9.12.08

RECOLLECTIONS OF MR MANOLY LASCARIS

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Recollections of Mr Lascaris relates Vrasidas Karalis' personal recollections of discussions and
meetings with Manoly Lascaris, Patrick White's life-partner. In these recollections, Lascaris,
an obscure figure in the existing literature on White, appears as a distinct intellectual
in his own right, talking about Patrick White, Australia and Greece.
His ideas offer new perspectives in the interpretation of White's work and indicate a different
understanding of their relationship. This book sheds light on the life and the mind of an
extremelyenigmatic man who has been overlooked because of his elusive personality and
who spent all his life almost ignored under the shadow of Australia's most important writer.
.
Ο... βρόμικος Καβάφης και ο άτακτος Ταχτσής
Εσπρεσσο, 7.12.2008
Την «αποκατάσταση» του Μανόλη Λάσκαρη, του Ελληνα συντρόφου του Αυστραλού νομπελίστα Πάτρικ Γουάιτ, επιχειρεί ένα νέο βιβλίο που κυκλοφόρησε εφέτος στην Αυστραλία (στην αγγλική γλώσσα), το οποίο «τσαλακώνει» δύο κορυφαίους των ελληνικών γραμμάτων: τον ποιητή Κωνσταντίνο Καβάφη και τον συγγραφέα Κώστα Ταχτσή.
Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο υπό τον τίτλο «Recollections of Mr Manoly Lascaris» έγραψε ο βοηθός καθηγητής στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Σίδνεϊ και επικεφαλής της έδρας Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών Βρασίδας Καραλής και αποτελεί, σύμφωνα με τα λόγια του συγγραφέα, «φόρο τιμής και απόπειρα διάσωσης του Μανόλη Λάσκαρη από τη λήθη». Ο Λάσκαρης υπήρξε σύντροφος του Πάτρικ Γουάιτ, ο οποίος περιγράφεται ως «δαιδαλώδης προσωπικότητα» και ως «άτομο υψηλής αισθητικής καλλιέργειας», με εμμονή στο Βυζάντιο και με γνώση των Ελλήνων κλασικών. «Το βιβλίο μου είναι συναισθηματικό προσκύνημα σε έναν εσωτερικό εξόριστο που ένιωθε χαμένος, ειδικά μετά τον θάνατο του Πάτρικ» δήλωσε ο κ. Καραλής.
Για τον Μανόλη Λάσκαρη είναι αρκετά πράγματα γνωστά από την αυτοβιογραφία του Πάτρικ Γουάιτ «Ψεγάδια στον καθρέφτη». Κυκλοφόρησε στην Ελλάδα τον Οκτώβριο σε μετάφραση του πανεπιστημιακού και συγγραφέα δρα Γιάννη Βασιλακάκου: «Αυτός ο μικρόσωμος Ελληνας με την τεράστια ηθική δύναμη, που έγινε η απόκρυφη μαντάλα, η μυστική γεωμετρία της μέχρι τότε ακατάστατης ζωής μου». Ετσι περιγράφει στην αυτοβιογραφία του ο Αυστραλιανός νομπελίστας Πάτρικ Γουάιτ τον μεγάλο έρωτά του για τον Μανόλη Λάσκαρη, που υπήρξε για περίπου μισόν αιώνα ο αφοσιωμένος σύντροφος της ζωής του.
Οπωσδήποτε όμως μαθαίνουμε περισσότερα για τον Λάσκαρη και από το βιβλίο του κ. Καραλή. Το μεγαλύτερο πλεονέκτημα του εν λόγω βιβλίου, σύμφωνα με τους ειδικούς, είναι ο ανεκδοτολογικός χαρακτήρας του. Ετσι, πληροφορούμαστε ότι ο μέγιστος των σύγχρονων Ελλήνων ποιητών, ο Κωνσταντίνος Καβάφης δεν ήταν μόνο «βασιλικός» αλλά και... βρόμικος! Σύμφωνα πάντα με τον Λάσκαρη, κυριολεκτικά έζεχνε από την απλυσιά, καθότι «δεν είχε κάνει ποτέ μπάνιο στη ζωή του»!
