Giannis N. PSycharis

Giannis N. Psycharis (1854-1929). Greek philologist and writer. He was born in Odessa, Russia. He studied philosophy, philology, and linguistics at the University of Sorbonne and German philology, as well as medieval and modern Greek philology in Germany. He was a professor of modern Greek language at the School of Advanced Studies in Paris. In 1904, he succeeded his professor Émile Legrand as Director of the School of Oriental Languages. He fought for the establishment of the demotic Greek as the official language of the Greek state. In 1886, Psycharis traveled to Greece (both free and enslaved parts) and in 1888 he wrote the prose work "My Journey." Following "My Journey," he published a series of short stories and novels, and six volumes of memoirs, critiques, and scientific studies under the general title "Roses and Apples."