Monster & Colossus: Letters between Greek writer Costas Taktsis & Australian artist Carl Plate & their families in cosmopolitan post-war Sydney

Description

Costas Taktsis, arguably the most important post-war Greek writer, called himself a Sacred Monster, and his life-long friend Carl Plate – an important painter, Gallerist and influencer of modern art in Sydney – the Colossus of Woronora.

‘You get a very aromatic sense of this great cross-pollination of cultures, and what a hip cast of characters! (Powys and Oblomov!!) And the letters supply specificity like nothing else – details, voice, intimacy.
It’s great. How the drab Edwardian monochrome of the post-war years, gets a sweep of colour on islands of creativity, dazzled landscapes … terrific links (London, Paris, Ireland, Athens, Hydra, Sydney), and entanglements and – because we know the end  – one senses the drama of forces  – beyond anyone’s control – under the sunny availability of youth. A fantastic work of cultural history.’
– George Alexander