Kostis Papagiorgis passes

He was among the most respected scholars of the last 40 years. In his long career he wrote essays, novels, translated many philosophical books and published literary magazines. He died last Friday, leaving many people shocked and his colleagues in deep mourning.

Kostis Papagiorgis was born in 1947 and grew up on the island of Evoia until 1960. Six years later he went to Thessaloniki to study law, but gave it up a year later when the military dictatorship seized power. He immigrated to Paris, taking up philosophy classes and ended up staying in the French capital for seven years.

He returned to Athens in 1975, a year after the reestablishment of democracy, where he started a long career as an interpreter. He translated the philosophical works of Pascal, Kierkegaard, Foucault, Derrida and many others. He also wrote plenty of essays, recognized and loved by thousands of readers for their flair and originality.

Among the philosophical issues touched by his essays were intoxication, jealousy, misanthropy, friendship, fear, resentment and death. He had a unique writing style, an elaborate use of language and many gifts of a great scholar, including a way to connect with his readers on a personal level.

He became director of publications in the Kastaniotis Publishing House and was a contributor for many literary magazines (Athinorama, Anti) and newspapers (Lifo, Ependytis, Apogevmatini). In 2002 he was awarded the National Literary Award for Documentation – Chronicle for his book “Kanellos Deligiannis”.

Kostis Papgiorgis was a natural who, having never finished his academic studies in Thessaloniki and Paris, was born to write. In an interview about his work he said: “Every piece I've ever written include some kind of jolt – death, jealousy, misanthropy, alcohol, what have you. It felt like getting slapped in the face and saying 'now that the pain is still fresh, I must hurry and write'”.