Product Description

This autobiographical novel is one of the last things written by Kazantzakis before he died in 1957. It paints a vivid picture of his childhood in Crete, and then steadily grows into a spiritual quest that takes him to Italy, Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and Russia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107896 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

The extraordinary spiritual autobiography of Kazantzakis
This book is the spiritual autobiography of Nikos Kazantzakis, one of the most famous Greek writers of the 20th century. He was from Krete, like the famous renaissance painter el-Greco, to whom the writer is "reporting" his life. This is not an autobiography based on a day-to-day diary, this is a book about the travel through life of one of the most extraordinary spirits of our century. Interestingly, this spiritual travel starts with an actual travel (of Kazantzakis) around Greece (at his early twenties). A restless spirit, a unique character, an outstanding personality with remarkable abilities to describe and narrate, Kazantzakis drives the reader through the journey of his life, from his earliest memories as a school boy, to his valuable friendships and relations; from the figures and images that affected his views, to the thoughts and ideas that influenced his life. The part of the book where Kazantzakis describes his friendship with the poet Sikelianos was breathtaking, as the reader can observe and comprehend the meeting of two individual and different spirits and the effect and influence of the charismatic and generally optimistic Sikelianos to the eternally seeking and (spiritually) unsatisfied Kazantzakis. The tempting narrative and the attractive descriptions of stories and situations together with the spiritual concerns, the thoughts and ideas of the writer, suggest an extremely interesting reading and a book that you can never forget.

a lifetime experience
nothing else. that book is simply a life shifting book. few people read it and dind't gasp in awe from one of the greatests books in world literature history