Report to Greco Paperback – August 15, 1975
by Nikos Kazantzakis (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 87 ratings
See all formats and editions
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
Free with your Audible trial
Pap
Product details
Publisher : Touchstone; Fifth Printing edition (August 15, 1975)
Language : English
Customer reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Top reviews from the United States
Bugs
5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Autobiography of A Profound Thinker & Writer
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2005
Verified Purchase
The spiritual travels to find himself and his inner soul are fascinating and the geography covered is extensive and with Kazantzakis' descriptions of the scenery, one feels that they are walking right along side him from Europe to Greece, the Mid East and beyond.
At one point, Kazantzakis is traveling with his friend Buddhaki to Mt. Athos to visit the many monasteries there and they come upon a Father Makarios. They muse on the ego, separation from God, etc., and when it is time to go, the good Father says, ["Good luck. God be with you." And a moment later, mockingly: "Regards to the world." "Regards to heaven," I retorted. "And tell God it's not our fault but his-because He made the world so beautiful."] (p 225)
On a trip to Jerusalem they meet a young man who ["...was passionately condemning the dishonesty and injustice of present-day economic and social life. The masses went hungry while the great and powerful piled up fortunes. Women sold themselves, priest did not believe, both heaven and the infernal pit were here on earth. The afterlife did not exist; here was where we had to find justice and happiness.... Cries rang out: "Yes, yes, you're right!" "Fire and axe!" Only one person attempted to object." ..."It was frightening. The purpose of trip was to worship the sweet, familiar face of God-so gentle, so tortured, so filled with hopes for life everlasting." ..."...we were carrying as a terrifying gift the seed of a new, dangerous, and as yet unformed cosmogony."] (p 245)
Later and on the road to the Dead Sea, "I had found it necessary to purge my bowels and expel the demons inside me-wolves, monkeys, women; minor virtues, minor joys, successes-so that I could remain simply an upright flame directed toward heaven. Now that I was a man, what was I doing but enacting what I had so ardently desired as a child in the courtyard of our family home! A person is only born once; I would never have another chance!" (p 252)
*Kazantzakis begins to summarize his spiritual journey with, "Our journey to the fatal intellectual Golgotha thus becomes more loaded with responsibility because now, looking at the Cretans, we know that if we fail to become human, the fault is ours, ours alone. For this lofty species-man-exists, he made his appearance on earth, and there is no longer any justification whatever for our deterioration and cowardice." (p 441)*
At the end is, "Just then-as fate was in a mood to play games-I made the acquaintance of an elderly mineworker named Alexis Zorba." (Zorba the Greek). This leads Kazantzakis to an introductory chapter on Zorba wherein he states, "My life's greatest benefactors have been journeys and dreams. Very few people, living or dead, have aided my struggle. If, however, I wished to designate which people left their traces imbedded most deeply in my soul, I would perhaps designate Homer, Buddha, Nietzsche, Bergson, and Zorba."
(p 445)
Kazantzakis was a prolific writer with incredible insight and wisdom and some of his best known works are: "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Zorba the Greek". Start in on any book, though, and one will most likely feel compelled to read them all!
Read less
Customer image
20 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great Book
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Get it and read a beautiful set of concepts, like:
“Freedom was my first great desire. The second, which remains hidden within me to this day, tormenting me, was the desire for honorable sanctity. Hero together with “ethics”: such is mankind's supreme model.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis, Report to Greco.
And from an inscription on his tombstone. “I hope nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”
― Nikos Kazantzakis
But these ideas are as strange as is the so called "American Democracy', which could not be farther from the true sense of Periclean Democracy.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
Jane Rogers
5.0 out of 5 stars A unforgetable work of art!
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
I read this book many years ago, and I was spiritually changed by it. I now want to read it a second time to review the mystery of it all.
Nikos' search for more made his journey full because he was open to experience it ALL. He was a mystic individual.
My schedule hasn't allowed me the pleasure to read it the second time yet, but I am definitely looking forward to it. I'll probably want to read it a third time.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
Steven
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2019
Verified Purchase
This book is a "must read" and should be considered classic literature under a more expansive and global curriculum.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
CloudintheCoffee
3.0 out of 5 stars Brace yourself
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2020
Verified Purchase
Roughly the first half or so is enjoyable, but then the language slowly becomes so flowery and overbearing, I barely made it to the end. It reveals more about a neurotic psyche, then about anything spiritual.
Helpful
Report abuse
Jane M. Wilder
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite writer
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
A friend of mine who is a serious writer told me that Nikos Kazantzakis is her absolute favorite writer. Report to Greco wasn't in our local library and I had to have it. I have savored every chapter, made notes and gone back to read it again. It's necessary to read this book when one's brain is awake or miss something wonderful. This is the story of a dedicated man's search for his soul through travel to sacred places and meeting challenging people and ideas.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
alex
5.0 out of 5 stars Favorite
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2020
Verified Purchase
One of my favorite books.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
Sophia
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome style and glimpse into the Greek soul
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2015
Verified Purchase
Kazantzakis has the primal spirit of a god, the power of a savage, and the lyricism of a poet. Awesome style and glimpse into the Greek soul...
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
Report abuse
See all reviews
Top reviews from other countries
SoundFlyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Autobiographical but in Kazantzakis inimitable style, he uses sense ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
Autobiographical but in Kazantzakis inimitable style, he uses sense impression and metaphor interchangeably with fact to elaborate his travels and travails from birthplace Crete and back - stunning art.
3 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Priscila Ferreira
5.0 out of 5 stars all good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2019
Verified Purchase
all good
One person found this helpful
Report abuse
Jon Sleeman
5.0 out of 5 stars A journey through the spiritual life of a man
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is work that deserves to be far more widely known than it is. A beautifully written 'confession' of Kazantzakis's struggle to find a ground on which his soul can stand. It is impossible not empathise with the struggle. A powerful piece for anyone who has ever reflected.
11 people found this helpful
Report to Greco
by
4.31 · Rating details · 3,371 ratings · 360 reviews
Kazantzakis's autobiographical novel 'Report to Greco' was one of the last things he wrote before he died. It paints a vivid picture of his childhood in Crete, still occupied by the Turks, and then steadily grows into a spiritual quest that takes him to Italy, Jerusalem, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Russia and the Caucasus, and finally back to Crete again. At different times Nietzsche, Bergson, Buddha, Homer and Christ dominate as his spiritual masters. (less)
Paperback, 611 pages
Published August 1st 1975 by Touchstone Books (first published 1961)
| Review of | ISBN 9780671220273 | |
| Rating | ||
| Shelves | to-read ( 309th ) | |
| Format | Paperback edit | |
| Status | May 6, 2019 – Shelved May 6, 2019 – Shelved as: to-read | |
| Review | Write a review | |
Recommend This Book None of your friends have reviewed this book yet.
Ask the Goodreads community a question about Report to Greco
Popular Answered Questions
Best Books of the Decade: 1960s
1,340 books — 1,691 voters
Favourite Greek Books
402 books — 350 voters
More lists with this book...
Showing 1-30
Nov 02, 2010Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it
Shelves: biography, fiction, greece, 20th-century, literature
Αναφορά στον Γκρέκο = Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis
Report to Greco is a fictionalized account of Greek philosopher and writer Nikos Kazantzakis’s own life, a sort of intellectual autobiography that leads readers through his wide-ranging observations on everything from the Hegelian dialectic to the nature of human existence, all framed as a report to the Spanish Renaissance painter El Greco.
