Platon Rodokanakis

Platon Rodokanakis (1883-1919). Platon Rodokanakis, the son of lawyer Panagiotis Souliotis and Despina Rodokanaki, was born in Smyrna and spent his childhood and teenage years in Kordelio. He attended the theological school of Halki but left his studies to move to Athens, where he worked as a journalist, initially for the newspaper Akropolis and later for other newspapers. In 1913, he became the director of aid for the victims of the First Balkan War and joined the Venizelist faction three years later. In 1917, he took on the role of director of the Byzantine department at the Ministry of Education. Earlier, he had published Byzantine-themed short stories in the newspaper Estia and completed the study "The Queen and the Byzantine Noblewomen." He passed away in Athens. Rodokanakis made his literary debut in 1908 with the publication of the prose poetry collection "De profundis," and during his collaboration with Akropolis, he serialized the autobiographical text "The Flaming Cassock." He subsequently published poems and prose and also engaged in playwriting. In 1912, the theater company of Kyveli Andrianou staged his one-act plays "Pierrot - The Actress" and "The Jackal," and five years later, the company of Marika Kotopouli staged "Saint Demetrius." Platon Rodokanakis is chronologically placed at the end of the so-called literary generation of 1880. His writing is characterized by aestheticism, with references to the works of Oscar Wilde, D'Annunzio, early Nikos Kazantzakis, Konstantinos Christomanos, and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. A controversial figure, he was accused of plagiarism by Konstantinos Christomanos for his book "The Crimson Notebook" and avoided conviction with the intervention of Kostis Palamas. For more biographical details on Platon Rodokanakis, see Argyrio Alex., "Rodokanakis Platon," World Biographical Dictionary 9a. Athens, Ekdotiki Athinon, 1988, Garandoudis Evripidis - Menti Dora, "Platon Rodokanakis," Our Older Prose IΑ΄ (1900-1914), pp. 194-211. Athens, Sokolis, 1998, Evangelidis Tr.E., "Rodokanakis Platon," Great Greek Encyclopedia 21. Athens, Pyrros, 1933, and Solomonidis Christos S., "Rodokanakis - Souliotis Platon," Great Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature 12. Athens, Hari Patsi, n.d. (Source: Archive of Greek Writers, EKEBI).