He chased the Nobel nine times and never caught it, yet became the most translated Greek writer in history - a philosopher-novelist who gave the world Zorba and scandalized it with a Christ who doubted.
Also inDeutsch
Photos 8
.jpg?width=1200)
_(cropped).jpg?width=1200)
.jpg?width=1200)
.jpg?width=1200)
.jpg?width=1200)
In their own words 9
I am a mariner of Odysseus with heart of fire but with mind ruthless and clear.
Toda Raba (1934), quoted in Kimon Friar's introduction to The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1958), p. xxvi
God, what is all this talk put out by the popes? Paradise is here, my good man. God, give me no other paradise!
Freedom and Death (1956), ch. 3 (tr. Jonathan Griffin, 1956)
We, who are dying, are doing better, than they, who will live. For Crete doesn't need householders, she needs madmen like us. These madmen make Crete immortal.
Freedom and Death (1956), ch. 13 (tr. Jonathan Griffin, 1956)
Awards 1
In their orbit 2
Connected to Nikos 3
Writers born in the 1880s 3
About this person
Born in Crete in 1883, Kazantzakis moved through journalism, politics, poetry, and philosophy before the novels arrived. Zorba the Greek appeared in 1946, then Christ Recrucified, Captain Michalis, and in 1955 The Last Temptation of Christ - a vision of divinity wrestling with flesh that would ignite controversy for decades. Between novels he translated the Divine Comedy, Nietzsche, Darwin, and Homer into modern Greek. Hollywood made Zorba in 1964 and Scorsese made Last Temptation in 1988, carrying his name beyond the Greek-speaking world. He died in 1957, nominated for the Nobel in nine different years, never awarded, now towering over modern Greek letters.
Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.