«With the translation of the poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot presented here, Haris Vlavianos places himself before a double and extremely difficult challenge. This is because this poem is one of the foundational texts of 20th-century modernism and a major work of world literature, while its rendition into Greek, as Έρημη χώρα, has been sanctified for 85 years by the prestige and aura of the Nobel laureate George Seferis's signature. It takes courage to tackle such a work in a foreign language and translate it. It requires confidence to compare oneself with such an established model in one's own language and to appear adequate. Above all, it requires toil, because every word resonates in multiple ways and does not easily yield. It requires knowledge and study to substantiate new proposals. It also requires decisiveness, as everything could be said differently. And, of course, it requires talent to blend all these and make them sound right. Vlavianos possesses all of the above. And in the double challenge, he succeeds in achieving two goals: On one hand, he offers us a rendition of a masterpiece in contemporary, proper language in our own tongue – as a poet. On the other hand, with the informative introduction and enlightening comments and notes he provides, he offers us a framework where we can integrate the work in its details to understand its various aspects, but also to perceive possible misunderstandings in previous translations – as a philologist researcher. All these together renew the reception of the text and enhance the enjoyment of reading. Advice to the reader: let yourself be intrigued by the curiosity sparked by the new rendition of the title, as Άγονη γη (which aptly recalls the sense of a place that cannot sustain life – the central motif of the poem), and proceed to an exploration there, which will reward you». Miltos Fragkopoulos «In a lecture at Harvard University, years after the publication of Άγονη γη, Eliot claimed that his poem was a kind of personal redemption, a response ("rhythmic complaint" he calls it) to the existential dead-end into which the world, and he himself, had sunk. Perhaps, by writing Άγονη γη, Eliot managed to find temporarily the redemption he desired, to get out of the "deadend" he was in, as he himself has said, at that time. I say "perhaps" and "temporarily," since later he would seek it, as is well known, on more solid ground – in the faith and his conversion to the Catholic Church. However, one thing is certain: With Άγονη γη and Hugh Selwyn Mauberley by Ezra Pound, English poetry was emerging from its own "deadend" and entering dynamically into a new era, that of modernism». Haris Vlavianos «The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, the fragmentary epic of the "century of extremes," the foundational text of a later era, in a new translation, a truly new translation, by Haris Vlavianos. In his hands, the once Seferian Έρημη χώρα is rebaptized as Άγονη γη – it is the most fertile Άγονη γη I have ever read – a translation that masterfully balances between boldness and extreme humility before the original, removing translational cobwebs from every corner of the text and adding an intensive contemporary voice to the chain of the Eliotic tradition». Orpheus Apergis "The Waste Land is Eliot's most important poem; it decisively influenced the development of poetry in the 20th century." Frank Kermode "The Waste Land is Eliot's greatest achievement." E. M. Forster "Eliot is, without a doubt, the best poet writing in the English language." Ezra Pound