Dimitris Tsaloumas
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 1 2019;'In August 1964 Martin Johnston boarded the Ellinis in the port of Piraeus, destined for Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end his 14-year estrangement from the land of his birth. Johnston, who had lived abroad most of his life in England and Greece, would return as a literal migrant to his own country. It was a theme that would prove fecund and deeply allegorical for the then 17-year-old son of authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift, later manifesting in his poetic works such as In Transit: a sprawling 14-part paean to Johnston’s immutable sense of displacement.
'A little over a decade before, in 1952, Greek poet Dimitris Tsaloumas would complete the same metamorphic journey, fleeing his Dodecanese homeland and arriving in Melbourne, Australia where he would take up the uneasy mantle of Australia’s Hellenic poet in exile. Despite parabolic overtures of assimilation, paradoxical themes of longing and dislocation pockmark Tsaloumas’s vast canon, tethering an uneasy union between his two divergent worlds both ancient and contemporary; familiar and profoundly alien.
'This essay explores the lives and comparative themes of exile in the works of both Johnston and Tsaloumas—writers who both identified as Xenos, a Greek word that translates as both ‘guest’ and ‘stranger’—and investigates the often incorporeal, irredeemable and contradictory natures of nostalgia and belonging.' (Publication abstract)