It has been said that Odysseys Elytis' national and international reputation as a poet has obscured the fact that he was an accomplished prose writer and a sensitive critic as well. Born in Crete in 1911 he published his first poems in 1935 and established himself as one of the leading figures in the "Generation of the Thirties" which also included Greece's other Nobel Laureate, George Seferis. In 1979, Elytis was awared the Nobel Prize for literature. His first volume of poetry "Open Book" was characterized by a polemical and often apologetic tone, the texts in "Carte Blanche" are more confessional and reflective, sometimes prophetic, yet always poetic and with the same boldness of expression.