Fragiski Ampatzopoulou

Fragkiski Abatzopoulou was born in Athens in 1944. She studied History, Archaeology, and Philology in Athens and Paris. She taught in the Department of Medieval and Modern Greek Studies at the Faculty of Philology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for about a quarter of a century (1986-2012), where she is now an emeritus professor. She revitalized the thematic and methodological aspects of Modern Greek philological studies. According to an announcement by the Faculty of Philosophy of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (18/9/2019), her work is distinguished by its acumen, critical sensitivity, and combinatorial approach (with the assistance of History, social anthropology, and psychology). Her expertise extends beyond Modern Greek philology to include History, Latin and Medieval philology, and archaeology. Since the 1970s, she has published poetry collections (notably: "Oikos," 1972; "Anastasima," 1973; "The Wanderings of Edessaia," 2007), monographs, essays, and translations. She has conducted studies on surrealism in Greece and modern poetry and prose (notably: "They Did Not Bloom in Vain. Anthology of Surrealism," 1980; "Nikos Engonopoulos. Poetry in the Time of the Tall Ladder's Withdrawal," 1987; "Writing and Torment: Issues of Literary Representation," 2000). Her contribution to the study and research of the Greek Jewish community, particularly the Jews of Thessaloniki, is especially significant. She has published studies on the depiction of Jews in literature and has edited and introduced Holocaust testimonies (notably: "The Other in Persecution. The Image of the Jew in Literature: Issues of History and Fiction," 1998; "The Holocaust in the Testimonies of Greek Jews," 2007, as well as testimonies by Yomtov Yakoel, Erika Kunio-Amarilio, Marcel Nadjari, Isaac Matarasso). She has actively contributed to the dissemination of Modern Greek literature in Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, she has worked on the translation of both literary and essayistic works (notably: Petrarch, Pico della Mirandola, Foucault, Axelos). She was awarded the State Prize for Literary Translation of a Foreign Work into Greek (2000) for translating Saint Augustine's "Confessions" from Latin, and the Grand State Prize for Literature for her overall work (2017, awarded in 2019).