Dimitris Raytopoulos

The literary critic, essayist, and journalist Dimitris Ravitopoulos was born in Piraeus in 1924. He attended courses at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. From his teenage years, he was involved in the political youth movements of the Left. He was an editor for the newspaper "Eleftheri Ellada" (1946-1947) and simultaneously contributed to the EPON magazine "Nea Genia" (1944-1945). After the relaxation of post-civil war measures, he worked for the newspapers "I Avgi" (1952-1967), "Eleftheros", and "Ora" (1955-1956). Along with K. Kouloufakos, T. Patrikios, K. Porfyris, and others, he formed the editorial team of the magazine "Epitheorisi Technis". During the dictatorship period (1967-1974), Ravitopoulos fled to France. There, he worked as an editor for the "Robert Dictionary" and participated in the "Temps Modernes" magazine's tribute to Greece (1969), compiling an anthology of texts from persecuted writers. His friendship with Aris Alexandrou was particularly formative for his political positions and subsequent ideological development, resulting in his sharply anti-dogmatic stances. After the political changeover, he took over the direction of the magazine "Iridanos", which, through its tributes, opened up to new literary trends. Simultaneously, he wrote columns for "I Avgi" (1977-1980) and later worked as a journalist for the newspaper "Apogevmatini" (1976-1981). He is a founding member of the Society of Writers. He published critical works such as "Ideas and Works" (1965), "Art and Power" (1985), "Critical Literature" (1986), "Punctuation Marks" (1987), "Aris Alexandrou: The Exile" (1996), "Art Review: The Epitheorisi Technis and Its People" (2006). Ravitopoulos is considered one of the most significant representatives of Marxist criticism in the post-war period. Through his writings in "Epitheorisi Technis", he emerged as one of the most dynamic and important new literary critics and scholars of the post-war era. Despite his extreme views due to political circumstances, he systematically avoided dogmatism. He was insightful, astute, sharp in his positions, and often dared to express himself robustly. Gradually, his perspective was enriched with a poetic spirit. In 1997, he was awarded the State Prize for Essay-Criticism for his work "Aris Alexandrou: The Exile". In 2008, he was named an honorary doctor of the Department of Philology at the Faculty of Philosophy of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (addressed by the department's president, Professor Antonis Regakos, and Associate Professor of Modern Greek Philology, Mary Mike). In 2009, he was honored with the "Dido Sotiriou" award by the Society of Writers for his entire body of work. In 2013, he received the Grand State Prize for Letters. In 2017, he was honored with the Academy of Athens award for his entire body of work.