The assuredness of Kazantzakis’s prose and the nimbleness of his thinking as he grapples with life’s essential questions —who are we, and how should we be in the world?— will inspire awe and more than a little reflection from readers seeking to answer these questions for themselves. Originally published: 1961.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه نوامبر سال1989میلادی
عنوان: گزارش به خاک یونان: عریضه به ال کرگو، نویسنده: نیکوس کازانتزاکیس؛ مترجم: صالح حسینی؛ چاپ اول کتاب به سال1368؛ انتشارات نیلوفر؛ در561ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1368؛ ویراست دوم: تهران، نیلوفر، چاپ چهارم سال1384، در555ص؛ شابک9644482581؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان یونان - سده 20م
فهرست: «پیشگفتار»؛ «نیاکان»؛ «پدر»؛ «مادر»؛ «پسر»؛ «دبستان»؛ «مرگ پدر بزرگم»؛ «کرت در برابر ترکیه»؛ «افسانه قدیسان»؛ «آرزوی گریز»؛ «کشتار»؛ «ناکسوس»؛ «آزادی»؛ «مشکلات نوجوانی»؛ «دختر ایرلندی»؛ «آتن»؛ «بازگشت به کرت گنوسوس»؛ «زیارت یونان»؛ «ایتالیا»؛ «دوست شاعرم کوه آتوس»؛ «کرت»؛ «پاریس نیچه شهید بزرگ»؛ «ویَن بیماری من»؛ «برلین»؛ «روسیه»؛ «قفقاز»؛ «پسر عیاش باز میگردد»؛ «زوربا»؛ «هنگامی که نهال ادیسه در درونم بار داد»؛ «نگاه کرتی»، «پی گفتار»؛
این کتاب شرح سفرهای نویسنده، به کشورهای دنیا از جمله «یونان»، «فرانسه»، «آلمان»، «روسیه»، «اتریش»، «قفقاز»، «اورشلیم» و «بیابان کوه سینا»، برای بیان سیر تحول فکری نویسنده است؛ یک بخش از این کتاب به توصیف شخصیتی به نام «زوربا» اختصاص دارد که نویسنده در کتاب دیگری به نام «زوربای یونانی» به وی میپردازند؛ نویسنده در سرلوحهٔ این کتاب مینویسند: (تمام روح من فریادی است، و تمامی اثر من، تفسیر این فریاد)؛ شرحی اتوبیوگرافی گونه، و در شیوه ی رمان است، قهرمان و راوی، خود نویسنده، «کازانتزاکیس» است، حدیث سیر و سلوک خویش باز میگویند؛ اقرار نیوش ایشان، خاک محبوبش «کـِر ِت» است؛ «کرت» هماره فرزندانی را خواسته: مبارز و سلاح در دست؛ و ایشان اینبار، گزارش مبارزه ی خویش را، البته با قلم خویش باز میگویند
نقل از متن: (پدر: پدرم به ندرت حرف میزد، هیچوقت نمیخندید، هیچگاه خود را قاطی نزاع و جنجال نمیکرد؛ فقط گاهی اوقات دندان به هم میفشرد، یا مشت گره میکرد؛ اگر برحسب تصادف بادام سخت پوستی را به دست داشت، با انگشتانش آن را فشار میداد و خردش میکرد؛ یکبار وقتی دید که آغایی پالان بردوش یک نفر مسیحی گذاشته، و مانند خر بر او بار نهاده است، چنان خشمی بر او مستولی شد، که به سوی آن ترک رفت؛ میخواست به او فحش بدهد؛ اما لبانش به هم برآمده بودند؛ چون نمیتوانست کلامی بر زبان آورد، مثل اسب، شروع به شیهه کشیدن کرد؛ آن وقتها من بچه بودم، و در حالیکه از ترس به خود میلرزیدم، به تماشا ایستاده بودم؛ یک روز ظهر هم، که از کوچه ی باریکی میگذشت، تا برای ناهار به خانه برود، صدای جیغ و داد زنان را شنید، و بسته شدن درها را؛ تـُرک نکره ی مستی با شمشیر آخته، سر به دنبال مسیحیان گذاشته بود؛ پدرم را که دید، در دم به سوی او حمله ور شد؛ گرما بیداد میکرد، و پدرم که خسته ی کار بود؛ دل و دماغ نزاع را نداشت؛ لحظه ای پیش خود فکر کرد که به کوچه ی دیگری بزند، و فرار کند- کسی نگاه نمیکرد؛ اما چنین کاری شرم آور بود؛ پیش بندی را که بر تن داشت، باز کرد و آن را دور مشتش پیچید؛ و درست لحظه ای که ترک نکره شروع به بالا بردن شمشیرش نمود، مشت محکمی به شکم او کوبید، و پخش زمینش کرد؛ آنگاه خم شد و شمشیر را از دست ترک بیرون آورد، و راهش را به سوی منزل کشید؛ مادرم پیراهن تمیزی برای او آورد؛ خیس عرق بود؛ و من -گمان میکنم در حدود سه سالم بود- بر روی صندلی نشسته بودم، و خیره نگاهش میکردم؛ سینه اش پر مو بود، و بخار از آن بلند بود؛ به محض آنکه پیراهنش را عوض کرد، و خنک شد؛ شمشیر را در کنار من بر روی صندلی انداخت؛ سپس رو به زنش کرد، و گفت: وقتی که پسرت بزرگ شد و به مدرسه رفت، این را به عنوان قلم تراش به او بده.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛14/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی (less)
Report to Greco is a fictionalized account of Greek philosopher and writer Nikos Kazantzakis’s own life, a sort of intellectual autobiography that leads readers through his wide-ranging observations on everything from the Hegelian dialectic to the nature of human existence, all framed as a report to the Spanish Renaissance painter El Greco.
