What's Left of the Night

August 27, 2018
Sotiropoulos’s striking novel opens in the summer of 1897, as Constantine Cavafy arrives in Paris on tour with his older brother, John. The two are aspiring poets, cosmopolitans from a notable—though recently impoverished—family of Greek Alexandrians. Constantine (who’d eventually become celebrated 20th-century poet C.P. Cavafy) is the subject of Sotiropoulos’ portrait of a young artist in the making. Distracted and prone to daydreams, Constantine spends his days within himself, preoccupied with his fantasies and craft. His insular world is changed with the arrival of Mardaras, a fellow literary Greek expatriate who inadvertently shares a terse review of Constantine’s work from a famous critic: “Weak expression Poor artistry.” With his confidence shaken, Constantine turns to the streets of a vividly drawn, politically fraught Paris. There, he comes to terms with himself as an artist, facing the forces behind his poetry: his restless homosexuality, his conflicted family relationships, and his deep admiration of language. Sotiropoulos’s novel is both a loving tribute to a seminal Greek poet and a contemplative, fascinating reflection on the drive to create art.

December 1, 2018

Winner of the 2017 Prix Méditerranée, this brightly, ringingly written literary historical novel from a much-honored Greek author takes us to 1897 Paris, where Constantine Cavafy wraps up a European tour by whiling away his time with older brother John and their friends. The brothers are from a wealthy Egyptian Greek family on hard times, which doesn't much dampen their carousing, but in Constantine's needling comments we spot someone breaking his own mold. This effete if gifted young man has not yet become the great poet C.F. Cavafy, but during these decadent days, lushly described, he begins to understand his life, his sexuality, and especially his art. VERDICT A portrait of an artist coming into his own that even those unfamiliar with Cavafy will find absorbing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2018

Winner of the 2017 Prix M�diterran�e, this brightly, ringingly written literary historical novel from a much-honored Greek author takes us to 1897 Paris, where Constantine Cavafy wraps up a European tour by whiling away his time with older brother John and their friends. The brothers are from a wealthy Egyptian Greek family on hard times, which doesn't much dampen their carousing, but in Constantine's needling comments we spot someone breaking his own mold. This effete if gifted young man has not yet become the great poet C.F. Cavafy, but during these decadent days, lushly described, he begins to understand his life, his sexuality, and especially his art. VERDICT A portrait of an artist coming into his own that even those unfamiliar with Cavafy will find absorbing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.