Zorba The Greek.
"I felt once more how simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else": Rare First Edition In Greek of the Author’s Classic Work Zorba The Greek; Signed by Nikos Kazanzakis
Zorba The Greek.
KAZANTZAKIS, Nikos.
$12,500.00
Item Number: 131303
Athens: Plateia Syntagmatos, 1946.
First Greek edition, preceding all other editions of the author’s most popular novel and basis for the Oscar-winning film starring Anthony Quinn. Octavo, bound in contemporary cloth. Signed by Nikos Kazantzakis on the copyright page. In near fine condition. First editions of Zorba The Greek are of legendary scarcity.
Zorba the Greek is the epic tale of a young Greek intellectual who ventures to escape his bookish life with the aid of the boisterous and mysterious Alexis Zorba. Kazantzakis has made a work of stunning genius. The book is about life. How does one live it? How does one deal with the vicissitudes of it? The tragedies? The failures? Does one stand on the sidelines of life and never jump in? Does one fear getting married or fear having children or fear doing any activity that could fail or come to naught? Zorba tells us what to do. And in the end, when the whole bloody mess comes falling down around us, and all our plans and schemes are for naught, what do you do? Dance. Dance as hard and as wild as you can. Spit and fume and sing and smash your heels into the dirt. And laugh at it all... the absurdity of worry and wondering. Zorba shows us the joy of just "being" and "doing". It is basis for the 1964 Oscar-winning film directed by Michael Cacoyannis, starring Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Lila Kedrova, Irene Papas, and Sotiris Moustakas, with music by Mikis Theodorakis.