The assuredness of Kazantzakis’s prose and the nimbleness of his thinking as he grapples with life’s essential questions —who are we, and how should we be in the world?— will inspire awe and more than a little reflection from readers seeking to answer these questions for themselves. Originally published: 1961.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه نوامبر سال1989میلادی
عنوان: گزارش به خاک یونان: عریضه به ال کرگو، نویسنده: نیکوس کازانتزاکیس؛ مترجم: صالح حسینی؛ چاپ اول کتاب به سال1368؛ انتشارات نیلوفر؛ در561ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1368؛ ویراست دوم: تهران، نیلوفر، چاپ چهارم سال1384، در555ص؛ شابک9644482581؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان یونان - سده 20م
فهرست: «پیشگفتار»؛ «نیاکان»؛ «پدر»؛ «مادر»؛ «پسر»؛ «دبستان»؛ «مرگ پدر بزرگم»؛ «کرت در برابر ترکیه»؛ «افسانه قدیسان»؛ «آرزوی گریز»؛ «کشتار»؛ «ناکسوس»؛ «آزادی»؛ «مشکلات نوجوانی»؛ «دختر ایرلندی»؛ «آتن»؛ «بازگشت به کرت گنوسوس»؛ «زیارت یونان»؛ «ایتالیا»؛ «دوست شاعرم کوه آتوس»؛ «کرت»؛ «پاریس نیچه شهید بزرگ»؛ «ویَن بیماری من»؛ «برلین»؛ «روسیه»؛ «قفقاز»؛ «پسر عیاش باز میگردد»؛ «زوربا»؛ «هنگامی که نهال ادیسه در درونم بار داد»؛ «نگاه کرتی»، «پی گفتار»؛
این کتاب شرح سفرهای نویسنده، به کشورهای دنیا از جمله «یونان»، «فرانسه»، «آلمان»، «روسیه»، «اتریش»، «قفقاز»، «اورشلیم» و «بیابان کوه سینا»، برای بیان سیر تحول فکری نویسنده است؛ یک بخش از این کتاب به توصیف شخصیتی به نام «زوربا» اختصاص دارد که نویسنده در کتاب دیگری به نام «زوربای یونانی» به وی میپردازند؛ نویسنده در سرلوحهٔ این کتاب مینویسند: (تمام روح من فریادی است، و تمامی اثر من، تفسیر این فریاد)؛ شرحی اتوبیوگرافی گونه، و در شیوه ی رمان است، قهرمان و راوی، خود نویسنده، «کازانتزاکیس» است، حدیث سیر و سلوک خویش باز میگویند؛ اقرار نیوش ایشان، خاک محبوبش «کـِر ِت» است؛ «کرت» هماره فرزندانی را خواسته: مبارز و سلاح در دست؛ و ایشان اینبار، گزارش مبارزه ی خویش را، البته با قلم خویش باز میگویند
نقل از متن: (پدر: پدرم به ندرت حرف میزد، هیچوقت نمیخندید، هیچگاه خود را قاطی نزاع و جنجال نمیکرد؛ فقط گاهی اوقات دندان به هم میفشرد، یا مشت گره میکرد؛ اگر برحسب تصادف بادام سخت پوستی را به دست داشت، با انگشتانش آن را فشار میداد و خردش میکرد؛ یکبار وقتی دید که آغایی پالان بردوش یک نفر مسیحی گذاشته، و مانند خر بر او بار نهاده است، چنان خشمی بر او مستولی شد، که به سوی آن ترک رفت؛ میخواست به او فحش بدهد؛ اما لبانش به هم برآمده بودند؛ چون نمیتوانست کلامی بر زبان آورد، مثل اسب، شروع به شیهه کشیدن کرد؛ آن وقتها من بچه بودم، و در حالیکه از ترس به خود میلرزیدم، به تماشا ایستاده بودم؛ یک روز ظهر هم، که از کوچه ی باریکی میگذشت، تا برای ناهار به خانه برود، صدای جیغ و داد زنان را شنید، و بسته شدن درها را؛ تـُرک نکره ی مستی با شمشیر آخته، سر به دنبال مسیحیان گذاشته بود؛ پدرم را که دید، در دم به سوی او حمله ور شد؛ گرما بیداد میکرد، و پدرم که خسته ی کار بود؛ دل و دماغ نزاع را نداشت؛ لحظه ای پیش خود فکر کرد که به کوچه ی دیگری بزند، و فرار کند- کسی نگاه نمیکرد؛ اما چنین کاری شرم آور بود؛ پیش بندی را که بر تن داشت، باز کرد و آن را دور مشتش پیچید؛ و درست لحظه ای که ترک نکره شروع به بالا بردن شمشیرش نمود، مشت محکمی به شکم او کوبید، و پخش زمینش کرد؛ آنگاه خم شد و شمشیر را از دست ترک بیرون آورد، و راهش را به سوی منزل کشید؛ مادرم پیراهن تمیزی برای او آورد؛ خیس عرق بود؛ و من -گمان میکنم در حدود سه سالم بود- بر روی صندلی نشسته بودم، و خیره نگاهش میکردم؛ سینه اش پر مو بود، و بخار از آن بلند بود؛ به محض آنکه پیراهنش را عوض کرد، و خنک شد؛ شمشیر را در کنار من بر روی صندلی انداخت؛ سپس رو به زنش کرد، و گفت: وقتی که پسرت بزرگ شد و به مدرسه رفت، این را به عنوان قلم تراش به او بده.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛14/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی (less)
May 06, 2011Peycho Kanev rated it it was amazing
What a writer! It is my fault that I discovered him just now, but I will read all of his work.
This is not a memoir or auto-biography as such, but something much deeper, much profound and spiritual. At times, the Christian and the spiritual preaching are too much for me, but his prose-poetry style clears it’s all.
And you have to visit Greece at least once to feel what he is talking about! The magic of this country will get you by the throat after you sink deep in his words.
This is not a memoir or auto-biography as such, but something much deeper, much profound and spiritual. At times, the Christian and the spiritual preaching are too much for me, but his prose-poetry style clears it’s all.
And you have to visit Greece at least once to feel what he is talking about! The magic of this country will get you by the throat after you sink deep in his words.
Report to Greco
Vienna 1921. Closeted inside an apartment there, my favourite is deeply engrossed in writing a play on "Buddha'. He had been grooming himself into a state of ascetic discipline for some time to write this play. Cut off from the enticing city outside, he listened to the voice of this new master sitting inside him - " Desire is flame, love is flame, virtue, hope ,"I" and "you", heaven and hell are flames. One thing and one thing only is light: - the renouncement of flame". His mind was like a yellow heliotrope and Buddha the sun. Slowly, the writer was getting submerged in Buddha.
When he finished the play, he felt that he had paved a new road to salvation. Now he had no fear as no desire could conquer him. He slowly opened the window of his apartment. Leaning out of the window he looked at the men, women, cars, groceries, fruits and drinks on the street outside. He then went to the street outside to mingle with that wave of crowd and to breathe the city. He walked to the nearby movie theatre to see what was going on there. The movie appeared boring. Next to him sat a girl and he could smell her cinnamon breath. From time to time her knee touched him. He shuddered, but he did not draw away. In that semi darkness, he could see her smiling glance. He got up to leave and she followed him. Strangely, he struck up a conversation with her and soon they were in a park outside. It was summer and the night was sweet as honey. The moon shone above and the song of a nightingale hidden deep in the lilacs could be heard.
"Frieda, Will you spent night with me ". These terrible words escaped from his lips.
"Not tonight. I will come Tomorrow", the girl replied
He came back to his apartment. Something terrible suddenly happened to him. His face started swelling and he heard the blood rushing to his head. His soul had become enraged. Little by little, his lips, cheeks and forehead bloated into a big mass. Stumbling along the room, he went to look at the mirror and he was aghast with his horribly disfigured face. His eyes were like two barely visible slits.
The next day he remembered his promise to the girl Frieda. He called the chambermaid and gave her a telegram to be sent to Frieda- "Don't come today, Come tomorrow". A day went by, two, three and a week had passed with no improvement in his illness. Afraid that the girl might come, he kept on sending her the telegram- "Don't come today, come tomorrow". Finally he could not stand it any longer and fixed an appointment with Dr. William Stekel, the renowned professor of psychology and disciple of Sigmund Freud.
The professor began to hear his confession. He related his life history, the events in Vienna, his search for salvation in Buddha. At the end, the professor burst into a shrill, hysterical laughter and said -"Enough, Enough!, the professor laughed a bit sarcastically and continued, “This disease you are suffering is called "Ascetics' disease" and it is extremely rare in our times, because what body, today, obeys the soul?. In ancient times, the saints who stayed in Theban deserts used to run to the nearest city when they felt compelled to sleep with a woman. Just as they reached the city, their face used to turn as revolting just as yours. With such a face they could not face any woman. So they ran back to their hermitage in desert thanking God for delivering them from sin. You have the same situation. You will be rid of the mask glued to your face only if you leave this city".
My writer returned home. He did not believe it. Scientific fairy tales, he said to himself. He waited another two weeks. The disease showed no sign of parting. Finally, one morning he packed his suitcase and headed to the railway station to leave Vienna. The city was awakening. The sun had come down to the streets. He was in a fine mood and he felt weightless as he walked. He could move his eyes now. A cool breeze caressed his face like a compassionate hand. He could feel the swelling subsiding. When he reached the station, he took out his hand mirror and uttered a cry of joy. He had regained his normal face. The disease was gone.
In a country like India, where spiritual experience is full of sham shading, this experience of a spiritual adventurist is profound and authentic. The man who underwent this spiritual adventure was the literary giant of Modern Greece and one of the greatest novelists of the last century- Nikos Kazantzakis. This is not only the opinion of a humble admirer like me but also of great men like Albert Schweitzer, Jawaharlal Nehru and great writers like Thomas Mann and Albert Camus. (In 1957 when Camus received Noble prize, Kazantzakis was slated to win. The Academy thought he fostered communist ideologies and so he lost the prize by one vote. A month later Camus wrote a graceful letter stating that Kazantzakis had deserved the Nobel 'a hundred times more' than himself .)
