Zorba the Greek Paperback – December 23, 2014

I had read a previous translation from the 1960s, but this new translation by Peter Bien -- which I've now read twice -- is spectacular and a massive improvement. It really conveys a sense of Crete and its people. As for the novel itself, it is one of the greatest works I've ever read. It is richly spiritual throughout. Unlike in the movie, where Zorba joins forces with a repressed Englishman, in the original novel, it is a brilliant Greek intellectual struggling to throw off his obsession with rationality and with Buddhism who is contrasted with Alexis Zorba. If you care about life-affirming spirit in this tragic world and deep appreciation of what Nietzsche called "the little things of everyday life," then, in spite of Zorba's archaic attitudes towards females, this magnificent work is not to be missed. To read it is to be moved by it and to never forget it.

Zorba is “The Most Interesting Man in the World” advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer reached back to Zorba for casting. He is a man’s man - muscular, musical, musing (but not too much) and a Lothario curls into a ball and snoozes at a moment’s notice. Rudyard Kipling’s “If” must have been echoing in Kazantzakis’ when creating his title character. Zorba certainly kept his head about him when others were losing theirs.I approached this book from two wildly uninformed angles. The first was from either having seen, or believed I had seen, the Anthony Quinn version of Zorba the Greek in the 1960s movie. A swarthy, swashbuckling Mediterranean was what I remembered. In high school I struggled through another Nikos Kazantzakis novel but remembered it as “great literature”.No matter how I came to it, Zorba is a wonderful, wonderful read with a story and characters which etch themselves into your soul. The narrator sets out on a journey to resurrect a mine on the island of Crete. Early on he picks up a companion- the older and far more experienced Zorba - to help run the mine. Sancho Panza step aside (check the reference).Zorba invades the narrator’s physical and psychological space. In their first meeting Zorba suggests he can work at anything - after all he has arms, legs and a head. Oh, and he can also smell minerals in the earth. And, a good thing since the narrator is headed to Crete to hire a crew to mine lignite.Zorba disrupts the narrator’s obsession with books. The spoken word, not just the written word, allow the writer/narrator to develop. Zorba’s lusts - food, work, sex - are as contagious as they can possibly be. The narrator doesn’t transform to become Zorba, he adapts to become a better, fuller version of himself.Kazantzakis provides plot, characters, and Buddhist ruminations. Indeed, Zorba the Greek was written when existentialism was in full bloom. (The author came in second by one vote in Nobel Prize voting to Albert Camus in 1957). Most existential writing is anxious, verging on desperation and ennui. Zorba the Greek is life - some triumphs, more tragedies with a constant movement forward. Change happens.

I remember seeing the film based on this book, way back in the 60's, black and white, but had not read the book, which is much more philosophical even than the "live now" and LIVE, not just exist, philosophy that Zorba puts forth in the book. It was fun to read, and then I watched the film again...but the book is richer, with good descriptions of a zen-like, live in the moment, free spirit with a good heart and a full soul. I enjoyed the book a lot.

In this beautiful novel, who was later turned into an also beautiful film by Elia Kazan with Anthony Quinn, the narrator is a young, wealthy man who is a shy and sedentary intellectual. Eager to experience some action and practical life, he rents a lignite mine in the island of Crete (around 1914). Before boarding the ship, he meets and older man, a strong and experienced guy who convinces the man to hire him as a cook and foreman. Zorba becomes the manager of the mine and the right hand of the young guy. Soon his personality and manners impress him, his opposite. Zorba lives fully in the present: whatever he does, he gives himself completely to the task at hand, thinking of nothing else. Zorba savours everything that comes his way, be it joy or sorrow, he is not afraid of ridicule or embarrassed at expressing his feelings. All this is revealed to us not through theories or explanations, but little by little as Zorba acts. When they arrive to the small town near the mine, they stay for a few days at an inn-brothel run by an old courtesan, who falls head over heels before the constant and melous courting of the old Greek. The (unnamed) young man is shocked: Zorba is capable of taking to bed and old, wrinkled, and teethless woman!. What's more, Zorba is actually capable of having sex at his advanced age! Zorba plays an ancient string instrument and dances in a frenzy frequently. But he's also a hard worker and comes up with an idea for an additional business to which he dedicates much energy and time. After a few days they move to their shared small cabin, and together they go through many adventures, some funny, some sad, and they face moments of joy, uncertainty, sorrow, and even horror. They come to learn from and love each other, and their friendship becomes solid-rock.Zorba is an unforgettable character, a great literary creation. His spirit is contagious and revealing of our own cowardness and pettiness. But he's much more than a simple Dyonisus. Zorba bears the burden of a deep sorrow, and is haunted by all the people he killed in the Balkan Wars. Even so, he understands it is not worth it to live engaged in sad memories, and that is necessary to live to the fullest, as each person defines it. A great novel.

This book contains a very human episode. It’s nothing to boast of but it describes a universal human trait. Toward the end the villagers are awaiting the death of the town harlot so that they can rush her house and take her possessions. Literature as an observation of life.