Nikos Kazantzakis...the accursed!

The philosophy of our blog, is to share our knowledge and our informations. In adition, it is a perfect way to present to foreigners our culture wich is very mixed. So, no matter our bad english, we insist to write in a common language for all the visitors of the blog.
I start the presentation of Greek literature, no with the ancien writers who are well known as they inspired the literature of all occidental world, but with a writer and philosopher who is less known and in the same time, very important.
Borned in Heraklion in Crete in 1883, Nikos Kazantzakis graduated from the Athens Law University and continued his master in Paris. There, he starts to study Nietzsche, Bergson and Marx and being very influenced of their philosophy. After the balcan wars, he travelled in many european and asian countries. He published many books where he describes his trips. In Asie he meets Buddhism and appreciate this way of thinking, without forget the  philosophy of Christianism.
Very active politically, Nikos Kazantzakis was minister in the government of Eleftherios Venizelos, but also he was responsable of UNESCO in the domain of the knowledge of different cultures. He's been proposed for the Nobel prize, but the war of the Roman Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox church made this honour impossible. Actually, Roman Catholic Church placed his novel "The last temptation of Christ" in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (catalogue of forbidden books) and the Greek Orthodox Church excommunicated him! Martin Scorzese created a film based on this novel and he had the same problems with the church.
The main work of his philosophy is the ''Askitiki", and he also made the translation of Homer's Iliade. Some of his most popular novels are: Zorba the Greek (film too), Freedom and Death (kapetan Michalis), The Greek Passion (O Christos xanastavronetai) and his autobiography ''Report to Greco".
In 1956 in Vienna he was awarded the International Peace Award. A year later he died.
His way of writing, very deep and direct describes perfectly the wondering of the humanity in the natural enviroment.  But it is better to close with some words of him...
"I have nothing to be afraid of, nothing to hope. I am free."

Maria

Comments

[Maria]

It is a wonderfull comment. It is a few lines of Kazantzakis. Very difficult for me to translate it anyway, but it says that in this world, where there is not balance, everything is correct. As if you put some salt in the water. The water starts to be salted like the truth that exist everywhere, invisible, strong, salted just like the tears...

Thank you Stavroula!!!!

[stavroula]

ΟΛΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΣΩΣΤΑ ΣΤΟΝ ΑΝΙΣΣΟΡΟΠΟ ΠΑΜΠΛΟΥΤΟ ΤΟΥΤΟ ΚΟΣΜΟ.ΣΑΝ ΟΠΩΣ ΑΝΑΛΥΣΕΙΣ ΣΕ ΜΙΑ ΛΕΚΑΝΗ ΝΕΡΟ ΕΝΑ ΣΠΥΡΙ ΑΛΑΤΙ ΤΟ ΝΕΡΟ ΠΑΙΡΝΕΙ ΑΡΜΥΡΑ ΟΜΟΙΑ Η ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΧΩΜΕΝΗ ΠΑΝΤΟΥ ΑΔΙΟΡΑΤΗ ΔΙΠΕΡΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΑΡΜΥΡΗ ΣΑΝ ΤΟ ΔΑΚΡΥΟ