I regularly listen to a podcast produced by the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), a Greek-American advocacy group, and a recent episode focused on the screening of the new film that chronicles the life of Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis.
Kazantzakis might be best known here as the author of the book Zorba the Greek, which was later adapted into a film starring Anthony Quinn.
Having seen the film several times, and then learning more about the author, I was intrigued. Kazantzakis is Cretan, where some of my family is from. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times. Two of his books, Christ Recrucified and The Last Temptation of Christ, drew ire from the Greek Orthodox Church.
He was someone that questioned everything, not neatly falling in line with a simple label, as is such an easy trap to fall into in our world today. The far right considered him left, the far left considered him right.
But his best known book is Zorba the Greek, titled in its original language as the Life and Times of Alexis Zorba, which follows a young Greek/English writer who has inherited some money, and decides to head to his fathers homeland. Along the way, he meets a boisterous older gentlemen (Zorba) and brings him along as his foreman for a mine he plans to open.
Ill save the details of the book, because A – you should read it and B – you can find that online.
What really captures the magic and quality of Kazantzakis writing is an ability to weave a story that so mirror everyday human thoughts and fears. What is your purpose? What is the meaning of life? What do you hold on to, or what do you let go of? Where do you, as an individual, draw the line on your humanity?
But most importantly, my interpretation of this particular book is the push/pull of what you are obligated to do versus what you want to do might be the strongest overarching theme.
Constantly, the author and Zorba are in situations where the internal struggle of maintaining status quo or throwing caution to the wind are pondered and discussed deeply.
What are you holding on to? What is most important? When it comes down to life and death, as it did many times throughout the book, is life a linear march from birth to death? Or, is there more you can achieve/pursue with this short time we have on this earth?
If you can’t tell, I loved this book, and it quickly moved into one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. My only regret is not reading it sooner, but after this, more Kazantzakis books will be making it to my reading list.
I’d recommend this version, translated from Greek: Zorba The Greek. This new translation is helped by directly translating from Greek, where the original English book was translated from Greek to French, then to English. (Fun side note – the Cretan dialect of Greek threw the translator for a loop, and had to hunt to fund several hundred words that appeared no where else but in Kazantzakis writings!)
One final note on the book; consider a theme of hope from this book, then put that in context that this was written during the height of the Nazi occupation of Greece during WWII. For Greece, while putting up a valiant fight, citizens were starving, villages were wiped out in retribution, and hope was at a low, but here still do we have literary excellence that can summon light.
Chris Kay 