Dimitris Lyacos’s Poena Damni is one of the most highly regarded works of contemporary European literature. Renowned for combining, in a genre-defying form, themes from literary tradition and elements from ritual, religion, philosophy, anthropology, the trilogy reexamines grand narratives in the context of some of the enduring motifs of the Western Canon, most notably violence, mental illness, the scapegoat, and the return of the dead. Developed as a work in progress over the course of three decades, it has been translated in more than twenty languages, and has given rise to musical, visual, and theatre projects. Chapters from the trilogy’s prequel, Until the Victim Becomes our Own, were published or are forthcoming in MAYDAY, Image Journal, River Styx and Chicago Review.