Οσο για τον Κώστα Ταχτσή, ο Λάσκαρης αποκαλύπτει στο ίδιο βιβλίο πως όταν έμενε στην Αυστραλία, τους επισκεπτόταν μία φορά τον μήνα στο σπίτι τους, στο Σίδνεϊ, έχοντας -αρχικά- «σεξουαλικές προθέσεις για τον Πάτρικ». Ισχυρίζεται μάλιστα ότι «μπροστά μου χούφτωσε τον νομπελίστα και κατόπιν, σαν να μην είχε συμβεί τίποτα, συνέχισε να μας επισκέπτεται συχνά».
Ο κ. Καραλής ενώ αφιερώνει ένα ολόκληρο κεφάλαιο στον διάσημο συγγραφέα του «Τρίτου στεφανιού» (το οποίο και κατονομάζει), δεν τον αναφέρει ονομαστικά αλλά μόνο υπαινικτικά, με τα αρχικά του CT. Πάντως, το κεφάλαιο αυτό δεν είναι καθόλου κολακευτικό για τον Κώστα Ταχτσή. Εδώ αξίζει να αναφερθεί πως και ο Γιάννης Βασιλακάκος ασχολήθηκε με τον Κώστα Ταχτσή, αφού πρόσφατα ολοκλήρωσε έρευνά του, η οποία με τίτλο «Η αθέατη πλευρά της σελήνης» αναμένεται να κυκλοφορήσει σε λίγες βδομάδες στην Αθήνα. «Οσο παράξενο κι αν ακούγεται», γράφει ο Βασιλακάκος, «το μεγαλύτερο ενοχικό σύνδρομο από το οποίο υπέφερε ο Ταχτσής ήταν αυτό της ομοφυλοφιλίας του, την οποία απεχθανόταν. Ο λόγος που επιδιδόταν αργότερα και στην περενδυσία ήταν, μεταξύ άλλων, για να εκδικηθεί κατά έναν τρόπο την μάνα του, την οποία θεωρούσε αποκλειστικά υπεύθυνη γι' αυτήν την ιδιαιτερότητά του. Ο Κώστας χτυπούσε στη μάνα του την ομοφυλοφιλία του, νομίζοντας πως έτσι την τιμωρούσε. Εκείνη τον έβριζε και τον καταριόταν κι εκείνος ανταπαντούσε: “Ας μη με είχες πετάξει, για να μη γίνω έτσι. Ας με είχες κρατήσει κοντά σου και ας με είχες κάνει μανάβη, να δουλεύω να σας ζω"».
Να επανέλθουμε όμως στον Λάσκαρη και στο βιβλίο του κ. Καραλή. Οπως γράφει, στην αρχή της γνωριμίας του με τον Λάσκαρη διακατέχεται από τη «νοσηρή περιέργεια» να μάθει για «την ερωτική σχέση» του ζεύγους Γουάιτ - Λάσκαρη, αλλά όταν -επιτέλους- ο συνομιλητής του προβαίνει στις πολυπόθητες σχετικές αποκαλύψεις (προς το τέλος της γνωριμίας τους), ο συγγραφέας προτιμά να τις λογοκρίνει, αρνούμενος να τις μοιραστεί με τους αναγνώστες του, με το αιτιολογικό ότι την ιδιωτική του ζωή (του Λάσκαρη) με τον Πάτρικ δεν μπορεί να την εμπιστευθεί στο χαρτί.
ΠΟΙΟΣ ΗΤΑΝ Ο ΜΑΝΟΛΗΣ ΛΑΣΚΑΡΗΣ
Γεννημένος το 1912 στο Κάιρο, με καταγωγή από τη Σμύρνη και αριστοκρατική γενιά, ο Μανόλης Λάσκαρης μεγάλωσε στην Αθήνα. Μόλις ενηλικιώθηκε πήγε στην Αλεξάνδρεια, όπου εργάστηκε ως τραπεζικός υπάλληλος. Εκεί γνώρισε μάλιστα και τον Καβάφη (για τον οποίο λέει: «Δεν πρέπει να πλύθηκε ποτέ στη ζωή του. Ερχόταν πελάτης στην τράπεζα που δούλευα και βρόμαγε από μακριά, κι ας έβαζε φτηνά αρώματα»).
Τον χειμώνα του 1941 γνώρισε τον Πάτρικ Γουάιτ, που βρισκόταν τότε στην Αλεξάνδρεια ως αξιωματικός της Αυστραλιανής Αεροπορίας. Μετά τον πόλεμο και μια αποτυχημένη προσπάθεια να εγκατασταθούν στην Ελλάδα, φεύγουν για την Αυστραλία, όπου και θα μείνουν για την υπόλοιπη ζωή τους.
Ο αυστραλιανός και ο διεθνής Τύπος αναφερόταν συχνά σε αυτόν ως «ο αφοσιωμένος επιστάτης του Γουάιτ» και η φύση της σχέσης τους δεν είχε ξεκαθαριστεί ποτέ πριν από τη δημοσίευση της αυτοβιογραφίας του Γουάιτ, το 1981.

