(Greek: 螡委魏慰蟼 螝伪味伪谓蟿味维魏畏蟼) Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer, journalist, politician, poet and philosopher. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in nine different years, and remains the most translated Greek author worldwide.
Captain Michalis is a 1953 novel by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis. It is known as Freedom and Death in the United Kingdom.
The book deals with the rebellion of the Cretans against the Ottoman Empire in 1889. It is thought that the book's title honors Kazantzakis' father Michalis Kazantzakis, by whom the writer was inspired. The word Captain is not used in its naval rank sense, but as the title of leader of Guerilla group (the writer's father Michalis Kazantzakis was a leader of such a group, hence the title. Kazantzakis says this in his book "Report to Greco").
Being Turkish, of course i read this book nervously. All the Turkish characters in the book are depicted scornfully. Weak, homosexual, coward, cruel, whatever you like. The only character Kazancakis speaks highly of is Nuri Bey. But then he pimps his wife to our great hero, almost animal, captain Mihalis.
Anyway, this book will lead me to a serious history reading of that period. Ottoman empire did not conquer those lands by giving flowers, i know that. But even in this nonobjective book i can see greek people of that island had their religous freedom. They were free to merchandise, get rich, do whatever they like. Only the rulers were Ottoman officials. So Ottoman occupation should not be compared to English occupation of India for example.
Well, a little nervous by nationalism, i may not be objective either.
Another thing which disturbed me while reading this book is Kazancakis's huge praise for machismo. If i were a woman reading this book, i would tear it maybe. Women are worthless slaves in Girit and this is so beatiful, so heroic, isn't it? Kazancakis praises uncivilization, praises barbarism and despises the beatiful scents of Turkish homes. Kazancakis admires brute force. Keeping hatred alive between nations is easer than seeing each others good sides.
But if put my feelings aside, this a modern classic of course. A good example of epic. Terrible ideology put in a nice form. Perfect craftmanship.
Freedom or Death is the fourth book written by Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis that I managed to get my hands on. I started it not because of the summary or plot, or good reviews, but because of its author ( and I have no shame to admit it ). Of course, it doesn鈥檛 mean there were no chances of disliking it, that was one of the possibilities, but him being my favorite author so far and having read other 3 books by him in the last 6 months, I was somehow certain of it.
Reading his previous works, I was always intrigued by his characters never-dying desire to see Crete released of the Turkish authority. For Kazantzakis, Crete is not only his physical birth place, but his souls home. No matter where he traveled, what he saw and learned, where he lived, his mind was always in Crete and his heart always bled for it. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I don鈥檛 know much history and all I know about the ottoman dominion there is from his books only. In my opinion though, this obsession of his with Crete is exhausting. Most of his protagonists are exhausting. Beautiful, but exhausting. The whole time I was reading this, I kept wondering, what makes them so passionate about a freedom that shows itself only when death occurs ? Why can鈥檛 they see that there is more to life than this controlling obsession they allowed to take root in their minds ?
There was this fearless power that tied strong men to Crete, making them loyal to it. A power that makes men deny themselves any kind of pleasure because they don鈥檛 find it appropriate to laugh or smile while having Crete under the Turkish rule. Here, Crete is a living being, breathing, screaming and at night going silent. It is observed by many and pitied for its helpless desire to be free. But it keeps fighting, men keep fighting. It鈥檚 a story about loyalty, hatred, pride, reason, death, ambition and freedom. Or is it better said lack of freedom ? Lack of freedom drives men insane, discourages them, holds them prisoners.
How does this affect their lives ? The connection they have with other people ( children, wives ), their feelings, desires ? That鈥檚 what this novel is about : the lives of those who had fallen under the charms of this dream.
I have talked about Kazantzakis鈥� writing in a previously written review of , I will not repeat myself, just add that somehow it manages to express how events, places, spaces, people are perceived in a way that makes everything feel horrifyingly real. I don鈥檛 believe this novel is for everyone, not because it鈥檚 hard to read, but, how I鈥檝e previously stated, it can easily exhaust you. It made me sigh a lot, made me sad and left me with a bitter taste. After all, this book is about freedom and death.
"Sins only began to bring real satisfaction when one was well and truly up to the neck in them."
Kazantzakis, one of those genuine prose masters of the last century and one of the deepest sounders of the human soul, uses the backdrop of a failed 1889 Cretan uprising against its Ottoman rules as a backdrop against which to explore the fouler, bestial angles of our nature. K. was a child when this revolt occurred and his father, a certain Captain Michales (the Greek title of this novel), was apparently active in the fighting, so we can assume the author used a hefty dollop of reality in this often disturbing local folk tale. I say 'folk tale' because despite the heavy political and historical overtones, they never overwhelm the characters, who are all well-cared for here. The novel is essentially a kind of mythological exploration of how awful people can be and how the people enduring the awful people deal with it. Captain Michales is the central character here, and like K's Christ is flawed yet vehement. He forces other villagers into his basement for 6-day benders in holy weeks, taunts his blood-brother the Ottoman Nuri Bey and secretly lusts after the latter's wife. But Crete supplants all in his affections and when rebellion breaks out yet again, he heads for the hills with various brothers, sons, and nephews to harry the pasha's forces and murder people for no good reason. One of the things that stands out here, and this will sit well with anyone familiar with the welcome tropes of current arts, is that no one here is a very good person. The bystanders are good people, almost all women or the humbly religious, but the fiery partisans and their Ottoman counterparts, surprisingly often their friends, are demonic beasts who refuse to lay down their arms. As the fighting escalates and the inner turmoil of the characters rises to the fore, K. makes some nice shifts of perspective, from the deathbed denizen, the Captain's father, to the recently-returned nephew of Michales who has been in mainland Europe for years and married a Jewish woman. Troubling and poetic!
Translated by Jonathan Griffin. This 500-page monster is another novel, set during the 1889 rebellion in Crete, soaked in the joy of living, rife with graphic fighting, killing, sex, feasting, drinking, and deep, calm spirituality. Kazantzakis' obsession with the duality of human nature is everywhere apparent, for example in the opposition of the wild Captain Michales to his blood brother and sworn enemy, the pleasure-loving Turk Nuri Bey; in some minor characters' attempt to reconcile sainthood and enjoyment of the earth; in the lusty old grandfather's final question concerning the meaning of life; the juxtaposition of the very old and the newly adult, the dead and the fortunately alive. Many scenes are quite memorable, showing a bloody knife fight or men who get drunk and jump for the joy of life over the corpse they are supposed to be watching. The final scene of death and sacrifice is the most powerful. It's a great book.