Z.

VASSILIKOS, Vassilis.

$750.00

Item Number: 1164

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1968.

First American edition of the author’s classic work. Octavo, original black cloth. Warmly Inscribed by the author on the title page, “For George with my friendship, Vassilis Vassilikos.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket that shows very light wear. Jacket design by Enrico Arno. Translated from the Greek by Marilyn Calmann.

Z was published in Greece in 1966, and banned there one year later. It is based on an actual political assassination in 1963 in Salonika. The victim was Gregory Lambrakis, a socialist legislator and outspoken critic of the government. But Lambrakis's killers could not have anticipated the public response. His funeral became a political event; by the time the cortege reached Athens, 400,000 people were following the coffin in silence. In the nation's capital, the letter Z suddenly appeared on walls, sidewalks, posters--everywhere. Z stands for the Greek verb zei, "he lives." It is the basis for the award-winning film, starring Yves Montand and Irene Pappas and directed by Costa Gavras.