There are certain writers who affect the very marrow of our being from the first reading itself. Like good wine, years have only matured my profound appreciation of this writer. No writer of the last century has experienced the interminable struggle between the flesh and the spirit as Kazantzakis. As a result, every molecule of his writing carries the dye of his flesh and blood.
Kazantzakis was born in Crete, an island that is now part of Greece but was once a Turkish colony. During the Cretan revolt of 1897, his family moved to Greece. He studied law in Athens and in 1907 he went to study under the great philosopher Henri Bergson, who influenced his writing considerably. Bergson's 'Elan vital'-the life force that can conquer matter became his motif in many of his astonishingly beautiful Novels like- Zorba the Greek, Greek Passion (I personally rank it as one the ten greatest novels of Twentieth century) , Freedom or Death, Last temptation of Christ and his famous autobiography "Report to Greco", from which I have summarized the above incident. In 1945, he married his lifetime companion and Greek intellectual, Helen Kazantzakis. Helen has incidentally written a famous biography about Mahatma Gandhi.
Kazantzakis was a highly religious man but he did not belong to any religion. He imbibed many ideologies like socialism and communism but never lifted any flag. The Greek Orthodox Church excommunicated him as he sought his own Christ in his famous Novel "Last Temptation'. When he died on October, 1957 due to an Asian Flue he contracted in a clinic in Germany, his body was not allowed a burial in Greek soil. He came to sleep beside his Grandfather in his birthplace Herakleion in Crete. His epitaph is a summation of his ideals- "I hope for Nothing, I fear nothing, I am free".
There is another fascinating incident that Kazantzakis mentions at the beginning of his autobiographical novel 'Report to Greco'. It is about his imaginary encounter with another great Cretan El Greco, the famous painter. He imagines himself being led up to the summit of 'God-trodden Sinai'. Suddenly he senses that the God with whom he has wrestled all his life is about to appear for a final reckoning. He turns, 'with a shudder'. But-
"It was not Jehovah, it was you, grandfather, from the beloved soil of Crete. You stood there before me, a stern nobleman, with your small snow-white goatee, dry compressed lips, your ecstatic glance so filled with flames and wings. And roots of thyme were tangled in your hair. You looked at me, and as you looked at me I felt that this world was a cloud charged with thunderbolts and wind, man's soul a cloud charged with thunderbolts and wings, that God puffs above them, and that salvation does not exist."
Yet Greco's message is not that 'salvation does not exist'. When Kazantzakis beseeches him for a command, Greco answers- "Reach what you can, child." But this does not satisfy him. He asks again. '"Grandfather give me a more difficult, more Cretan command." ' Now Greco vanishes, but 'a cry was left on Sinai's peak, an upright cry full of command, and the air trembled: "Reach what you cannot!"
'Reach what you cannot' can be a fine motto for every one of us. Unfortunately, we fail to transcend and realize our full potential in our daily drudgery for survival. We become slaves to the taverns of hope and cellars of fear in the path of our life. We have to smash boundaries, deny whatever our daily eyes see, rivet our eyes on our mission, ascend without descend and die every moment to give birth to the impossible. That alone gives a human meaning to our superhuman struggle.
May you have the courage to liberate yourself from the manacles of fear and forge ahead with full steam to "Reach what you cannot".
Read this book and get transformed yourself
(less)
Vienna 1921. Closeted inside an apartment there, my favourite is deeply engrossed in writing a play on "Buddha'. He had been grooming himself into a state of ascetic discipline for some time to write this play. Cut off from the enticing city outside, he listened to the voice of this new master sitting inside him - " Desire is flame, love is flame, virtue, hope ,"I" and "you", heaven and hell are flames. One thing and one thing only is light: - the renouncement of flame". His mind was like a yellow heliotrope and Buddha the sun. Slowly, the writer was getting submerged in Buddha.
When he finished the play, he felt that he had paved a new road to salvation. Now he had no fear as no desire could conquer him. He slowly opened the window of his apartment. Leaning out of the window he looked at the men, women, cars, groceries, fruits and drinks on the street outside. He then went to the street outside to mingle with that wave of crowd and to breathe the city. He walked to the nearby movie theatre to see what was going on there. The movie appeared boring. Next to him sat a girl and he could smell her cinnamon breath. From time to time her knee touched him. He shuddered, but he did not draw away. In that semi darkness, he could see her smiling glance. He got up to leave and she followed him. Strangely, he struck up a conversation with her and soon they were in a park outside. It was summer and the night was sweet as honey. The moon shone above and the song of a nightingale hidden deep in the lilacs could be heard.
"Frieda, Will you spent night with me ". These terrible words escaped from his lips.
"Not tonight. I will come Tomorrow", the girl replied
He came back to his apartment. Something terrible suddenly happened to him. His face started swelling and he heard the blood rushing to his head. His soul had become enraged. Little by little, his lips, cheeks and forehead bloated into a big mass. Stumbling along the room, he went to look at the mirror and he was aghast with his horribly disfigured face. His eyes were like two barely visible slits.
The next day he remembered his promise to the girl Frieda. He called the chambermaid and gave her a telegram to be sent to Frieda- "Don't come today, Come tomorrow". A day went by, two, three and a week had passed with no improvement in his illness. Afraid that the girl might come, he kept on sending her the telegram- "Don't come today, come tomorrow". Finally he could not stand it any longer and fixed an appointment with Dr. William Stekel, the renowned professor of psychology and disciple of Sigmund Freud.
The professor began to hear his confession. He related his life history, the events in Vienna, his search for salvation in Buddha. At the end, the professor burst into a shrill, hysterical laughter and said -"Enough, Enough!, the professor laughed a bit sarcastically and continued, “This disease you are suffering is called "Ascetics' disease" and it is extremely rare in our times, because what body, today, obeys the soul?. In ancient times, the saints who stayed in Theban deserts used to run to the nearest city when they felt compelled to sleep with a woman. Just as they reached the city, their face used to turn as revolting just as yours. With such a face they could not face any woman. So they ran back to their hermitage in desert thanking God for delivering them from sin. You have the same situation. You will be rid of the mask glued to your face only if you leave this city".
My writer returned home. He did not believe it. Scientific fairy tales, he said to himself. He waited another two weeks. The disease showed no sign of parting. Finally, one morning he packed his suitcase and headed to the railway station to leave Vienna. The city was awakening. The sun had come down to the streets. He was in a fine mood and he felt weightless as he walked. He could move his eyes now. A cool breeze caressed his face like a compassionate hand. He could feel the swelling subsiding. When he reached the station, he took out his hand mirror and uttered a cry of joy. He had regained his normal face. The disease was gone.
In a country like India, where spiritual experience is full of sham shading, this experience of a spiritual adventurist is profound and authentic. The man who underwent this spiritual adventure was the literary giant of Modern Greece and one of the greatest novelists of the last century- Nikos Kazantzakis. This is not only the opinion of a humble admirer like me but also of great men like Albert Schweitzer, Jawaharlal Nehru and great writers like Thomas Mann and Albert Camus. (In 1957 when Camus received Noble prize, Kazantzakis was slated to win. The Academy thought he fostered communist ideologies and so he lost the prize by one vote. A month later Camus wrote a graceful letter stating that Kazantzakis had deserved the Nobel 'a hundred times more' than himself .)
There are certain writers who affect the very marrow of our being from the first reading itself. Like good wine, years have only matured my profound appreciation of this writer. No writer of the last century has experienced the interminable struggle between the flesh and the spirit as Kazantzakis. As a result, every molecule of his writing carries the dye of his flesh and blood.
