My first contact with Goethe was in the mid-1950s, when I was a student in the last years of high school and I happened to come across his translated, erotic novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther", and it is true that it deeply influenced me. A few years later, as a student in Germany at a philosophical school, it was natural for me to be more interested in the poetry of the great German poet. I read the first part of Faust from the original, as well as many of his poems, but I had not attempted to translate his poetry. I must admit that his densely structured poetic language was very challenging for me, on the contrary, it was more feasible for me to translate the poetry of: Mayrikis, Novalis, Brentano, Brecht, Heine, and of course Hölderlin...
A few years ago, during moments of euphoria in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, I was tempted and engaged in translating many of Goethe's poems into Greek. Among them, I chose to include in my book some few-stanza poems - the so-called Anacreontics, but I can't say that I am very satisfied with this endeavor. However, I believe it is worth it, since these poems, as far as I know, have not been translated into our language, while Faust has been translated by many Greek poets, to mention the latest - very good, I mean that of P. Markaris.
The same would apply to his almost contemporary great poet - main playwright - his friend and companion, Friedrich Schiller, who died so early, at the age of 46, and I believe that he did not have time to complete his work, but what he left us ranks him as the greatest playwright of German poetry and not only. I should note that this year the anniversary of his 250th birthday is celebrated in German-speaking countries, and even though this edition is considered a minimal contribution to such an important event, a large part of my current writing was specifically written as an anniversary note in a provincial newspaper in 2005 for the two hundred years since his death (1805).
It is worth mentioning here that the decade 1795-1805 was the most important contribution of the two great German poets of all time to German literature, the one that decisively marked the Weimar Republic. However, the death of Friedrich Schiller was a great loss for European drama and poetry.
The case of the great philhellene - afflicted Hellenophile poet, Friedrich Hölderlin, was a particularly beloved spiritual refuge for me, which is somewhat expressed by our excellent "cursed" poet Kostas Karyotakis in his poem "Poetry is the refuge we envy". Always as a student during those difficult years in Germany, but also constantly until now as I write these lines, Hölderlin has been for me the poet of poets, as his compatriot philosopher Martin Heidegger insists in his essay on poetry. You will find this love or adoration, if you will, permeating my book.
As for Heinrich von Kleist, I will say bluntly that his case deeply disturbed me, his tragic ending in Lake Wannsee (Wannsee, Potsdam) on November 21, 1811, while he was sending to... another world first his friend and then targeted his own head, where he hid the predestined annihilation of his fate, thus granting him immortality, as he had predicted in his great drama: Prinz von Homburg:
"...Now, immortality, you are completely mine!"
"...Well then, oh immortality, you are all mine!"

Sotiris E. Gyftakis
Cholargos, Attica, February 2009