Dimosthenis Kourtovik


Dimosthenis Kourtovik is a Greek writer, literary critic and anthropologist. He studied biology in Athens and West Germany and specialized later on physical anthropology. In 1986 he obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Wroclaw, Poland, with a thesis on the evolution of human sexuality.
He has plied several occupations, from night watchman to university teaching, from translator to film and literary critic. In the period 1973–75 he was co-founder, director and actor of the "Greek Workers' Stage" in Stuttgart, Germany. Between 1990 and 1995, he taught at the University of Crete the subjects of history of human sexuality, sexual semiotics in art and animal behaviour. Until 2017, he worked as literary critic for the Athens daily 'Ta Nea'.
He has published until now 21 books. He also has translated 63 books from eight foreign languages. Several of his novels and short stories were translated into German, French, English, Danish, Swedish, Czech, Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, and Polish.
The following versions of his name also occur in other languages: Demosthenes Kourtovik, Dimosthenis Kurtovik, Demosthenes Kurtovik, Démosthène Kourtovik.
He lives on the island of Aegina.

Works

Prose

  • Τρεις χιλιάδες χιλιόμετρα, short stories, 1980
  • Ο τελευταίος σεισμός, novel, 1985
  • Το ελληνικό φθινόπωρο της ΄Εβα-Ανίτα Μπένγκτσον, novel, 1987
  • Η σκόνη του γαλαξία, novel, 1991
  • Η νοσταλγία των δράκων, novel, 2000
  • Το άλλο μονοπάτι, short stories, 2007
  • Τι ζητούν οι βάρβαροι, novel, 2008
  • Λαχανόρυζο του Σταυρού, short stories, 2012
  • Ο ήχος της σιωπής της, novel, 2024
Moreover, several short stories are included in theme anthologies or published in newspapers.

Essays, aphorisms, literary criticism

  • Ημεδαπή εξορία, essays and reviews, 1991
  • Αντιλεξικό νεοελληνικής χρηστομάθειας, aphorisms, 1994
  • Έλληνες μεταπολεμικοί συγγραφείς, guide, 1995
  • Τετέλεσται, essays on photographic documents, 1996
  • Στις καθυστερήσεις του ημιχρόνου, essays and aphorisms, 1999
  • Η θέα πέρα από τον ακάλυπτο, essays and reviews, 2002
  • Ελληνικό hangover, essays, 2005
  • Η νοσταλγία της πραγματικότητας, essays and reviews, 2015
  • Το Νέο Αντιλεξικό νεοελληνικής χρηστομάθειας, aphorisms, 2019
  • Η ελιά και η φλαμουριά, a panorama of Greek literature 1974-2020, 2021
  • Σκοντάφτοντας σε ανοιχτά σύνορα, a discussion with the writer Kostas Katsoularis, 2023

    Treatises

  • Η ελληνική διανόηση στον κινηματογράφο, 1979
  • Η εξέλιξη της ανθρώπινης σεξουαλικότητας, doctoral dissertation, 1986
  • Συγκριτική ψυχολογία , 1994

    Translations

Among the 63 books, both fiction and non-fiction, that he has translated are works by Daniel Defoe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, E.T.W Hoffmann, Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, Algernon Blackwood, Bertolt Brecht, Daphne Du Maurier, Karel Čapek, Jens Bjørneboe, Veijo Meri, Eeva Kilpi, Martti Joenpolvi, Erich Fried, Wolf Biermann, Julian Barnes, Peter Høeg et al. He has also edited anthologies of German short stories, Finnish short stories and Finnish poetry, and he has translated poems of Desmond Egan, Inger Christensen, Henrik Nordbrandt, and Doris Kareva. Non-fiction authors translated by him include Ibn Khaldun, Max Weber, Walter Benjamin, Egon Friedell, Werner Heisenberg, John Maynard Smith, Siegfried Kracauer, Paul Klee, Herbert Marcuse, Ernest Borneman, Hans-Georg Beck, E.J.Hobsbawm and many others.

His works in translation

In French:
  • Poussière d’ étoiles, translator: Jasmine Pipart, Hatier, 1994
  • La Nostalgie des Dragons, translator: Caroline Nicolas, Actes Sud, 2004
In German:
  • Der griechische Herbst der Eva-Anita Bengtsson, translator: Gaby Wurster, Dialogos, 1989
  • Griechische Schriftsteller der Gegenwart, translator: Doris Wille, Romiosini, 2000
  • Die Mumie des Ibykus, translator: Gaby Wurster, Reclam-Leipzig, 2002
  • “Der andere Pfad”, translator: Sophia Georgallidis, in: Niki Eideneier, Sophia Georgallidis, Die Erben des Odysseus, dtv, 2001
  • “Und trotzdem”, translator: Maria Petersen, in the journal Metaphora, Nr 7, 2001
  • “Physalia kalliauchen”, translator: Sophia Georgallidis, in: Sophia Georgallidis, Ausflug mit Freundinnen, Romiosini, 2002
In English:
  • It Is Accomplished, translated by the author, in: Greek Writers Today, Hellenic Authors’ Society, 2003
  • “The Other Footpath”, translator: David Connolly, in: David Connolly, The Dedalus Book of Greek Fantasy, Dedalus, 2004
In Danish:
  • Eva-Anita Bengtssons græske efterår, translator: Vibeke Espholm, Husets Forlag, Århus, 1995
In Swedish:
  • Eva-Anita Bengtssons grekiska höst, translator: Cecilia Wedmark, Aegis Förlag, Lund, 1998
In Czech
  • “Druha cesta”, translator: Alexandra Buchler, in: Alexandra Buchler, Cerne olivy, Apsida, 2000
In Romanian:
  • Nostalgia demonilor, translator: Elena Lazar, Editura Omonia, 2001
In Serbian:
  • Nostalgija zmajeva, translator: Gaga Rosić, Prosveta, 2003
In Bulgarian:
  • “И все пақ”, translator: Здравка Миҳайлова, in: Да oпoзнaeм своймe сүседи, Центар за Образователни Инициативи, 2002
  • Носталгията иа змейовете, translator: Здравка Михайлова, Балкани, 2007
In Hebrew:
  • Η νοσταλγία των δράκων, translator: Amir Tsukerman, Tel Aviv, Keter, 2012
In Polish:
  • A jednak, translator: Dorota Jędraś, nowogreckablog.wordpress.com, 2016