Tales from a Greek Island [Paperback]

The 'saint' of modern Greek letters,... Papadiamantis wrote with graphic realism and unequalled passion about the extreme hardships of the day, the ravages of tuberculosis and alcoholism, the plight of women abandoned by their husbands and sons. Other stories, more personal in tone, have a quality of reverie.

Steeped in Greek history, quick with Biblical allusions, poised with a commendable knowledge of local superstition, Papadiamantis transports us to the ambience of the golden moment, a lyrical fairyland, the mythos of Greece past. Or so it seems at the outset, and how deceiving are appearances, because what is really happening beneath the illusion of pastoral dalliance belies the relaxed, nostalgic mood.

Papadiamantis shines in this slim important new collection.

Papadiamantis has created a mythical world where everyone has a natural place and where it is that place, and not individual choice, that creates the shape each life eventually takes. What is amazing is that this world proves convincing... Elizabeth Constantinides deserves both admiration and praise.

Set on the author's native Aegean island of Skiathos, these twelve stories capture the folkways of Greece. With acute observation of daily activities and loving descriptions of land and sea, Papadiamantis portrays the beauty and harshness of traditional island life. His prose captivates a reader with its rich combination of realism and symbolism, sensuality and mysticism, insularity and universality. Written near the turn of the century, these works speak today in ways both remarkable and familiar.

Alexandros Papadiamantis (1851-1911) was the author of four novels and about one hundred seventy short stories and sketches. Elizabeth Constandinides was coordinator of the Program in Modern Greek Language and Literature at Queens College of the City of New York.