Theodore Stephanides

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The cover of one of Theodore Stephanides' most acclaimed translations - Erotocritos
Enlarge
The cover of one of Theodore Stephanides' most acclaimed translations - Erotocritos

Theodore Stephanides (1896 - April 13, 1983) was a Greek poet, author, doctor and naturalist. He is best remembered as the friend and mentor of the famous naturalist Gerald Durrell, featuring in Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, Durrell's brother Lawrence's Prospero's Cell and Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi. A polymath, Stephanides was respected as a scientist and doctor, and acclaimed as a poet in both Greek and English, and translated a sizeable body of Greek poetry to English -- notably a significant body of work by Greek poet Kostis Palamas and the Greek near-epic work Erotocritos.

He was also a noted biologist and scientist who has three species named after him (Cytherois stephanidesi, Thermocyclops stephanidesi, and Schizopera stephanidesi are microscopic water organisms discovered by Stephanides in 1938) and a crater on the moon (Römer A is unofficially named Stephanides crater) named after him. He has also written a definitive biological treatise on the freshwater life in Corfu, which is still cited in the 2000s. His autobiographical account of the Battle of Crete - Climax in Crete, and his factual account of Corfu and the Ionian Islands - Island Trails are widely read.

[edit] Biography

Theodore Stephanides was born to Greek parents from Thessaly in India. He spent his early years in Bombay. At age 11, he went to live in Corfu with his family after his father's retirement, learning Greek there.

Stephanides served as a gunner in the Greek Army in World War I in the Greek Macedonian front, and again in the War in Asia Minor, 1919-1922 against Turkey.

He published two works of translated poetry in 1925 and 1926, but pursuing an alternative career path, went to study Medicine in Paris in 1929.

He returned to Corfu in 1930 to establish the island's first X-ray unit. He married Mary Alexander, grand-daughter of a former British Consul and of English and Greek parentage shortly afterwards.

He started field work in Corfu in 1933 based on directives from Corfu health authorities to prepare a report on the principal localities where anti-malarial measures would be necessary. It was around this time, in 1936, that he was introduced to the Durrell family, including Gerald Durrell and Lawrence Durrell, who would remain life-long friends. Stephanides would later send Lawrence Durrell medicines for the British Embassy in Cyprus (as noted from correspondence in Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel" (1969), by Lawrence Durrell). He would also be a meticulous proof-reader for Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, and Lawrence Durrell's The Greek Islands.

Stephanides left Corfu in 1938 to take up residence in Salonica in order to take up appointment at the anti-malarial unit founded there by the Rockefeller Foundation.

A veteran of World War I, Stephanides served as a Doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Greece, Crete, Sicily and the Sahara in the period 1939 to 1945. His account of the Battle of Crete - Climax in Crete - criticizes Allied war policy. His parents and numerous friends died in Corfu due to German strafing and bombing. Stephanides' wife Mary and daughter Alexia, who were living in London, are sent to live with the Durrells in Bournemouth during the London Blitz of 1940 - 1941.

Stephanides joined his family in London after World War II, working as an Assistant Radiologist at St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth over the period of 1945 - 1961. He published the widely-circulated Climax in Crete in 1946. It was during this period that he published his two noted works in science: The Microscope and the Practical Principles of Observation (1947) - a guide to microscope operation and use - and the seminal A Survey of the Freshwater Biology of Corfu and of Certain Other Regions of Greece (1948).

Stephanides gained much praise and good standing as a poet after the back to back publications of poetry collections The Golden Face (1965) and The Cities of the Mind (1969). He also went on to publish the personal collection of poems Worlds in a Crucible (1973). He also published a substantial body of translated poetry based on the works of the famous Greek poet Kostis Palamas ending with the posthumous publication of Kostis Palamas: A Portrait and an Appreciation including Iambs and Anapaests and Ascraeus in 1985. His other widely-praised translation, that of the Greek poem Erotocritos, was also published posthumously in 1984. Among his other books, Island Trails - a factual account of Corfu and the Ionian Islands is a well-recognized but rare book.

Theodore Stephanides died on April 13, 1983. Lawrence Durrell dedicated The Greek Islands (1978) and Gerald Durrell Birds, Beasts and Relatives (1969) and The Amateur Naturalist (1982) to Stephanides in his living years. Gerald Durrell's dedication in The Amateur Naturalist is due to the mentorship he received from Stephanides, and reads:

This book is for Theo my mentor and friend, without whose guidance I would have achieved nothing.
Gerald Durrell, Dedication, The Amateur Naturalist

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

     
The Life and Times of Gerald Durrell
v  d  e

Institutions associated with: Jersey ZooDurrell Wildlife Conservation TrustWildlife TrustWildlife Preservation CanadaMauritian Wildlife FoundationMadagascar Fauna Group

Co-conservationists: Lee DurrellDavid AttenboroughPeter ScottJeremy MallinsonEdward Whitley

Expeditions undertaken: ArgentinaAustraliaBelizeBhutanCameroonIndiaMadagascarMalaysiaMauritiusMexicoNew ZealandParaguayRussiaSierra Leone

Species associations: Aye-AyeGorillaMauritius KestrelPink PigeonPigmy HogRockfowl • St. Lucia Parrot • Volcano Rabbit

Books authored: The Overloaded ArkThree Singles to AdventureThe Bafut BeaglesThe New NoahThe Drunken ForestMy Family and Other AnimalsEncounters with AnimalsA Zoo in My LuggageThe Whispering LandIsland ZooA Look at ZoosMenagerie ManorTwo in the BushThe Donkey RustlersRosie is My RelativeBirds, Beasts and RelativesFillets of PlaiceCatch Me a ColobusBeasts in My BelfryThe Talking ParcelThe Stationary ArkGolden Bats and Pink PigeonsThe Garden of the GodsThe Picnic and Suchlike PandemoniumThe Mockery BirdArk on the MoveThe Amateur NaturalistHow to Shoot an Amateur NaturalistDurrell in RussiaThe Fantastic Flying JourneyThe Fantastic Dinosaur AdventureThe Ark's AnniversaryKeeperToby the TortoiseMarrying Off Mother and Other StoriesThe Aye-Aye and IPuppy TalesThe Best of Gerald Durrell

Illustrators: Ralph Thompson • Edward Mortelmans • Peter BarrettGraham PercyKeith WestCliff Wright

Famous TV Series: Two in the BushCatch Me a ColobusThe Garden of the GodsThe Stationary ArkArk on the MoveThe Amateur NaturalistOurselves and Other AnimalsDurrell in Russia

Notable others: Jacquie DurrellLawrence DurrellAchirimbi IITheodore StephanidesDouglas Botting