Constantine Cavafy is a brilliant, meticulously researched and documented biography of a famous modern Greek poet. Cavafy was born in Alexandria and lived there for much of his life. As a boy, he was a member of a wealthy Greek family due to his father's business acumen, but when his father died, the business was no longer successful. Cavafy's family moved to Istanbul, and they also lived in Liverpool, traveled to London and Paris, and eventually moved back to Alexandria after the British destroyed much of the city. Cavafy worked as a clerk for the Ministry of Public Works for many years, and this not terribly difficult job gave him time to pursue his writing, described by more than one critic as a combination of poetry and prose.

Due to his years living in England, Cavafy was fluent in English. Although he was a Greek native speaker, it was not his most useful language, and he also spoke excellent French. Cavafy was a self-absorbed student and a vulnerable writer of contradictions of personality. Some readers felt he used what was to be called a stream-of-consciousness method of delivery. Others felt that as a writer, he was direct, intense, and unfailingly honest. As an open homosexual, Cavafy also wrote truthfully about his relationships and friendships. He could, according to his acquaintances and critics, use his own verbiage and point of view without influence; his writing was honest and natural. In his erotic poems, it was important for him to openly write poems that considered desire and love.

Oddly, most of Cavafy's poems were either never published, or they were handed out to friends and acquaintances who, as time went on, appreciated the gifts of such astonishing poetry. Cavafy was a learned historian. He particularly appreciated the Hellenistic period of Greece, and his vast knowledge of history helped him craft poems with historic emphases.

Cavafy was a vulnerable and charming man who could sometimes be kind and supportive. At other times, he was rather stiff and distant. But he was always driven to explain himself in poetry. Of the papers he left behind, many were destroyed, and he requested that others be saved as part of his legacy. Supporters of his, such as E. M. Forster and the Greek poet and playwright Sikelianos, and many other lesser Greek poets, were astonished at Cavafy's perspective and abilities. Cavafy also met Kazantzakis, W. H. Auden, and the famous Greek poet and Nobel prize winner, George Seferis, who admired Cavafy greatly. Others condemned him as a Karagiozis, a foolish and clown-like and popular shadow puppet.

Cavafy's oeuvre presents itself as a combination of seeing himself as a hero and as a victim. but, his work is a rich combination of his sincerity and determination to be truthful. Although Cavafy appreciated his supporters and devotees, what struck him most heartily was being true to himself.

Constantine Cavafy is a comprehensive, rich, and definitive examination of a complex and self-aware poet who had a distinct effect on the writing of his era. He sometimes struggled with his perspective on his subjects, but what was most important to him was his self-honesty.

Thank you to Cambridge University Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this finely written book and its clear description of a poet who gave us a focused perspective of his surroundings.