Saturday 8 August 2009

Kazantzakis on Corfu

Letter of October 21, 1926 (translated by Amy Mims; "Nikos Kazantzakis, A Biography" by Helen Kazantzakis, 1968)

"Corfu marvelous-but only for a short time. The mountains, the sea, the colours all exquisite, but pathetic, amolissants (devitalizing), soporific, fatal to any fighting soul".

I know what he meant about the island being devitalising and soporific- especially in the heat of August.

Kazantzakis had the Corfu blues.