7 σχόλια:

erva_cidreira είπε...

Manoly Lascaris
Patrick White's devoted companion, and a source of good stories for his novels
Philip Jones guardian.co.uk, Monday December 8 2003


Manoly Lascaris, who has died aged 91, was, for 50 years, the partner of the Nobel prizewinning Australian novelist Patrick White (obituary, October 1 1990), who described him as "this small Greek of immense moral strength who became the central mandala in my life's hitherto messy design".
White believed that he was able to devote his life to writing fiction only after Lascaris persuaded him they should live in Australia and, once there, created an environment in which he could work. Lascaris was also a consummate storyteller, and White used his family's legendary exploits in almost every novel he wrote.

The Lascaris family traced its ancestry to Byzantine emperors. Manoly was born in Egypt, the fourth child of George, an Anatolian Greek merchant of the orthodox faith. His mother Florence, a Roman Catholic from Vermont, was related to US president Calvin Coolidge.

After the family lost its fortune in 1922, Florence abandoned them when Manoly was 10, believing that, in the eyes of the Catholic church, her children were illegitimate. Her husband left soon after, taking a Romanian mistress with him to Chicago. Although Manoly's father reappeared from time to time, he did not see his mother for almost half a century.

The children were educated by governesses and raised by two maiden aunts, Elly and Despo. The intellectual Elly read Goethe on a daily basis (until Germany invaded Greece); the worldly and beautiful Despo modelled herself on the Italian actor Eleanora Duse. The president of Greece was a cousin and, on visits to Athens in the 1920s, Manoly picked chrysanthemums in the palace gardens.

From the age of 18, he worked in the family-owned Bank of Athens in Alexandria. Shortly after joining a Greek army unit formed in the Middle East in 1940, he was promoted to liaison work between the British and Greek troops, largely because of his excellent English and his popularity with British officers.

Then, at a tea party in July 1941, the Baron Charles de Menasce introduced Manoly Lascaris to Flight-Lieutenant Patrick White. The baron was correct in his prediction of a mutual attraction between the two men; he was wrong in his prophecy that the relationship would not last. The affair was, of necessity, covert, and each suffered painful loss when they were separated. White served mostly in Palestine, and Lascaris in Lebanon and Syria, though they did once manage to spend a leave together in Beirut.

They settled in Australia in 1948, acquiring a small farm on the outskirts of historic Parramatta, about 20 miles west of Sydney. For White, a scion of landed gentry, it was a homecoming after an English education at Cheltenham and Cambridge, and a dilettantish life in pre-war London.

