The Fourth Dimension

<p>In the dramatic monologues that make up <i>The Fourth Dimension</i>--especially those based on the grim history of Mycenae and its royal protagonists--the celebrated modern Greek poet Yannis Ritsos presents a timeless poetic paradigm of the condition of Greece, past and present. The volume also contains a group of modern narratives, including the famous, and much-anthologized, "Moonlight Sonata." Ritsos, rightly, regarded the <i>The Fourth Dimension</i> as his finest achievement. It is now presented to English- speaking readers for the first time in its entirety.</p> <br> <p>From "Philoctetes"</p> <br> <p>All the speeches of great men, about the dead and about heroes.<br> Astonishing, awesome words, pursued us even in our sleep,<br> slipping beneath closed doors, from the banqueting hall<br> where glasses and voices sparkled, and the veil<br> of an unseen dancer rippled silently<br> like a diaphanous, whirling wall<br> between life and death. This throbbing<br> our childhood nights, lightening the shadows of shields<br> etched on white walls by slow moonlight.</p>