GREECE: Nikos Kazantzakis

Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 7:39 PM John Gehl sends this bio of the Greek author and philosopher Nikos Kazantzakis (1885-1957), who is probably best known for the popular movie made from his novel, Zorba the Greek. Another of his earthy, realistic novels, The Greek Passion, was also made into a film. More controversial was his imaginative book-turned-into film, The Last Temptation of Christ, which prompted angry reactions from both the Roman Catholic Church, which banned it, and from the Greek Orthodox Church which excommunicated him. Perhaps his most ambitious work, however, was his 1938 verse tale, The Odyssey, a Modern Sequel, in which he explores the worldviews of Buddha, Jesus, Nietzsche, Lenin, and other notable historical figures. Among his many other contributions to modern Greek literature, Kazantzakis has produced lyric poetry, philosophic essays, travel books, tragedies, and modern Greek translations of such classics as Dante's Divine Comedy and Goethe's Faust.

Kazantzakis was born in Candia, Crete, at a time when the Greek island was in revolt against the Ottoman Turks. Some of his youth was spent on the Greek Island of Náxos, where his family had fled for safety. From 1902 until 1906, Kazantzakis studied law at the University of Athens, and for the two years following he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris. After that he traveled widely in Spain, England, Russia, Egypt, Palestine, and Japan. Before World War II he settled on the island of Aegina, and after the war he served as a minister in the Greek government. During the years 1947-48 he worked in Paris for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He then moved to Antibes, France.

His early writing was more philosophical than literary, mostly attempts to synthesize his thoughts about the many disparate worldviews expounded by the philosophers he studied. He also sought to reconcile conflicts generated by modern thought and traditional Christian and Buddhist views. Later his powers as a poet and storyteller emerged to make him a best-selling author. Philosophic themes were still his potent inspiration, but now he presented them in literary dress so that his readers would relate to more comfortably. For example, the Bergsonian notion of the elan vital was embodied in the exuberant figure of Zorba, and the value of liberty was shown in the person of the Cretan resistance fighter against Turkish domination. He considered The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, his epic poem of 33,333 lines, to be his masterpiece, but recognized that he was better known for his novels. In 1956, he was awarded the International Peace Award, and in 1957 he lost the Nobel Prize by a single vote to the French writer Albert Camus. Kazantzakis died in 1957 in Germany and is buried on one of the bastions of the Venetian fort surrounding Iraklion, on the island of Crete.

See http://tinyurl.com/4eg8m for the novel and http://tinyurl.com/5eagj for the movie version of "Zorba the Greek"

RH: He is clearly a more serious writer than the film "Zorba the Greek" suggests. The history of Crete is special. It revolted against the Turks in 1898 and was united to Greece in 1913. It was occupied by the Germans in World War II. Naxos, where the Kazantzakis family sought refuge, is one of the largest islands of the Cyclades. Aegina is an island within easy reach of Athens. I am sure Harry Papasotiriou has been there. Would he, John Brademas or Jon Kofas care to comment on Kazantzakis?