Despite Lascaris's aristocratic lineage and cultural sensibility, he possessed the earthy talents of a peasant. They kept cows, grew vegetables and bred Schnauzer dogs. Lascaris did the work, though later White took credit for much of his toil. The sale of cream, vegetables and pedigree puppies barely covered expenses and, when necessary, Lascaris took outside work mowing and labouring.

The death of White's mother Ruth in 1966 left sufficient funds for the couple to buy a rambling house and garden in central Sydney, where they lived comfortably, if simply, for the rest of their lives. By now, White's books were also generating income. For Manoly, the (almost literally) back-breaking work was over, and they could visit galleries, attend the theatre, see films and entertain at quite lavish dinner parties.

There was one painful episode in Manoly's life. After a bitter public feud between White and Sidney Nolan, the artist painted a series of works depicting Manoly as half pig. This cruel attack rebounded on Nolan; even those who had come to loathe White's rudeness, rage and spite loved Manoly for his generosity and sweetness of nature. This writer was among them.

· Manoly Lascaris, born August 5 1912; died November 13 2003

erva_cidreira είπε...

Manoly Lascaris, lifelong friend and partner to Australia’s greatest writer, Patrick White, died earlier this month at the age of 91.

Throughout their 50-year partnership, Lascaris provided love, friendship, support and stability to White, who once described him as his ‘sweet reason’.

They met in Egypt during the Second World War, both aged 29. White was then an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

He was often described as Patrick White's male housekeeper. But White once set the record straight in a letter to Time magazine: “Manoly”, said White, “is a distinguished and universally respected man who has given me friendship and moral support. He has never been a housekeeper. I am that, and shall continue playing the role at least till I am paralysed. It keeps me in touch with a reality”. And later, in letters to close friends: “Australia stinks, the world stinks. If it weren’t for Manoly I’d probably take the pills. My best bit of work was discovering Manoly … Thanks to him, I am as happy as one who is not made for happiness can be.”

A notoriously reserved and retiring man, Manoly agreed to only one television interview during life — with Sunday’s Helen Dalley. He told Sunday he felt “the satisfaction of having done my duty to him as a friend. We had a lot of love for each other and you can’t throw that away when it happens in your life”.

Manoly died in a nursing home in Sydney's Elizabeth Bay, which was once part of the White family estate where Patrick was raised.


sunday.ninemsn.com.au/

erva_cidreira είπε...

Live - Manoly Lascaris - Sydney Writers' Festival
By Joal, samesame.com.au,27/5/2008

On a dark 1940s night at a party in Egypt, Patrick White’s friend would comment on a relationship the Australian air force officer had formed with a young Greek man. ‘Of course you must realise it won’t last. It never does with people like us.’

Years later Patrick would form a written response in Flaws In The Glass, an autobiographical attempt to end media speculation, covering several topics he had previously spoken little about publicly. One of those topics was the young Greek man, Manoly Lascaris, his life partner.

‘Of course,’ wrote White, ‘it has lasted nearly forty years, and I dare believe it will outlast the two of us.’

And White was right. This year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival proved the duo are still a hot topic, with a closing night event launching yet another book on Australia’s most prolific writer and his mysterious man.

Although much has been written by and about White, one of the last program items in a packed festival was a small, modest book, about a man who “spent his life almost ignored under the shadow of Australia’s most important writer”.

Recollections of Manoly Lascaris reveals an intense intellectual mistaken for years as White’s ‘housekeeper’, amongst other offensive titles. “I didn’t really mind. It was, I might say, an amusing misperception,” Lascaris said. “Some newspapers wrote bad things about us…but I didn’t really care. I knew I was part of something important.”

Compiled from conversations held over seven years with author Vrasidas Karalis in Lascaris’ native Greek tongue, the man and partner that was overlooked becomes illuminated, with fascinating, if not at times melancholic, insights into life as a migrant, as a gay man, and of course as Patrick White’s partner.

“I couldn’t believe it was him,” said long-time friend of the couple, actress and launch speaker Kate Fitzpatrick. “But then of course I realised that it was… it was Manoly, speaking in his native Greek, telling us everything he never could.”

