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Loading... The palace of Knosos (1983)by Nikos Kazantzakis
Ancient Crete (10) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I enjoyed this very clever retelling of the Theseus/Ariadne/Minotaur myth. Written originally for a Greek youth periodical, this seems like one of Kazantzakis' minor works; I don't feel it reaches the stature of his internationally famous works. The translation doesn't seem especially good; I imagine the Greek original is better, although I know only a few words of Greek. I did get a sense of Kazantzakis' talent and creativity. He also mixed in some of the Daedalus/Icarus and Phaedra myths. How Ariadne hit upon the idea of having Theseus' retracing his steps from the labyrinth was ingenious. I liked the portrayal of the Minotaur; although he was a monster, I felt sorry for him. I understood the main theme of the story to be the old civilization [Minoan Crete] giving way to the new [Golden Age Athens]: the Bronze Age yielding to the Iron Age. One of the translators included a few pages at the end devoted to a short history of Crete from its origin till the 1913 unification with Greece, valuable for this non-Hellene. ( ) no reviews | add a review
With the help of the princess Ariadne and other friends in the palace at Crete, Theseus enters the Labyrinth and slays the hideous Minotaur, thus spearheading the resistance of the Athenian people against King Minos. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)889.33Literature Greek and other Classical languages Medieval and modern Greek Fiction 20th centuryLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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