Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Greece: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Traveler's Literary Companion , No 5) by Artemis Leontis ISBN: 1-883513-04-9 Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist Pub. Date: July, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: review
Comment: This book is exactly what it says it is, a traveler's literary companion. It is filled with wonderfully written short stories which take place in various regions of Greece. I read this book as I was traveling in Greece and it enriched my visit there. The stories reveal a lot about the Greek people, their history, and their culture. The quality of the writing is excellent. The introduction to the book says it better than I could. "Good stories reveal as much, or more, about a locale as any map or guidebook...Books from Whereabouts Press are essential companions for the curious traveler, and for the person who appreciates how fine writing enhances one's experience in the world.
Rating: 5
Summary: Hidden Literary Treasures
Comment: Artemis Leontis deserves a lot of credit for compiling these twenty-four short pieces of prose transaltion. Among them we find selections by Elytis, Seferis, and Kazantzakis, but also some stunningly attractive pieces by other less well-known names. The editor says in her introduction that collections of contemporary Greek prose in English translation are scarce. If that is true, it's a real pity, because most of these selections are gems of the short story form and those that are not fiction are laden with ideas and forms of expression that dazzle one with their originality, grasp of history, and understanding of life. Elli Alexiou takes us back to the unfortunate exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and shows us people of both ethnicities who were neighbors and friends and loved and respected one another. They say good bye at the dock knowing they will never see each other again, and they promise to write. The narrator's mother promises to take good care of the grave in which the Turkish family has buried their little son. She writes every now and then to tell them how the flowers around the grave blossom each year in due season. When the Turkish cemetery is bulldozed to make way for an apartment complex, she doesn't have the heart to tell them so, and keeps on writing year after year that the grave is still beautiful. Eugenia Fakinou looks at the City of Athens and the first day in a big city school through the eyes of a little girl who has been transplanted from the Island of Symi. Supposing, correctly, that the reader can interpret the experience for himself, the writer limits herself to recording the child's impressions and perceptions. Beautifully done. Dimitris Hatzis tells us about a tanner in Yioannina who slowly and painfully comes to realize that he himself is not necessarily a failure, but that the times have changed along with technologies and viewpoints and he has no choice but to make necessary adjustments. In the offerings by the three well known writers mentioned above, there are quite a few quotable sentences that make the reader stop and consider why and in what sense they express deep truth. All these selections are beautiful. They explore various apects of modern Greek life, urban and rural, and they examine, poetically, what most readers will acknowledge to be universal human values. For future editions, the editor might consider changing the books's title. As it is now, it gives the impression of being a guide book, while in fact it is something much more important, namely, a literary treasure trove.
 |
Title: Dinner with Persephone : Travels in Greece by Patricia Storace ISBN: 0679744789 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 02 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Italy : A Traveler's Literary Companion by Lawrence Venuti ISBN: 1883513146 Publisher: Whereabouts Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Spain : A Traveler's Literary Companion by Peter Bush, Lisa Dillman ISBN: 188351312X Publisher: Whereabouts Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: The Olive Grove: Travels in Greece by Katherine Kizilos ISBN: 0864424590 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller ISBN: 0811201090 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: February, 1988 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
