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Kazantzakis, Nikos |
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(n ´kôs
kä´´zändzä´ks) (KEY) ,
1883?–1957, Greek writer, b. Crete. After obtaining a law degree he
studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris and traveled widely
in Europe and Asia. Attracted to communism early in life, he grew
disillusioned with revolutionary materialism and rationalism. As the
Greek minister of public welfare (1919–27) and minister of state
(1945–46) he vainly tried to reconcile the factions of left and
right. Intensely poetic and religious, Kazantzakis wrote
interpretative works on Bergson and Nietzsche. His most ambitious
work, The Odyssey, a Modern Sequel (1938, tr. 1958), a verse
tale, begins where Homer’s Odyssey ends; the new adventures
of Odysseus explore the worldviews of Jesus, Buddha, Lenin,
Nietzsche, and others. Zorba the Greek (1946, tr. 1952)
reflects enormous exuberance for life, and
Christ Recrucified (1938, tr. The Greek Passion, 1953) is
a darker tale of good and evil in which a modern man reenacts a
Christlike destiny. Other works include The Last Temptation of
Christ (1951, tr. 1960) and The Poor Man of God (1953,
tr. Saint Francis, 1962). He also translated many classics
into modern Greek. |
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