Dimosthenis Kourtovik

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 (novels, short stories, essays, reviews, aphorisms, literary dictionaries, scientific treatises and textbooks). He also has translated 63 books from eight foreign languages (English, German, French, Italian, Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian). 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.

• Born — 15 July 1948 • Birthplace — Athens, Greece • Occupation — Writer, literary critic, anthropologist • Period — 1979–present

• Τρεις χιλιάδες χιλιόμετρα (Three Thousand Kilometers), short stories, 1980 • Ο τελευταίος σεισμός (The Last Earthquake), novel, 1985 • Το ελληνικό φθινόπωρο της ΄Εβα-Ανίτα Μπένγκτσον (The Greek Autumn of Eva-Anita Bengtsson), novel, 1987 • Η σκόνη του γαλαξία (Galaxy Dust), novel, 1991 • Η νοσταλγία των δράκων (The Nostalgia of Dragons), novel, 2000 • Το άλλο μονοπάτι (The Other Path), short stories, 2007 • Τι ζητούν οι βάρβαροι (What the Barbarians Are Asking For), novel, 2008 • Λαχανόρυζο του Σταυρού (Post Summer Delights), short stories, 2012 • Ο ήχος της σιωπής της (The Sound of her Silence), novel, 2024 Moreover, several short stories are included in theme anthologies or published in newspapers.

• Η ελληνική διανόηση στον κινηματογράφο (Greek Intellectuals as Filmmakers), 1979 • Η εξέλιξη της ανθρώπινης σεξουαλικότητας (The Evolution of Human Sexuality), doctoral dissertation, 1986 • Συγκριτική ψυχολογία (Ηθολογία) (Animal Behaviour), 1994

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.

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 (Die Nostalgie der Drachen), translator: Gaby Wurster, Reclam-Leipzig, 2002 • “Der andere Pfad”, translator: Sophia Georgallidis, in: Niki Eideneier, Sophia Georgallidis (ed.), 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 (ed.), Ausflug mit Freundinnen, Romiosini, 2002 In English: • It Is Accomplished (excerpt), translated by the author, in: Greek Writers Today, Hellenic Authors’ Society, 2003 • “The Other Footpath”, translator: David Connolly, in: David Connolly (ed.), 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 (ed.), 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