If you’re already a fan of White’s work, or completely new, check out some writing that’s sure to be around for years to come, and find out a little bit more about two fascinating men.

Vrasidas Karalis’ Recollections of Manoly Lascaris ($26.95) is available through Brandl & Schlesinger.

Patrick White’s novels & plays have recently been republished in the Vintage Classics Series, by Random House.

erva_cidreira είπε...

Patrick White

When you think of gay Nobel Prize winning novelists, do you only think of André Gide and Thomas Mann? Remember also the Australian writer Patrick White, born in 1912, who won the award in 1973 and lived with a former Greek soldier his same age, Manoly Lascaris, who was his ballast and partner for forty-eight years. Although he never forgave his parents for shipping him off to a detestable boarding school in England, White inherited their conservatism and did not discuss his sexuality nor did he include openly gay characters in his work until 1979's The Twyborn Affair, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. (After winning the inaugural Miles Franklin Award for his enduring Voss, White declined that award a second time for Riders in the Chariot and refused all other prizes, asking the Booker judges to remove his name from their shortlist to give younger writers a chance. Obviously, he made an exception for the Nobel, but he sent his friend the painter Stanley Nolan to Stockholm to accept the prize on his behalf.) White finally came out when he was sixty-nine with the publication of his memoir, Flaws in the Glass. He died at seventy-eight in 1990, and Lascaris survived him thirteen years.

Band of Thebes

erva_cidreira είπε...

LOVES

Silence
The company of friends
Unexpected honesty
Reading
Going to the pictures
Dreams
Uncluttered landscapes
City streets
Faces
Good food
Cooking small meals
Whisky
Sex
Pugs
The thought of an Australian republic
My ashes floating off at last


Patrick White

erva_cidreira είπε...

Manoly Lascaris


Emmanuel George "Manoly" Lascaris (August 1912 - 13 November 2003) was the lover of the Australian novelist and dramatist Patrick White.[1] Lascaris was born in Cairo, the son of a wealthy Greco-Egyptian father from Smyrna in Asia Minor and an American mother. He was raised in Athens and Alexandria. In 1941 he joined the Greek Army in exile in Egypt, and soon after he met White, then serving with the Royal Australian Air Force.

White and Lascaris lived together in Cairo for six years, before moving to a small farm on the outskirts of Sydney in 1948. When White's mother died, they moved to a home in Centennial Park, in inner Sydney, where they lived for the rest of their lives. Although it was widely known that they were lovers, such matters were not publicly discussed in Australia at that time. Lascaris was sometimes referred to as White's "housekeeper." The relationship was not openly discussed until White published his memoirs, Flaws in the Glass, in 1981.

White's biographer, David Marr, credits Lascaris with being the driving force who kept White to his literary labours, including the string of novels that won White the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973. White referred to Lascaris as "the small Greek of immense moral strength who became the central mandala in my life's hitherto messy design".

Marr wrote in an obituary for Lascaris: "Everyone loved Manoly. He was courtly, intuitive and gentle. He protected people from White's outbursts of fury while remaining, at heart, absolutely loyal to his lover. 'There must be one person in the world Patrick can trust absolutely'."

After White's death in 1990, Lascaris lived alone in the Centennial Park house until his health failed in 2003. He then moved into a nursing home, Lulworth, which had been White's childhood home. Marr wrote: "Patrick White believed coincidences were signs of divine order. Certainly they prove life always has more surprises to spring than art. A few months ago, when it was time for Manoly to move to hospital, he was taken to Lulworth, the old mansion at the back of Kings Cross that was once Patrick's childhood home. It was the closing of a circle that embraced Scone and Smyrna, London and Alexandria, the Whites and the Lascaris."

en.wikipedia.org

gay super hero είπε...

Πολύ ενδιαφέρον! Δεν ήξερα ότι είχε νομπελίστα η Αυστραλία!