Satirical poet and publisher

George Molfetas published his first satirical newspaper at the age of 19. Written entirely in poetic verse, he displayed a rare wit and a keen eye for the manners and customs of his fellow Kefalonians. However, pressed into following his father's footsteps, he was sent to Athens to a pursue a degree in law. He was soon drawn to the capital's literary circles and began publishing another satirical newspaper, which earned him critical acclaim from his literary peers but was a commercial failure. Nostalgic for his homeland, Molfetas eventually returned to Kefalonia where he promptly started his third and final satirical newspaper, Zizanion. Like the previous two, it was entirely written and published by Molfetas himself and almost wholly in poetic verse. The Zinanion ran for 25 years with great success until his untimely death from pneumonia in 1916. It proved to be almost as popular in Athens as it was in his native Kefalonia and Molfetas was often courted by aspiring and incumbent politicians anxious to avoid being the target of his unique form of satire. Indeed, one of his most ardent fans was no less a figure than Eleftherios Venizelos, the noted prime minister of Greece. However, George Molfetas was not a political satirist in the modern sense. He was first and foremost a poet, and though he often drew on the microcosm of Kefalonian society for his subjects, his satire had a universal appeal and, more importantly, a velvet touch. Mastering all forms of the Greek language including archaic, demotic, katharevousa and local dialect, Molfetas' satirical poetry is sadly no longer as widely accessible to contemporary readers as it was a century ago. What can easily be discerned from reading his work, however, is that his was one of the finer minds of an undoubtedly nobler period in Greek history.