GREECE: A Traveler's Literary Companion

by Artemis--Ed. Leontis ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1997

The fifth volume in a valuable series offers 24 short stories, prose poems, and nonfictional snippets, arranged by geographical region and showcasing the work of such well-known modern writers as (Nobel Prize--winners) Odysseus Elytis and George Seferis, Nikos Kazantzakis, and Vassilis Vassilikos, as well as several others new to English translation. The range of Greece's literature is represented by modern reworkings of materials from classical myth (by Ilias Venezis and Eva Vlami), heartfelt portrayals of its people's struggles during the Greek Civil War (Chistoforos Mylionos's ""Carnival"") and WW II (Michel Fais's ""Autobiography of a Book""), and fine examples of realistic narrative (Eugenia Fakinou's ""Astradeni,"" Leonidas Zenakos's ""The Hole in the Rock"") extending toward postmodern surrealism (Vassilikos's Barthelmian ""The White Bear""). Too much space is allotted to Kazantzakis's self-important autobiographical ""Pilgrimage Through Greece."" Otherwise, this is a first-rate collection.

Pub Date: July 1, 1997

ISBN: 1883513049

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Whereabouts--dist. by Consortium

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION