Elias Petropoulos

Elias Petropoulos
Born	1928 Athens
Died	3 September 2003 Paris
School	Decadence, Folklore

Elias Petropoulos (Greek: Ηλίας Πετρόπουλος; 1928–2003) was a Greek author, folklorist and urban historian. He was born in Greece but spent much of his life in France, holding a unique place in the intellectual life of Europe. A self-described "urban anthropologist," he wrote widely and seriously on aspects of Greek life which were rarely considered objects of serious study: the design of the ubiquitous balconies, courtyards, ironwork, and windows of Greek buildings, the methods and vocabulary of preparing coffee and the art of telling fortunes from coffee-grounds, the traditional layout and functioning of brothels, the role of bean soup as an unheralded Greek national dish, the specialized slang of the Greek homosexual scene — it is claimed that his book Kaliarda (Καλιαρντά) was the first dictionary of gay slang in any language — the Greek drug users' underworld, and above all, the Greek musical form rebetiko, of which he was certainly the major historian. His major work, Rebetika Traghoudhia, extensively documents the lyrics and instrumentation of this music, as well as the lifestyle associated with it. The publication of the first edition of this book in Greece in 1968 so scandalized the ruling dictatorship that he was jailed for five months. Subsequent controversial books he authored resulted in several more jail sentences and fines, resulting ultimately in his decision to leave Greece to live permanently in France. He also published poetry, both original and in translation.

Petropoulos was born in Athens on 26 June 1928, but spent his early years in Thessaloniki, where his father, a junior civil servant, was transferred when Elias was six. Thessaloniki was at the time a multicultural centre with an important Jewish population. During World War II , Petropoulos was active in Greek resistance movement against Nazi occupation. His father was killed at the front. The body was never found and this scarred young Elias for the rest of his life. In 1947 during the Greek Civil War, he was briefly imprisoned for his participation in left wing organisations. Afterwards he finished high school, got a job in the Thessaloniki city council as a minor civil servant, and finished a degree in Law in the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. In 1949 he was fired from his post because of his convictions, after which he spent 8 years unemployed and marginalised. In 1958 he started his long trajectory as a writer, essayist and political commentator which lasted until his death. In 1963, when progressive politician Gregoris Lambrakis was assassinated by right wing extremists in Thessaloniki, Petropoulos wrote lengthy articles in local newspapers. Despite writing anonymously, he was interrogated by the police for his opinions. He married and later divorced Nafsika Kataki (Bebe) and they have a daughter named Lyda Petropoulou (architect).

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