Kazantzakis was born in Crete, an island that is now part of Greece but was once a Turkish colony. During the Cretan revolt of 1897, his family moved to Greece. He studied law in Athens and in 1907 he went to study under the great philosopher Henri Bergson, who influenced his writing considerably. Bergson's 'Elan vital'-the life force that can conquer matter became his motif in many of his astonishingly beautiful Novels like- Zorba the Greek, Greek Passion (I personally rank it as one the ten greatest novels of Twentieth century) , Freedom or Death, Last temptation of Christ and his famous autobiography "Report to Greco", from which I have summarized the above incident. In 1945, he married his lifetime companion and Greek intellectual, Helen Kazantzakis. Helen has incidentally written a famous biography about Mahatma Gandhi.
Kazantzakis was a highly religious man but he did not belong to any religion. He imbibed many ideologies like socialism and communism but never lifted any flag. The Greek Orthodox Church excommunicated him as he sought his own Christ in his famous Novel "Last Temptation'. When he died on October, 1957 due to an Asian Flue he contracted in a clinic in Germany, his body was not allowed a burial in Greek soil. He came to sleep beside his Grandfather in his birthplace Herakleion in Crete. His epitaph is a summation of his ideals- "I hope for Nothing, I fear nothing, I am free".
There is another fascinating incident that Kazantzakis mentions at the beginning of his autobiographical novel 'Report to Greco'. It is about his imaginary encounter with another great Cretan El Greco, the famous painter. He imagines himself being led up to the summit of 'God-trodden Sinai'. Suddenly he senses that the God with whom he has wrestled all his life is about to appear for a final reckoning. He turns, 'with a shudder'. But-
"It was not Jehovah, it was you, grandfather, from the beloved soil of Crete. You stood there before me, a stern nobleman, with your small snow-white goatee, dry compressed lips, your ecstatic glance so filled with flames and wings. And roots of thyme were tangled in your hair. You looked at me, and as you looked at me I felt that this world was a cloud charged with thunderbolts and wind, man's soul a cloud charged with thunderbolts and wings, that God puffs above them, and that salvation does not exist."
Yet Greco's message is not that 'salvation does not exist'. When Kazantzakis beseeches him for a command, Greco answers- "Reach what you can, child." But this does not satisfy him. He asks again. '"Grandfather give me a more difficult, more Cretan command." ' Now Greco vanishes, but 'a cry was left on Sinai's peak, an upright cry full of command, and the air trembled: "Reach what you cannot!"
'Reach what you cannot' can be a fine motto for every one of us. Unfortunately, we fail to transcend and realize our full potential in our daily drudgery for survival. We become slaves to the taverns of hope and cellars of fear in the path of our life. We have to smash boundaries, deny whatever our daily eyes see, rivet our eyes on our mission, ascend without descend and die every moment to give birth to the impossible. That alone gives a human meaning to our superhuman struggle.
May you have the courage to liberate yourself from the manacles of fear and forge ahead with full steam to "Reach what you cannot".
Read this book and get transformed yourself
(less)
Feb 15, 2008Ade Bailey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: biography-autobiography, fiction
A stunning autoiography of the Greek hero. In the best tradition of autobiography, about a journey shorn of irrelevant personal history. A breathtaking trip through his spiritual odyssey from Christianity, through Nietzche, Buddhism, Communism and more back to the point where old he has thickened into youth. Entelechy.
Feb 03, 2014Jan rated it it was amazing
Shelves: autobiographical, 20th-century-mid, philosophy, favorites, literature-world
I came across this book years ago in a used book store without any knowledge of what it was. I was blown away. What a remarkable book! It is a ‘fictional autobiography’ by a skilled writer with a strong background in philosophy.
It is the story of Kazantzakis’ lifelong spiritual, moral, and intellectual journey. He chose Homer, Bergson, Nietzsche, Buddha, Lenin, St. Francis of Assisi, and Zorba as his inspiration.
What did he learn? He denounces the hope that leads many to believe in heaven and the fear of hell that cripples us and leads to a fanaticism that keeps us from fully embracing our lives here. He believes our search for meaning, our personal odyssey, is ennobling in itself. Life is a struggle, often against dark and terrifying forces, and we can find joy by having the courage to take responsibility for our lives.
On his tombstone on Crete, there is no name, no dates, only the words ‘I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.’
You can find in his message the mystical traditions of Gnostics, the Kabbalah, Sufism, and Buddhism as well as in pre-Socratic thinking. I was also reminded of Spinoza pantheism.
But what stood out for me was how he presented his thoughts. He writes with great emotion, exuberant, and at times almost dreamlike, yet it always sounded authentic and sincerely felt. I don’t know how anyone can read it without being moved. Albert Schweitzer tells us ‘no author has made such a deep impression on me. His work has depth and durable value because he has experienced so much. . . and suffered so much.’ A surprising and extraordinary book.
(less)
It is the story of Kazantzakis’ lifelong spiritual, moral, and intellectual journey. He chose Homer, Bergson, Nietzsche, Buddha, Lenin, St. Francis of Assisi, and Zorba as his inspiration.
What did he learn? He denounces the hope that leads many to believe in heaven and the fear of hell that cripples us and leads to a fanaticism that keeps us from fully embracing our lives here. He believes our search for meaning, our personal odyssey, is ennobling in itself. Life is a struggle, often against dark and terrifying forces, and we can find joy by having the courage to take responsibility for our lives.
On his tombstone on Crete, there is no name, no dates, only the words ‘I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.’
You can find in his message the mystical traditions of Gnostics, the Kabbalah, Sufism, and Buddhism as well as in pre-Socratic thinking. I was also reminded of Spinoza pantheism.
But what stood out for me was how he presented his thoughts. He writes with great emotion, exuberant, and at times almost dreamlike, yet it always sounded authentic and sincerely felt. I don’t know how anyone can read it without being moved. Albert Schweitzer tells us ‘no author has made such a deep impression on me. His work has depth and durable value because he has experienced so much. . . and suffered so much.’ A surprising and extraordinary book.
(less)
Reading Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel Report To Greco in the back room of the store. The world begins to get loud. The prologue begins. “I collect my tools:
sight
smell
touch
taste
hearing
intellect
Night has fallen, the day’s work is done. I return like a mole to my home, the ground. Not because I am tired and cannot work. I am not tired. But the sun has set.”
Tools are what I get from people. Sometimes I gain tools from living in the world and other times my tools are garnered through the living of others. Sometimes I’m working on being with people and other times I’m working on being with myself. Right now I am glad to have chosen to be with Kazantzakis’ novel because his struggle to reconcile the duality of his ancestors/nature within himself transfers an ease to my own struggling mind. Not a sedentary ease, but one that motivates me to figure out how to communicate/connect in better ways with what I desire, my Golgotha. People call for an end to their struggles; I hope to love mine. Because I can see that struggle will not cease in my world; it’s too rambunctious, too willful, too imaginary.
****
I got extremely caught up in this epic struggle, a look at the author’s life with all the embellishes and harsh critiques one has of one’s self. At first, I was a bit surprised at my unflagging interest because of the book’s heavy religious discussions, but it was more of a metaphysical questioning than an attempt to settle into any one religion. Kazantzakis journeys through Christianity, Nietzsche, Buddha, Lenin, Zorba, and many others, never reaching a summit (it’s okay to not reach the summit we find out), only stopped by death.
Some excerpts that I had to write down, for its’ look or for its’ meat. Here are a few; I’ll spare you the lengthy ones.
“And first of all I’m going to have it out with Michelangelo. The other day I saw a small copy of the Last Judgment he painted at Rome. I don’t like it.”
“The Church of Christ in the state to which the clergy had brought it suddenly seemed to me an enclosure where thousands of panic-stricken sheep bleat away night and day, leaning one against the other and stretching out their necks to lick the hand and knife that are slaughtering them.”
