The latest addition to my website is Pandelis Prevelakis‘ Ο Κρητικός (The Cretan). The novel essentially tells the story of the struggle for Cretan independence from the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century . We have two key characters – the very real Eleftherios Venizelos who would later become prime minister of Greece and … Read more
Every year around this time, I read only books from one country. The past two years my planned book reading was interrupted by my decision to focus on novels from two countries who were victims of brutal attacks by another country – Ukraine and Palestine. I did think of doing Lebanon and this year , … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Robert Perišić‘s Hodati kao mačka (A Cat at the End of the World). The book opens around 400 BCE. Katia is a slave in Syracuse (Sicily but then a Creek colony ruled by a tyrant). The son of his owner, Pigras, is given a cat, Miu, a rare … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Angelos Terzakis‘ Ταξίδι με τον Έσπερο [Travelling with Hesperus]. It tells the story of Glaukos, a sixteen year old rGreek boy who has lost both his parents and lives with an aunt in Belgium. The pair are visiting the family estate in Greece. Initially Glaukos goes for walks … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Amanda Michalopoulou‘s Η γυναίκα του Θεού (God’s Wife). This is, indeed, the story of a fairly ordinary young woman (aged seventeen) who marries God, the conventional Christian God, who apparently gets lonely. He insists it is a platonic relationship but, apart from that, they live as man and … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ersi Sotiropoulos‘ Τι μενει απο τη νυχτα (What’s Left of the Night). The novel tells of three days in June 1897 spent by Greek poet C(onstantine) P Cavafy and his older brother, John. The family has fallen on hard times, so money is tight. Cavafy himself struggles with … Read more
I recently attended an exhibition at Tate Britain called Aftermath, exploring the impact of World War One on British, German and French art. I have long been fascinated by this period for two reasons. Firstly I have long enjoyed the British artists of that period (and up to and including World War II). These include … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Andreas Embirikos‘ Ἄργώ ἤ Πλούς Αεροστάτου (Argo or Aerostat Flight). Embirikos was a Greek poet who also wrote some prose, including this story. It is set in early twentieth century Colombia and has no Greek characters in the story. Don Pedro is a rich Colombian, born in Spain, … Read more
The latest addition to my website is George Seferis‘ Έξι νύχτες στην Ακρόπολη (Six Nights on the Acropolis). Seferis won the Nobel Prize for his poetry. This was his only completed novel and it is easy to see why he owed his success to his poetry rather than to his novel-writing. It imitates the French … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Stratis Tsirkas‘ Ακυβέρνητες Πολιτείες (Drifting Cities. This is a trilogy of novels, often compared to The Alexandria Quartet. Like that book, it takes place during World War II, though each book is set in a different city – Jerusalem, Cairo and Alexandria, respectively. The story is centred around … Read more