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Zorba the Greek (1946)

by Nikos Kazantzakis

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,485713,646 (3.88)1 / 152
Set before the start of the First World War, this moving fable sees a young English writer set out to Crete to claim a small inheritance. But when he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek man with a zest for life. Zorba has had a family and many lovers, has fought in the Balkan wars, has lived and loved - he is a simple but deep man who lives every moment fully and without shame. As their friendship develops, the Englishman is gradually won over, transformed and inspired along with the reader. Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis' most popular and enduring novel, has its origins in the author's own experiences in the Peleponnesus in the 1920s. His swashbuckling hero has legions of fans across the world and his adventures are as exhilarating now as they were on first publication in the 1950s. 'There can never be any doubt that Kazantzakis was the possessor of genius.'Sunday Telegraph… (more)
  1. 10
    The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis (Booksloth)
  2. 00
    A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe (piroclasto)
  3. 00
    The Full Catastrophe: Travels Among the New Greek Ruins by James Angelos (Artymedon)
    Artymedon: This literary fiction about a man who has become the quintessential Greek, Zorba, gives its title to the journalistic account of the present Greek economic crisis written by Greek American James Angelos.
  4. 00
    Un viaje frustrado ; Contrabando by Josep Pla (caflores)
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» See also 152 mentions

English (59)  Spanish (3)  Greek (2)  French (2)  Finnish (2)  Danish (1)  Hungarian (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (71)
Showing 1-5 of 59 (next | show all)
I fell in love with Kazantzakis long ago when I was in high school. Zorba is one of his most exuberant and hopeful novels, but laced with shadow nonetheless. Gorgeous, and so much more than the film, which did a tremendous and faithful rendering nonetheless. ( )
  BethOwl | Jan 24, 2024 |
musty
  postsign | Dec 28, 2023 |
Zorba is one of the great characters of literature - energetic, passionate and full of life. What a shame, then, that we only get to see him in the three hundred pages where he is acting like a complete arsehole. Again and again the narrator tells us how wonderful Zorba is, but there is absolutely no evidence in Zorba's actions or his words. He is impulsive, selfish and boorish. His contempt for peasants and workers is only surpassed by his contempt for women.

All of this is based on the first hundred pages of this novel before I put it down. I did skip ahead a bit to make sure the book doesn't suddenly change, and I read some reviews to check if I had missed something. It doesn't and I hadn't. ( )
  robfwalter | Jul 31, 2023 |
This is another book I read years ago, and now cannot recall what it was like. ( )
  mykl-s | Jul 24, 2023 |
One of the rare times when the movie comes close to eclipsing the book (and perhaps does). This, like Jack London's The Sea Wolf, sets to dramatize the conflict between Platonic idealism--here represented in a peculiar mid-20th century fascination with Eastern mysticism--and Epicurean materialism (represented, of course, by Zorba). Unlike London, the battle between the two is a bit more evenly handled here (and Zorba, unlike Wolf Larson, is extremely sympathetic and likeable in many ways). Even so, we end up with a similarly unsatisfying false dichotomy of human "extremes" with rather predictably unsatisfying outcomes. The portrait painted of traditional Greek culture here--Cretan in particular--is remorseless and damning in many ways. In that sense, both characters standing classically (sort of) athwart the Orthodox tradition are redeemed but largely ineffectually so--much as Plato, Epicurus (not to mention Zeno, Aristotle, etc.) are treated in Greek intellectual and cultural life even now. ( )
  JohnLocke84 | Jul 12, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 59 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (156 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Nikos Kazantzakisprimary authorall editionscalculated
Bien, PeterTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ceretti Borsini, OlgaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gauthier, YvonneTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guidall, GeorgeNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kufov, GeorgiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wildman, CarlTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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I first met him in Piraeus.
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"Weiß ich´s Chef? Das ist mir so eingefallen. Wie du so in der Ecke hocktest, ganz für dich, über das kleine Buch mit Goldschnitt gebeugt - da dachte ich mir unwillkürlich: "Der ißt gern Suppen." Es fiel mir so ein. Hör auf es ergründen zu wollen!"
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Set before the start of the First World War, this moving fable sees a young English writer set out to Crete to claim a small inheritance. But when he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek man with a zest for life. Zorba has had a family and many lovers, has fought in the Balkan wars, has lived and loved - he is a simple but deep man who lives every moment fully and without shame. As their friendship develops, the Englishman is gradually won over, transformed and inspired along with the reader. Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis' most popular and enduring novel, has its origins in the author's own experiences in the Peleponnesus in the 1920s. His swashbuckling hero has legions of fans across the world and his adventures are as exhilarating now as they were on first publication in the 1950s. 'There can never be any doubt that Kazantzakis was the possessor of genius.'Sunday Telegraph

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Book description
Zorba the Greek is the story of a Greek workman who accompanies the narrator to Crete to work a lignite mine and becomes the narrator's greatest friend and inspiration. Zorba has been acclaimed as one of the truly memorable creations of literature - a character in the great tradition of Sinbad the sailor, Falstaff, and Sancho Panza. He is a figure created on a huge scale. His years have not dimmed the gusto with which he responds to all that life offers him, 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's life is rich with all the joys and sorrows that living brings, and this is one of the great life-affirming novels of our time.
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