“Whoever says salvation exists is a slave, because he keeps weighing each of his words and deeds at every moment. ‘Will I go to heaven or to hell?’…How can a soul that hopes be free? Whoever hopes is afraid both of his life and the life to come; he hangs indecisively in the air and waits for luck or God’s mercy.”
“We ascended because the very act of ascending, for us, was happiness, salvation, and paradise.”
Okay, I’ll stop there, but I feel so good at having been inspired to think so much about the beliefs that I hold as an individual that it is hard to stop mulling it over. I don’t necessarily agree with the above or other statements although I feel I have been shown so many strong truths. Much better than a typically plot driven story, more interactive. More pertinent. Where he goes does not matter so much as what he synthesizes in his head. The struggle. (less)
sight
smell
touch
taste
hearing
intellect
Night has fallen, the day’s work is done. I return like a mole to my home, the ground. Not because I am tired and cannot work. I am not tired. But the sun has set.”
Tools are what I get from people. Sometimes I gain tools from living in the world and other times my tools are garnered through the living of others. Sometimes I’m working on being with people and other times I’m working on being with myself. Right now I am glad to have chosen to be with Kazantzakis’ novel because his struggle to reconcile the duality of his ancestors/nature within himself transfers an ease to my own struggling mind. Not a sedentary ease, but one that motivates me to figure out how to communicate/connect in better ways with what I desire, my Golgotha. People call for an end to their struggles; I hope to love mine. Because I can see that struggle will not cease in my world; it’s too rambunctious, too willful, too imaginary.
****
I got extremely caught up in this epic struggle, a look at the author’s life with all the embellishes and harsh critiques one has of one’s self. At first, I was a bit surprised at my unflagging interest because of the book’s heavy religious discussions, but it was more of a metaphysical questioning than an attempt to settle into any one religion. Kazantzakis journeys through Christianity, Nietzsche, Buddha, Lenin, Zorba, and many others, never reaching a summit (it’s okay to not reach the summit we find out), only stopped by death.
Some excerpts that I had to write down, for its’ look or for its’ meat. Here are a few; I’ll spare you the lengthy ones.
“And first of all I’m going to have it out with Michelangelo. The other day I saw a small copy of the Last Judgment he painted at Rome. I don’t like it.”
“The Church of Christ in the state to which the clergy had brought it suddenly seemed to me an enclosure where thousands of panic-stricken sheep bleat away night and day, leaning one against the other and stretching out their necks to lick the hand and knife that are slaughtering them.”
“Whoever says salvation exists is a slave, because he keeps weighing each of his words and deeds at every moment. ‘Will I go to heaven or to hell?’…How can a soul that hopes be free? Whoever hopes is afraid both of his life and the life to come; he hangs indecisively in the air and waits for luck or God’s mercy.”
“We ascended because the very act of ascending, for us, was happiness, salvation, and paradise.”
Okay, I’ll stop there, but I feel so good at having been inspired to think so much about the beliefs that I hold as an individual that it is hard to stop mulling it over. I don’t necessarily agree with the above or other statements although I feel I have been shown so many strong truths. Much better than a typically plot driven story, more interactive. More pertinent. Where he goes does not matter so much as what he synthesizes in his head. The struggle. (less)
All my life one of my greatest desires has been to travel—to see and touch unknown countries, to swim in unknown seas, to circle the globe, observing new lands, seas, people, and ideas with insatiable appetite, to see everything for the first time and for the last time, casting a slow, prolonged glance, then to close my eyes and feel the riches deposit themselves inside me calmly or stormily according to their pleasure, until time passes them at last through its fine sieve, straining the quintessence out of all the joys and sorrows.(less)
تظُن أنني صوت الله .. أليس كذلك ؟
لآ ..، أنـا صـوتُـك ".
The title of the book was a little bit tricky and confusing for me. I assumed the author intended to view his life as a set of cumulative experiences ( it is) in a form of scientific/autobiography kind of report ( hilarious i know ). Thus, I judged the book based on certain criteria and was frustrated at first with the lack of historical details and their accuracy. However, It became clear (though there were many hints at the beginning of t ...more
لآ ..، أنـا صـوتُـك ".
The title of the book was a little bit tricky and confusing for me. I assumed the author intended to view his life as a set of cumulative experiences ( it is) in a form of scientific/autobiography kind of report ( hilarious i know ). Thus, I judged the book based on certain criteria and was frustrated at first with the lack of historical details and their accuracy. However, It became clear (though there were many hints at the beginning of t ...more
I am entirely in love with Nikos Kazantzakis and this book was a great journey full of passion and strong feelings. Re-discovering Greece through his words, fears, longings and the sinuous paths of his soul is a marvelous experience. This is a book of splendors and profound thought, book of incomparable delicacy and form. "Report to El Greco" is of those books that cannot be recommended. One has to dive deep into himself to seek desire to read it. Only then the book can be truly appreciated. (less)
Apr 16, 2022Philip Yancey rated it it was amazing
A fictionalized memoir by the author of such books as "Zorba the Greek" and "The Last Temptation of Christ." Kazantzakis was a spiritual seeker who gobbled up life experiences and then tried to digest their meaning. (less)
Jun 17, 2017Alex rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Finally ! This was a hard one. i found myself to have similar ideas with Kazantzakis about life, death, God, Devil and so on. this is a book of ideas, with a bit of something happening in between. his real novels are a better option to dive into Nazantzakis head.
The ideas, the constant fight between "God exists? What is God? Where is God?" and "God exists. God is. god is here/there/everywhere" is remainded on every page / every 3-4 pages.
As said, this is supposed to be an autobiographic novel. kazantzakis did great things in his life, but I read them all on wikipedia. in this book you are at ons moment - OMG, just do something with your life, stop melodramating, stop dreaming. do something. this is what actually one of his female encounters in Berlin told him. and I thought she couldn't be more right.
Kazantzakis is obsessed with life, death, the big questions. If you want an answer, of course you won't be provided with any. his inner fights are so common, we all experience them, his questions, his Yes-s and No-s. kazantzakis didn't try to teach us a lesson, there is so condescension in his writing. he is a man looking for some answers.
Maybe the answer is in the simple things of life. the life on Crete is so idyllic in its simplicity. the life in the desert as well. But Crete is described with so much love, i wanted to be there, to sit on the beach, watch the sun and the sea, eat some grapes and just be. i think this is what this book is all about. Especially in the complicated and highly technological nowadays, it gives simplicity and returning to the really great things, to nature, a new meaning.
(less)
The ideas, the constant fight between "God exists? What is God? Where is God?" and "God exists. God is. god is here/there/everywhere" is remainded on every page / every 3-4 pages.
As said, this is supposed to be an autobiographic novel. kazantzakis did great things in his life, but I read them all on wikipedia. in this book you are at ons moment - OMG, just do something with your life, stop melodramating, stop dreaming. do something. this is what actually one of his female encounters in Berlin told him. and I thought she couldn't be more right.
Kazantzakis is obsessed with life, death, the big questions. If you want an answer, of course you won't be provided with any. his inner fights are so common, we all experience them, his questions, his Yes-s and No-s. kazantzakis didn't try to teach us a lesson, there is so condescension in his writing. he is a man looking for some answers.
Maybe the answer is in the simple things of life. the life on Crete is so idyllic in its simplicity. the life in the desert as well. But Crete is described with so much love, i wanted to be there, to sit on the beach, watch the sun and the sea, eat some grapes and just be. i think this is what this book is all about. Especially in the complicated and highly technological nowadays, it gives simplicity and returning to the really great things, to nature, a new meaning.
(less)
May 15, 2016Elias Ziade rated it it was ok · review of another edition
A rural simpleton whose father left him complexed, scarred and afraid of not achieving anything in his life bores us with small, insignificant details of his daily comings and goings. His volume is peppered with grandiose, gullible Don Quixotesque ideas that betray his distorted self-image. I lost so much time trying to like this crap.
May 08, 2022Daniel rated it it was amazing
One of the greatest books I've read. Hopefully one day I'll be able to write a review of the book that'd do it justice. (less)
Dec 30, 2018Rima rated it it was amazing
If I were to chose the one word to describe this book and the sensation it left... it would be the word “lingering”... it took me many days to finish reading this book... and I have the feeling that it will take much more for this book to linger... it’s too intense to be consumed rapidly... it requires time and contemplation... devotion... it is very local... very universal... never gives answers... only asks questions... and that’s the charm... and it also reminds you that reading is not only about brilliant ideas but rather about communication with the beauty... yes! despite Kazantzakis himself denouncing that fact... his writings are beautiful... his words smell with salt and sun... and taste like sweet lokumi for the embittered souls... (less)
Dec 31, 2010Joe rated it it was amazing
The most fascinating autobiography ever written. Rather then tell the great moments of his life, like literary or political highlights; Kazantzakis tells us of his spiritual journey. This book was so powerful to me, I brought it on my honeymoon so when I went to Assisi, I could read the chapter on St. Francis. I walked the path around the outside of the city where Francis walked, as Kazantzakis describes. Seeing the small, beautiful flowers along the trail, I plucked a sample of each and turned ...more
Nov 15, 2009Janice rated it it was amazing
I read this book 15 years ago and found it very heavy reading but thought it was the best book I'd ever read. An autobiography by an author who struggled with his beliefs, it gave me insights into all the modern world's religions. I read a copy of the book from my library and now have one of my own which I really want to read again. (less)
Aug 12, 2020Layla Zibar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I’m in Awe ..
A friend recommended this book for me, saying it is his ‘bible’ .. so I was intrigued, specially that this friend fall into the ‘smart-interesting-out of the ordinary’ description in my opinion. In this book, if you are the type who reflects on their personal story - like I do - you’ll have too many stops. I must warn you though, the book isn’t the easy read type. And I must say, in order to read this book to its fullest, you really need to have a background (or do a lot of research) about the geo-political and historical events. I’m very thankful for having an internet connection that shows me all the pictures of the places mentioned, and fed my imagination with endless backstage pictures. With every olive tree, every sea wave and every time the air of the mountain is full with the smell of rain, I’ll fall in love with Greece more than I already do. My next visit to Greece need more time for sure.
Nikos Kazantzakis, being a heavy reader for Nietzsche (he did his PhD on Nietzsche’s work), went through many stops of his life in the book, most of the time, implicitly telling the ‘wisdom’ behind what happened. He gives his inner multi-layered confusions a voice. Questions about the god within the self, or the self within god and the world around him, I would say, fall in the core of my personal wanderings. Memory stops in this autobiographical journey is a painful delight, starting from the early pages .. sentence jump to those who seek more, a very tempting trap, that one goes to eyes closed with pleasure.
The brilliant writer aimlessly tried to find the hidden order within the apparent chaos, securitizing through what his memory selected to keep and highlight .. linking his present readings of past peaks of life and experiences. It is fascinating, what the memory decides to keep guiding us through the mirage of tomorrow. As his story unfolded, so did mine. I came to confront and reconcile with my earliest memories, my inner fears and acknowledge my irrepealable flaws. But it also showed me how to read what I’m learning with every mistake, to look beyond the immediate.
‘reach what you cannot’
Love foils everything in this book, it transcends the classical oversold meanings attached to it. In the book, endless everyday and life stories explain, what ‘love’ truly is, and how it is practiced. The love of a family, a country, a friend, and most importantly the self. How the search for love and the push by it are controlling the trajectories of the life. Only when you learn how to recognise the tiny little things and the grand gestures, you can truly feel love.
The cruelty of the world did not make us (if it is a cruelty in the first place), it is our responses to this cruelty and the power we invest to work with the hardship are what we remember. It is never about the triumph, it is about the endless attempts to overcome, whether achieved or not. Every time we push back, another stone in our destiny is nudged, moved or pushed away, shaping the path. The best part is the mistakes we make .. now I truly enjoy and accepts many of my previous faults as blessings in disguise.
Only by allowing life to reach to our bones, experiencing it to its fullest, we truly live.
I'm surely reading this one again .. (less)
A friend recommended this book for me, saying it is his ‘bible’ .. so I was intrigued, specially that this friend fall into the ‘smart-interesting-out of the ordinary’ description in my opinion. In this book, if you are the type who reflects on their personal story - like I do - you’ll have too many stops. I must warn you though, the book isn’t the easy read type. And I must say, in order to read this book to its fullest, you really need to have a background (or do a lot of research) about the geo-political and historical events. I’m very thankful for having an internet connection that shows me all the pictures of the places mentioned, and fed my imagination with endless backstage pictures. With every olive tree, every sea wave and every time the air of the mountain is full with the smell of rain, I’ll fall in love with Greece more than I already do. My next visit to Greece need more time for sure.
Nikos Kazantzakis, being a heavy reader for Nietzsche (he did his PhD on Nietzsche’s work), went through many stops of his life in the book, most of the time, implicitly telling the ‘wisdom’ behind what happened. He gives his inner multi-layered confusions a voice. Questions about the god within the self, or the self within god and the world around him, I would say, fall in the core of my personal wanderings. Memory stops in this autobiographical journey is a painful delight, starting from the early pages .. sentence jump to those who seek more, a very tempting trap, that one goes to eyes closed with pleasure.
The brilliant writer aimlessly tried to find the hidden order within the apparent chaos, securitizing through what his memory selected to keep and highlight .. linking his present readings of past peaks of life and experiences. It is fascinating, what the memory decides to keep guiding us through the mirage of tomorrow. As his story unfolded, so did mine. I came to confront and reconcile with my earliest memories, my inner fears and acknowledge my irrepealable flaws. But it also showed me how to read what I’m learning with every mistake, to look beyond the immediate.
‘reach what you cannot’
Love foils everything in this book, it transcends the classical oversold meanings attached to it. In the book, endless everyday and life stories explain, what ‘love’ truly is, and how it is practiced. The love of a family, a country, a friend, and most importantly the self. How the search for love and the push by it are controlling the trajectories of the life. Only when you learn how to recognise the tiny little things and the grand gestures, you can truly feel love.
The cruelty of the world did not make us (if it is a cruelty in the first place), it is our responses to this cruelty and the power we invest to work with the hardship are what we remember. It is never about the triumph, it is about the endless attempts to overcome, whether achieved or not. Every time we push back, another stone in our destiny is nudged, moved or pushed away, shaping the path. The best part is the mistakes we make .. now I truly enjoy and accepts many of my previous faults as blessings in disguise.
Only by allowing life to reach to our bones, experiencing it to its fullest, we truly live.
I'm surely reading this one again .. (less)
Jul 12, 2013Clive Thompson rated it really liked it
If "Zorba The Greek" seems semi-autobiographical then 'Report To Greco' is wholly autobiographical and pretends to be nothing else. Written while close to death, it has not suffered from endless rewrites and comes over as being a fresh and gutsy report back on life from Kazantzakis to the painter El Greco. It is, as you would expect, written in the first person but does not suffer the fate of sounding as if directed to a mass audience. The clever title, indicating a report to one person, gives the writer a vehicle in which he can write intimately, to an old friend. Kazantzakis has poured his heart, and the heart of Crete, into this book. We learn what has shaped this man in his childhood and youth (Kazantzakis would have said 'shaped and molded the clay that is man') from his earliest influences of "The Lives Of The Saints" through war and the hatred of Turks to the Catholic school on Naxos, their island retreat.
His lifetime spans from 1883, through the Cretan Revolt that started in 1897 and takes you through his education on Naxos before further education at Athens, his job as a journalist, his books and his travels. His search for religion and study of Buddhism based on his Greek Orthodox upbringing are mirrored in the same quest by the Englishman in Zorba The Greek. I have only been, briefly, to Heraklion, on Crete, once but have vowed to return and to find his tomb to pay homage.
Kazantzakis' father, Michael, returned from Naxos to fight for Crete and wrote back to his son, a 14 year old Nikos;-
"I'm doing my duty, fighting the turks. You fight too: stand your ground and don't let those Catholics put ideas into your head. They're dogs, just like the Turks. You're from Crete, don't forget. Your mind isn't your own, it belongs to Crete. Sharpen it as much as you can, so that one day you can use it to liberate Crete. Since you can't help with arms, why not with your mind? It too is a musket. Do you understand what I'm asking of you? Say yes! That's all for today, tomorrow and always. Do not disgrace me !"
We learn that, for instance, Nikos had a love of cherries, a love that he gave to Zorba in 'Zorba the Greek' for Zorba to eat until he was sick, never to want a cheerry again. Many influences, detailed in this book, have shaped and influenced his novels - this is a must read for anyone who has read any of Kazantzakis' novels and wants a deeper insight into what made the man tick. Some of the more passionate chapters, for me, come after his visit to Assisi, through Mount Athos, Jerusalem and to the desert at Sinai. Here I was much reminded of Carlo Carretto's In Search Of The Beyond where both authors seem to have had similar thought patterns about the spirituality of the desert. (less)
His lifetime spans from 1883, through the Cretan Revolt that started in 1897 and takes you through his education on Naxos before further education at Athens, his job as a journalist, his books and his travels. His search for religion and study of Buddhism based on his Greek Orthodox upbringing are mirrored in the same quest by the Englishman in Zorba The Greek. I have only been, briefly, to Heraklion, on Crete, once but have vowed to return and to find his tomb to pay homage.
Kazantzakis' father, Michael, returned from Naxos to fight for Crete and wrote back to his son, a 14 year old Nikos;-
"I'm doing my duty, fighting the turks. You fight too: stand your ground and don't let those Catholics put ideas into your head. They're dogs, just like the Turks. You're from Crete, don't forget. Your mind isn't your own, it belongs to Crete. Sharpen it as much as you can, so that one day you can use it to liberate Crete. Since you can't help with arms, why not with your mind? It too is a musket. Do you understand what I'm asking of you? Say yes! That's all for today, tomorrow and always. Do not disgrace me !"
We learn that, for instance, Nikos had a love of cherries, a love that he gave to Zorba in 'Zorba the Greek' for Zorba to eat until he was sick, never to want a cheerry again. Many influences, detailed in this book, have shaped and influenced his novels - this is a must read for anyone who has read any of Kazantzakis' novels and wants a deeper insight into what made the man tick. Some of the more passionate chapters, for me, come after his visit to Assisi, through Mount Athos, Jerusalem and to the desert at Sinai. Here I was much reminded of Carlo Carretto's In Search Of The Beyond where both authors seem to have had similar thought patterns about the spirituality of the desert. (less)
It is billed as a "spiritual autobiography" which may appeal to those who took Prof. Pierce's PTS class with me in the Spring. The book recounts Kazantzakis' (author of Zorba the Greek, and The Last Temptation of Christ) life story from childhood on Crete to travels all over the Mediterranean and Europe, in the form of a deathbed report to one of his heroes, the Spanish Renaissance Cretan-expat painter known as "El Greco". Follow the development of Kazantzakis' life philosophy from ardent Orthodox Christianity, to Neitzsche, to Buddha, to Lenin, to his final stop at "the Cretan Glance". I have a friend who has changed his life philosophy and belief system pretty dramatically more than once, and throws himself headlong, passionately and absolutely, into every change, rejecting the old with vehemence and embracing the new with uncompromising alacrity. Kazantzakis is like that, but able to look back with the better clarity of age to see these changes as important stages along the way. I am told the Greeks are passionate people, and he clearly displays this. I haven't seen so many exclamation points since reading eighth grade essays, which is not a comment against Kazantzakis' writing style, but a sign of his enthusiasm. If travelogue as introspective quest for maturity and self-knowledge appeals to you, this is worth checking out. Psychologically, it can be fascinating. You might find it a bit lugubrious if you like action more than self-exploration, however. Kazantzakis died at 74 in 1957, the year he lost the Nobel Prize by one vote, and his opinions about Europe and "the race" are dated accordingly, and certainly not P.C. by today's standards. While that element isn't constant, it comes up often enough. And how did he fail to mention his wife until the epilogue? Read only if you can get past his occasional ethno- and male-centrism to enjoy the quest of a robust soul. (less)
Apr 04, 2019Liz Estrada rated it really liked it
At first I loved this book, how the memoir unfolded, then I got a bit tired of where it was going and began to think it a little pedantic and then I fell in love with the outcome. Só not sure if it's deserves 2 stars or 5 stars. The writing is just superb and Nikos a master storyteller. It is a look back on idealistic youth: vain, arrogant and constantly searching. Forget Keats "Ode to a Grecian Urn"....this is an homage to all things Greek and Cretan. And like Homer's "Odyssey" Nikos' adventures and quest for truth is an epic journey. Very philosophical and introspective yet amazingly informative and deep. He deserved not only the nomination he got for the Nobel prize in literature, but an actual win. More to come later as I continue to absorb this multi-leveled and faceted book. A mix between Homer and Proust. (less)
Aug 04, 2011Jean-Pierre rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
One of my alltime favourites. The book follows Kazantzakis throughout his philosophico-spiritual quest, retracing all the influences on his soul and mind, and one finds oneself thinking and feeling along with him, marking the strengths and weaknesses of all the strands of thought that he comes in touch with. He never escapes from them unscathed, but becomes stronger, more mature and insightful at every move. Not an easy book to read (I would say take it along on holiday and taste one bit at a time rahter than swallowing it all at one go), but one that affects one profoundly, and (in its English translation) beautifully written. (less)
Sep 19, 2012Vanya rated it it was amazing
That book was pure poetry! Loved it from the first page to the end! At the same time, it was interesting to see how much he was obsessed with religion dogmas in his youth, yet eventually this obsession turned into a mature seeking, and I enjoyed a lot the description of his internal struggles. Moreover, I loved the fact that there were not many details of his personal life, and the autobiography was concentrated on what really matters: his quests. Anyway, he's one of my most favorite authors ever, he writes so beautifully and intensely that reading him is a real adventure and a joyful and mesmerizing experience. He simply hypnotizes me! (less)
Nov 02, 2008Alexandra rated it it was amazing
It is an autobiographic book concerning Nikos Kazantzakis life.Personally I believe it is one of his best books as it is so real...
I remember while reading the introduction I was feeling touched and wanted to cry...The strength to write predicting your own leaving from this world in such a poetic way is really amazing...I would reccomend it to anyone who believes this life is a continuous fight to develop ourselves...to turn more flesh into spirit...to rise ourselves higher.
I remember while reading the introduction I was feeling touched and wanted to cry...The strength to write predicting your own leaving from this world in such a poetic way is really amazing...I would reccomend it to anyone who believes this life is a continuous fight to develop ourselves...to turn more flesh into spirit...to rise ourselves higher.
Feb 10, 2018Steve Papanastasiou rated it it was amazing
SO dense. So captivating.
An adventurous and spiritual life worth living.
Nikos Kazantzakis definitely belongs to his island over the abyss.
My goal after this book:
To turn my life (flash) into an eternity.
An adventurous and spiritual life worth living.
Nikos Kazantzakis definitely belongs to his island over the abyss.
My goal after this book:
To turn my life (flash) into an eternity.
