Last year, when I focussed on Palestinians literature, I commented how grim it was because all the books were about the oppression suffered by the Palestinians, primarily from the Israelis but also from the Ottomans and British. The twentieth century was not too good for the Greeks though not as bad as it was for the Palestinians. The Greeks started the century as part of the Ottoman Empire and then had World War 1, the expulsion by the Turks from Anatolia, World War 2 with the brutal German occupation, the Civil War and finally the Colonels’ coup. All of these events appear in most of the books. Only a small handful do not mention at least one of these events and some mention more than one. As a result major upheaval, arrest, torture, injury, death, cruelty and so on feature in quite a few. I am not competent to say whether this is typical of Greek literature or only typical of translated Greek literature. Relatively few modern Greek novels have been translated into English.
Of all the twenty boks I read there was only one really cheerful one – Margarita Liberaki‘s :Τα Ψάθινα Καπέλα (Three Summers). It was published in 1946 between the end of World War 2 and the Civil War and soon became a bestseller and still sells well.
If you really want to avoid the turmoil of 20th century Greece A few of the Greek books I had reviewed previously might help but of those I read this time, you are limited to just a few: Zyranna Zateli‘s Και με το φως του λύκου επανέρχοντα ( ( At Twilight They Return). a complicated fairytale, and Alexis Stamatis‘ Bar Flaubertabout an author and his quest for Arcadia. There are also, surprisingly, two novels about mathematics – Christos Papadimitriou‘s Turing and Apostolos Doxiadis‘ Ο Θείος Πέτρος και η Εικασία του Γκόλντμπαχ (Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture). The latter was perhaps the one I enjoyed most. The two also wrote a novel together (available in English) which I have not read.
Finally, the most recent novel of those I read – Christos Chrissopoulos‘ Ο βομβιστης του Παρθενώνα ( The Parthenon Bomber), which is violent and is set in Greece but is entirely imaginary and does not involve actual Greek history.
It is quite possible I have missed a few worthwhile Greek books translated into English. I am well aware that a few have been translated into other languages. Indeed, I started reading one translated into French but gave it up as I did not enjoy it. I would mention Vassilis Alexakis who lives in France and writes in French. Two of his books have been translated into English but there are many in French.
Of course, I am already working on next year’s marathon.