The Shirt of Nine, the 80s classic, is back in bookstores. This is the most recent addition to the unofficial “Meni Koumandarea Library” which is being re-submitted title by title by Pataki Publishing. The initiative, in collaboration with the author’s niece Alexandras Tranda, who manages copyright, reorganizes readers’ view of the entire list of works by Menis Koumandareas (1931-2014) from the first (Machines, 1962) to the last. (“Desert Siren”, 2015, found in his papers).

“He wanted to move his books from Kedros to Patakis,” says Ms Tranda. “Gradually, we began to revise his work and start reissues with a new aesthetic perception and non-image covers.” All the ridges together gradually form a rainbow. The new covers were designed by Paris Mexis and the font used by Menis Koumantareas, Olivetti Lettera 22, was used by Menis Koumantareas. interviews with Menis Coumandareas and reviews of each of his works.

The Athenian mythology of Menis Kumandareas is as strong as his characters.

In “Fanela me to ennia” we read in an interview that Menis Cumantareas gave to Stathis Tzagarusiano that he writes “darkly, introspectively”. “But the way I improve the language, the way I arrange and collect sentences, I want it to be accepted by my friend who reads a lot, my mother who reads little, a third person who reads little.” “Fanela me to ennia”, transposed to the cinema by Pantelis Voulgaris (with Stratos Tsorzoglu as the protagonist), is the world of Vassilis (Bill) Seretas, a popular kid who wanted to be a football star. His rise and fall is a beautiful slice of not only Greek society in the 1980s, but the psyche of a man who wanted everything and couldn’t handle his success. A book that tells about loneliness with poetic realism. The description of the commander is unique. The atmosphere on every page goes deep. Night bars, the world of stadiums, genuine populism, Thessaloniki and Volos, Athens on Liosion street… The Nine Shirts is a book that could make an international career.

The entry of Menis Cumandareas into the literary canon happened a long time ago. But it is this publishing initiative that systematizes the eternal demand for his books. New generations of readers grow up every year. Titles from the 70s such as “Glasscraft” and “Mrs. Kula” are reference works with a deep underground conversation with interpretations of Athens herself. Kumandareas organized a personal reading of urban and popular Athens in the manner of other writers of the post-war years (Ioannou, Takhtsis). His own universe is often unpredictable, transparent, perceptive to subtle psychic vibrations. In his works, such districts of Athens as Victoria Square, Kipseli, Aharnon, Liosion, Patisia, Gazi, Roof, Thisio are mythologized. The Athenian mythology of Menis Kumandareas is as strong as his characters.

The typewriter used by Menis Kumantares and cared for by Alexandra Tranta was serviced by historic mechanical restorer Antonis Plitas. This parameter is also important and charming and indicates the seriousness with which he manages his legacy. The reviews and interviews from which material for the reprint is drawn at the end of each new issue are taken from the Menis Koumandareas archive located at ELIA-MIET, classified by Sophia Bora. The archive was edited by the poet and close friend of the author, Thanos Foskarinis. This is an opportunity to recall the main idea of ​​the Commander from the many interviews he gave. There was a writer who stood out from the very beginning, was loved and revered.