Jean Moréas (French:[ʒɑ̃mɔʁeɑs,-as]; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910[1]) was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic,[2] who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth.[3]
Biography
Moréas was born into a distinguished Athenian family on April 15, 1856.[1] His ancestors included two well-known men of the Greek War of Independence, namely his paternal grandfather and namesake Ioannis Papadiamantopoulos, born in Corinth but of ultimately Epirote ancestry[4] (he was executed after the fall of Missolonghi),[5] and his maternal great uncle Iakovos Tombazis (c. 1782–1829),[6] from Hydra, who became one of the first admirals of the Greek navy.[7] Moreas's father was Adamantios Papadiamantopoulos from Patras; a judge, scholar, and poet.[8]
Moréas published poetry in his publications Lutèce and Le Chat noir, and collected his poems into two editions, Les Syrtes ("The Sandbanks") and Cantilènes, which were strongly influenced by Paul Verlaine.
He was initially a practitioner of the style of Symbolism, and wrote the Symbolist Manifesto (1886), which he published in the newspaper Le Figaro, partly to redeem the reputation of the new generation of young writers from the charge of "decadence" that the press had implied. He was considered one of the most important Symbolist poets until the early 1890s.