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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Nikos Kazantzakis

  
 
Blake Head
23:17 / 11.04.06
I visited his grave once. It’s in Crete.

With the recent discussion on a positive reading of Judas referencing The Last Temptation of Christ, and my own interest in his work, I thought it would be interesting to have a thread on the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, what books people have read, what they think of the film adaptations of his work, whether, given that his books (in my experience) only continue to exist in the largest of UK bookstores, he will be remembered as a truly great and influential 20th century writer, or just a niche national interest.

Having read Zorba and The Last Temptation a while ago, I’ve recently enjoyed God’s Pauper, and I thought Report to Greco (his rather autobiographical last novel) was deeply introspective and beautiful, one of the most affirmative examinations of family, nation and personal philosophy that I’ve read, especially coming as it does from a writer so associated with breaking with tradition, nihilism and Nietzsche.

I’ve also got Freedom and Death and The Fratricides on my protracted to-read pile, so I might use the thread to discuss how I’m getting on, should there be any interest.

I also have a short request, in that I’d like to read his The Odyssey, but I don’t know if there’s a full translation, and I only have an excerpt in a modern Greek poetry collection. Anyone got any suggestions?
 
 
Loomis
08:03 / 12.04.06
This is getting a bit spooky, Blake Head. You are me, aren’t you? Kazantzakis is my favourite prose writer. I read all of his novels I was able to find a few years ago, but looking just now on wikipedia it seems I’ve missed Alexander the Great and At The Palace of Knossos. They seem to be retellings of the original stories though rather than straight fiction like most of his other novels.

And yes there is an English translation of his Odyssey. I saw it once in a second hand bookshop in Sydney but had to let my then girlfriend’s father have it since he had been looking for it for years and I hadn’t even been aware of its existence at the time.

I can’t say enough good things about him, so I don’t really know where to start. He is such a wonderful combination of existential/religious/philosophical angst and positive life-affirming, experiential joy. I think I also connect with it as I’m part-Greek so some of those concerns about Greek history, patriotism and the role of Greek masculinity in the twentieth-century are notions that I’m familiar with.

Zorba the Greek is the only one I’ve re-read and I loved it just as much the second time around. I might dig out some of the others for another go.

And I just looked on ABE Books and there’s a copy of the Odyssey being sold in the USA for £2.94 with £5.15 postage. If you’re quick I might even let you buy it ...
 
 
Blake Head
22:31 / 12.04.06
Slowly, slowly I am becoming the Loomis. Soon will I replace him.

I have no life of my own. I will not be missed...
 
 
Blake Head
23:34 / 12.04.06
But seriously, if I was playing favourites it would have to be Hamsun, for one, before Kazantzakis. Just because of his, well, craft really. There’s a greater suggestion of subtlety at play in his later novels; though I identify with the major themes in both their works.

Maybe you could pose a response to doubts I originally raised here? The essential dynamics in his work are evidently expressed through binary oppositions, in Zorba it’s reason vs. passion, in the Last Temptation it’s spirit vs. flesh, and in God’s Pauper he explores the limits of human compassion, literally the opposition between a mortal and a divine capacity for shared suffering. Now, while I’m sure you’d agree that it’s more complex in the substance of the novels, Kazantzakis does seem to range between these poles of experience in expressing his conception of the human condition. What maybe differentiates him from some other writers is in his insistence on both aspects of these oppositions being necessary to a full understanding of life; whether you find that he rests on these dualities or uses them to reach a higher, usually spiritual level of understanding, or not. Obviously as a good Blakean I respond to the idea that there is or can be a progression through the opposition of different aspects of human existence. Much as I enjoy their expression in the novels I’ve read so far though, part of me would love for him to find a radically different way of expressing himself, a new perspective or the challenge to himself as an author inherent in a change in style, in the works I’ve yet to read - which is why I’m particularly anticipating reading his poetry.

I don’t know if either intensity or severity would be goods words in describing his focus on these themes, but certainly there’s a commitment needed to grapple, as his characters do, with the occasionally ponderously weighty themes of religion, spirituality, desire, the responsibilities of men and scholars, and so on. Not that there isn’t energy coursing through his characters, but there’s less of that sharp Dostoevskian humour that alleviates some of the seriousness of the intense young men he hones in on. And that’s partly why I wondered that, undeservingly in my opinion, a very rich body of work might go relatively ignored because the expression of these themes (which clearly continues) isn’t really continued anywhere in such a stark vein, and (here’s me genuinely not being at all sure how well-read or well-known Kazantzakis is) might contribute to him being overlooked generally, and in this thread presently. Because if it’s just us two we might as well go down the pub…

And I just looked on ABE Books and there’s a copy of the Odyssey being sold in the USA for £2.94 with £5.15 postage. If you’re quick I might even let you buy it ...

Ooh! Y’know, I just might…
 
 
Loomis
08:50 / 05.05.06
Hmmm. Sorry for not replying sooner. I’ve been thinking about this but I’m not entirely sure I have much of an answer. It’s been 6+ years since I’ve read any of these (except Zorba which I re-read a couple of years ago) and I’ve changed a bit in that time. I think I identified more with the serious young men grappling with weighty issues than I might do now (I’m more Zorba than Boss these days), but I still think that what makes Kazantzakis so good is the humanity of his characters.

I think the vivacity of his characterisation transcends the dualities in the themes he is exploring, and like many great writers, his characters and story are not simply frames on which to stitch his themes but are themselves the primary focus. It’s interesting that you compare him unfavourably to Dostoyevsky as I find the latter unreadable. I tried numerous times to read Crime and Punishment (even tried two translations) and I found Raskolnikov to be supremely irritating and his whingeing was so shrill in my ears that it grew tiresome. By contrast I find the characters in Kazantzakis to breathe life, energy and immediacy into their struggles. Then again I don’t know if I respond to it more than someone might who doesn’t have a Greek background. Thinking more of the novels set in Greece (although I find it easy to read The Last Temptation as set there too), the explorations of a character’s commitment to principles of ethics or politics, and to what extent these commitments can only be expressed through particular models sanctioned by Greek society (eg. the angry young man), highlights the limitations of Greek society as portrayed by the author.

This also ties in with the sense of place that is conveyed in his evocations of Greece, both its landscape and people. Besides all the “spring wind swelling like the breasts of the young women” sort of stuff that creeps in occasionally, his landscapes evoke the rugged beauty of the country, which in some ways resonates with the seriousness of the characters but in other ways serves to leaven it. This has particular significance coming from an expatriate writing about his place of birth. Kazantzakis’s self-imposed exile also adds depth to the political dimension of his work, exploring the Greek struggle for independence and critiquing small town life while also celebrating it.

As for his current readership, I think a lot of modern readers will have issues with his work because it can be seen as very male focused. Men being serious and thinking deep thoughts about all sorts of weighty issues but with little interest in the rights or roles of women. I would argue that Kazantzakis is exploring Greek masculinity and its acceptable faces in society, and critiquing them, but there's certainly plenty of acceptance of misogyny there. I also tend to argue some of that away by appeal to the time and place, but maybe I'm too forgiving because I love his work so much.
 
  
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