Overview

The life of Nikos Kazantzakis--the author of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ--was as colorful and eventful as his fiction. And nowhere is his life revealed more fully or surprisingly than in his letters. Edited and translated by Kazantzakis scholar Peter Bien, this is the most comprehensive selection of Kazantzakis's letters in any language. One of the most important Greek writers of the twentieth century, Kazantzakis (1883-1957) participated in or witnessed some of the most extraordinary events of his times, including both world wars and the Spanish and Greek civil wars. As a foreign correspondent, an official in several Greek governments, and a political and artistic exile, he led a relentlessly nomadic existence, living in France, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Soviet Union, and England. He visited the Versailles Peace Conference, attended the tenth-anniversary celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution, interviewed Mussolini and Franco, and briefly served as a Greek cabinet minister--all the while producing a stream of novels, poems, plays, travel writing, autobiography, and translations. The letters collected here touch on almost every aspect of Kazantzakis's rich and tumultuous life, and show the genius of a man who was deeply attuned to the artistic, intellectual, and political events of his times.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nikos Kazantzakis ,  Peter Bien
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Volume:   25
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 5.80cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.361kg
ISBN:  

9780691147024

ISBN 10:   0691147027
Pages:   904
Publication Date:   25 December 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Language:   English

Table of Contents

Introduction ix His Importance ix A Maniacal Epistolographer x Completeness xi Annotations xi Transliteration xi Acknowledgments xii Chronology xvii The Letters ChapterI: At Law School in Athens 1902Letters 1 1903Letters 10 1904Letters 18 1905Letters 24 1906Letters 30 1907Letters 34 ChapterII: Pursuing Graduate Studies in Paris 1907Letters, continued 37 1908Letters 38 ChapterIII: Politically Active in Greece 1909Letters 46 1911Letters 48 1912Letters 50 1913Letters 55 1914Letters 56 1915Letters 61 1917Letters 66 1918Letters 72 1919Letters 78 1920Letters 82 ChapterIV: Fleeing Greece; Resident in Austria, Germany, Italy 1922Letters 84 1923Letters 141 1924Letters 191 ChapterV: * Meets Eleni Samiou; Begins Odyssey; Divorces Galatea; Travels to Soviet Union 1924Letters, continued 206 1925Letters 215 1926Letters 231 1927Letters 245 ChapterVI: Resident Almost Eighteen Months in the Soviet Union 1927Letters, continued 272 1928Letters 291 1929Letters 323 ChapterVII: Trying to Make a Career Outside of Greece, Especially in Spain 1929Letters, continued 349 1930Letters 368 1931Letters 385 1932Letters 409 1933Letters 439 ChapterVIII: Back in Greece, Having Failed Elsewhere; Traveling in Far East; Odyssey Completed and Published; Visit to England 1933Letters, continued 460 1934Letters 476 1935Letters 480 1936Letters 495 1937Letters 501 1938Letters 510 1939Letters 516 1940Letters 529 ChapterIX: Confined to Aegina during the German Occupation; Writes Zorba and Many Plays; Begins to Translate Homer's Iliad 1941Letters 537 1942Letters 545 1943Letters 559 1944Letters 590 ChapterX: In Athens during Round Two of the Civil War; Resolves to Help Liberated Greece via Political Action; Briefly a Cabinet Minister; Marries Eleni Samiou 1944Letters, continued 600 1945Letters 600 1946Letters 609 ChapterXI : Final Exile: Resides Briefly in England, Then in France; Writes Final Novels and Plays; Travels to China 1946Letters, continued 615 1947Letters 632 1948Letters 657 1949Letters 676 1950Letters 689 1951Letters 709 1952Letters 727 1953Letters 742 1954Letters 747 1955Letters 772 1956Letters 808 1957Letters 833 References Cited 853 Index 859

Reviews

In a very real sense, the present volume is the raw material of the biography, turned into an enjoyable repast by the skillful hand of its editor. -- David Holton Anglo-Hellenic Review

[T]he best possible place to start to try to understand a remarkable writer. --Mark Mazower, Times Literary Supplement In a very real sense, the present volume is the raw material of the biography, turned into an enjoyable repast by the skillful hand of its editor. --David Holton, Anglo-Hellenic Review

In a very real sense, the present volume is the raw material of the biography, turned into an enjoyable repast by the skillful hand of its editor. --David Holton, Anglo-Hellenic Review [T]he best possible place to start to try to understand a remarkable writer. --Mark Mazower, Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Peter Bien, professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at Dartmouth College, has translated Kazantzakis's ""The Last Temptation of Christ, Saint Francis"", and ""Report to Greco"". He is also the author of an authoritative two-volume study of Kazantzakis's works.

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