Nikos Kazantzakis: A Biography Based on His Letters [Paperback]

Helen Kazantzakis (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 589 pages
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co (November 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916870626
• ISBN-13: 978-0916870621
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,299,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Soul Revealed, March 23, 2011

By 

Charles Day - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nikos Kazantzakis, A Biography Based on his Letters (Hardcover)

It took me a month of work to really get into this book. I spent much time with my atlas and a small map of Greece and the surrounding water, islands, and neighboring countries. This was made more difficult by the variant spellings and names for the Greek references in N.K.'s letters and a modern atlas using the current Greek spelling and names. Then, there was the practice N.K. had of tossing in German, Spanish, French, and Russian words which the translator sometimes translated in brackets and sometimes didn't.

The effort was enriching and helped me to appreciate N.K.'s wealth of reading and listening as well as his tremendous curiosity about other cultures and life in general.

But nothing can compare with his passion for his native culture, especially his Cretan roots. His boundless energy for study and writing boggles the mind. The primary way in which N.K. focused his mind and his energies was through the expression of his soul - his character, integrity, humility, concern for others - especially for justice and freedom - and his sense of honor. This book also provides insight into his survival skills - his resilience in the face of illnesses, deprivation of nutrition during the famines of WW II, high energy consumption by his work style, and severe cold and heat in his immediate living environment. His ability to eke out an existence and do world travel when funds were scarce is simply phenomenal.

Once I had worked with the uniqueness of his style of expressing himself I was able to enter into this book as none I've ever tackled. I'm proud to have made the effort and allowed myself to be gripped by it. I can honestly say I read every word of its 589 pp. and am now moving on to some of his books which I had not read before and which he believed to be his greatest efforts starting with the Odyssey and Report to Greco.