M. Karagatsis (the pen name of Dimitris Rodopoulos) was born in Athens in 1908 and studied law in Grenoble and Athens. He is considered one of the finest Greek prose writers of the twentieth century and a central figure in the Generation of the 30s, a group of writers, poets, artists, and scholars that introduced fresh modernist currents to Greek literature and art. He was a prolific writer, with over ten published novels, as well as many novellas and plays. Besides the bold sensuality of his writing, he is known for his focus on the complexities and dark, instinctive underside of human psychology. He died in Athens in 1960.