"Stratis Haviaras was born in Europe and has remained alert to and even part of the development of European postmodernism. He is best known in this country for two novels, When the Tree Sings and The Heroic Age (1979, 1984), both of which earned a great deal of praise and were translated into several European languages. But before coming to the United States in 1967, escaping a repressive military regime in Greece, Haviaras had polished four collections of poetry in Greek. It is unusual for a writer who has established a reputation in his or her native language to abandon it, learn a new language, and essentially start all over again."