A r i s M a r a n g o p o u l o s (more often spelled Maragkopoulos, exact transliteration of the greek Μαραγκόπουλος) is a Greek author, literary critic and translator. Born in Athens, Greece, 1948. He studied History and Archeology at the University of Athens, History of Art and Archeology at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. He has published twenty books or so (novels, short stories, essays) and has translated equal number of Irish, English and French novels into Greek. He is a regular contributor to Greek national newspapers on literary and cultural topics (See his latest collection of articles on culture and cultural theory Unguarded Battlefields (June 2014). His contributive books on Joyce’s Ulysses (Ulysses, a Reader’s Guide, Topos books 2010, Giacomo Joyce 2018), are aimed both to the general reader and the scholar.
Most of his prose refers to a contemporary social context, presented through well-known historic attempts of civil disobedience against state arbitrariness. In seeming contrast to that realist predilection his style, though, should not be defined as realistic. He clearly stands for an elective modernist style which in some books even takes the form of a poème en prose. He is considered an authority on James Joyce (three books on the subject). He has authored more than ten fiction books, four albums with stories based on historical photo archives and many essays on literature and culture.
Vassilis Vassilikos, the author of Z, has written in one of his reviews for Maragkopoulos (precisely for his novel Love, Gardens, Ingratitude): “…it is the first «post postmodern» novel in Greece. […] the book assimilates imaginatively the joycean techniques of the novel and renovates impressively the literary tradition created by Nikos Kazantzakis.”
About his political novel, Obsession with Spring, the same author has written:
“Obsession with Spring is the outcome of Maragkopoulos’ difficult journey through the clashing rocks of Joyce and Borges, a fruitful journey that made him rediscover Balzac’s gold… A fantastic political thriller, an anatomy of the country we call Hellas, a novel that I expect to open a wide discussion amid the reading community since it re-reads our recent history.”
Aris Maragkopoulos is co-publisher and editor in chief in Topos Books. Former member of the International James Joyce Foundation and of the Three Seas Writers’ and Translators’ Council. Actually a member of the Hellenic Authors’ Society (has been its Executive Secretary for two consecutive terms) and a former member of the Board of the National Book Centre in Greece. He has participated as an expert in various national and European committees concerning iinternational book policy.
His novel Love, Gardens, Ingratitude has been translated into Serbian, Obsession with Spring into Turkish, his novella "Nostalgic Clone" into English (in the Dedalus Book of Greek Fantasy, ed. and trans. by D. Connolly) and various texts and articles into English, French, Turkish and Serbian.
Among his recent books: an album with photos by the famous Greek photographer K. Megalokonomou: Unknown Greece 1950-1965 , a short novel: True Love (Topos 2008) and a political novel that was extremely well reviewed in all media Obsession with Spring.
His more widely read novel so far, The Slap-tree (Topos 2012), is a story that reviews post-war Greece through the eyes of a foreign woman, a Welsh teacher who during WW II fell in love with a young Greek communist and thereafter put every possible effort to free him from an incarceration of 17 years (a true story which made to the first page of international media in the sixties). Apart from its literary merits the story has ignited a certain discussion and dispute in Greece as to the possible ways of narrating historic facts in literature.
His latest work is a novel depicting through the conjugal life of Paul Lafargue and Laura Marx, Europe in the second half of 19th century: Paul and Laura, a painting after nature. You may find more details about Aris Maragkopoulos either in his personal website (rich in biographical and literary detail) here, or in the Wiki.
