Word: haricleia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...quite knows how Cavafy was drawn to poetry. Certainly there was no artistic strain evident in his family. He was born and christened Constantine Photiadis Cavafy (originally Kavafis), the last of seven brothers. His mother, Haricleia, was so bent on having a girl that she referred to him as "Helen" in the womb and dressed him in frocks during his early years...
...Haricleia had the manners of a grande dame and the temperament of a neurasthenic. In later years she expected Constantine to spend the hours of 7:30 to 10 p.m. as her dinner companion and to act as her gentleman-escort at social functions. Constantine seems not to have bridled. His father, Peter John, headed an import-export firm dealing in textiles from Manchester and Liverpool, cotton and wheat from Egypt. Peter John was a prodigal spender, and at his death the family finances were in precarious shape. Constantino's elder brothers bankrupted the firm...
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