Zorba the Greek

Nikos Kazantzakis

Simon and Schuster, 1953 - Fiction - 311 pages

The classic novel, international sensation, and inspiration for the film starring Anthony Quinn explores the struggle between the aesthetic and the rational, the inner life and the life of the mind.

The classic novel Zorba the Greek is the story of two men, their incredible friendship, and the importance of living life to the fullest. Zorba, a Greek working man, is a larger-than-life character, energetic and unpredictable. He accompanies the unnamed narrator to Crete to work in the narrator’s lignite mine, and the pair develops a singular relationship. The two men couldn’t be further apart: The narrator is cerebral, modest, and reserved; Zorba is unfettered, spirited, and beyond the reins of civility. Over the course of their journey, he becomes the narrator’s greatest friend and inspiration and helps him to appreciate the joy of living.

Zorba has been acclaimed as one of the most remarkable figures in literature; he is a character in the great tradition of Sinbad the Sailor, Falstaff, and Sancho Panza. He responds to all that life offers him with passion, whether he’s supervising laborers at a mine, confronting mad monks in a mountain monastery, embellishing the tales of his past adventures, or making love. Zorba the Greek explores the beauty and pain of existence, inviting readers to reevaluate the most important aspects of their lives and live to the fullest.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - ToddSherman - LibraryThing

“The human soul is heavy, clumsy, held in the mud of the flesh. Its perceptions are still coarse and brutish. It can divine nothing clearly, nothing with certainty. If it could have guessed, how ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - starbox - LibraryThing

"I think of God as being exactly like me. Only bigger, stronger, crazier." By sally tarbox on 9 July 2017 Format: Audible Audio Edition The narrator of this story is an introverted, bookish chap;his ...

Contents

• I: 5
• II: 18
• III: 33
• IV: 58
• V: 67
• VI: 82
• VII: 91
• VIII: 106
• IX: 114
• X: 124
• XI: 135
• XII: 145
• XIII: 157
• XIV: 168
• XV: 178
• XVI: 189
• XVII: 200
• XVIII: 213
• XIX: 223
• XX: 233
• XXI: 244
• XXII: 256
• XXIII: 270
• XXIV: 284
• XXV: 300

About the author

Nikos Kazantzakis was born in Crete in 1883 and studied at the University of Athens, where he received his Doctor of Law degree. Later he studied in Paris under the philosopher Henri Bergson, and he completed his studies in literature and art during four other years in Germany and Italy. In 1945, he was the Greek Minister of Education, and he was president of the Greek Society of Men of Letters. In addition, Kazantzakis was a dramatist, translator, poet, and travel writer. He was the author of The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, The Last Temptation of Christ, Saviours of God, and many other works. He died in Freiburg, Germany, in October 1957.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Zorba the Greek; Scribner paperback fiction
• Author: Nikos Kazantzakis
• Translated by: Carl Wildman
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 1953
• ISBN: 0684825546, 9780684825540
• Length: 311 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Cultural Heritage; Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary