Nikos Kazantzakis was born in 1883 in Kandiye, Crete.
Kandiye was the old name for Heraklion – Crete was still
under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and had not yet
become part of the modern Greek state. He was a prolific
Greek writer and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in
Literature no less than nine times. In 1957, the year of his
death, he lost the Prize to Albert Camus by one vote. Camus
later said that Kazantzakis deserved the honour "a hundred
times more" than himself.
His novels include:
Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas, 1946
Christ Recrucified, 1948
Captain Michalis, 1950
The Last Temptation of Christ, 1955
Report to Greco, 1961
He also wrote plays, travel books, autobiographies and
philosophical essays. He became known in the English
speaking world because of film adaptations of his work, such
as Zorba the Greek (1964) and The Last Temptation of Christ
(1988). A film ‘Kazantzakis ‘ was released in 2017. He also
took on the monumental task of translating into Modern
Greek, The Divine Comedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, On the
Origin of the Species, the Iliad and the Odyssey. His first
publication was in 1906, Lily and the Serpent, which he
signed with the pen name Karma Nirvami. This was followed
by a one act play, Comedy, in 1909. In 1907, he began
university studies in Paris and at the end of his time there he
wrote The Master Builder, based on Greek folklore.
Kazantzakis was married twice. His first wife was Galatea
Alexiou in 1911; the marriage lasted 14 years and ended in
divorce. In 1924 he became romantically involved with Eleni
Samiou but they did not marry until 1945. She typed drafts
of his work, accompanied him on his travels and was
responsible for his business affairs. She died in 2004,
surviving him by 47 years.
From 1910 until his death in 1957, Kazantzakis spent time in
Paris, Berlin, Italy, Spain, Russia, Egypt, Nice, Czechoslovakia,
Mount Sinai, Aegina, Cyprus, China and Japan. He also
travelled around Greece, Romania and The Netherlands.
Through his travels he came into contact with different
ideologies, people, customs, philosophies and lifestyle, which
were all a great influence on his writing. Buddhist theology,
the writings of Nietzsche and Freud and communist ideology
were all major influences on his work.
Although he flirted with communism he was at heart all of his
life a socialist. He recognised the need for socialist parties
worldwide to unite to ensure that ‘socialist democracy’ would
spread throughout the world. He is quoted as describing
socialism as a system which “does not permit the exploitation
of one person by another” and that “must guarantee every
freedom.”
In 1957, suffering from leukaemia, he embarked on what
would be his final journey to China and Japan. On the return
flight, he became ill and was transferred to Freiburg,
Germany, where he died. He is buried at the highest point of
the Walls of Heraklion, the Martinengo Bastion, looking out
over the mountains and the Sea of Crete. His epitaph reads "I
hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."
In 2007, the 50th anniversary of his death a commemorative
€10 coin was minted with Nikos Kazantzakis’ image on the
front and the National Emblem of Greece with his signature
on the back.
Nikos Kazantzakis
The Historical Museum of Crete is home to a reconstruction and
exhibition of Nikos Kazantzakis' study, exactly as it was in Antibes,
France, where the author spent the last years of his life (1948-
1957).
The exhibition includes manuscripts, photographs and drawings,
hundreds of editions of his works translated into over thirty
languages - and personal possessions.
The photographs below were taken when we went to the
Historical Museum in Heraklio….