Summary
Nikos Kazantzakis
This powerful, poignant novel by Kazantzakis takes us into the very bleeding heart of the fratricidal conflict during the Greek Civil War, fought between 1944 and 1949. The protagonist, Father Giannaros, an Orthodox priest, a man of God in the full sense of the word, in love with the Greek homeland and the Greek people, with people and life, found himself in the erased space between his compatriots blinded by hatred. Government forces - which represent tradition, law, order, the Church - and communist guerrillas, which represent the disenfranchised, the poor, the oppressed, and offer the promise of a better and more just society, found themselves in a deadly clinch. Deeply buried in their worldview and ideological trenches, unwilling to compromise, they clash and kill. In such times when it seems that choosing sides is inevitable, Father Giannaros, chooses - and offers - a third way, the way of compassion, forgiveness and laying down arms. Although tormented by countless dilemmas, with prophetic power - putting his own life on the line - he addresses the quarreling Greeks, urging them to recognize each other's humanity.
Published with the support of the EU Literary Translation program.
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