Πρωτόγονη ευαισθησία και νεωτερική διάνοια στο Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά του Νίκου Καζαντζάκη
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Date
2013-06
Authors
Vogiatzaki, Evi
Journal Title
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Publisher
Flinders University Department of Language Studies - Modern Greek
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All rights reserved. Subject to the copyright act of 1968, no part of this publication may be
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Flinders University Department of Language Studies - Adelaide 2013
Abstract
Please note: This article is in Greek. Primitive sensibility and modernist mentality in N. Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek:
This paper explores the recreation of mythic or primitive sensitivity and the dissociation
of rational thought and subjective feeling in the dialogical novel of Nikos Kazantzakis,
Alexis Zorbas. It contends that the novel dramatizes the contrast between mythic sensibility
and mental civilized self-reflection, revealing not only aspects of the modernist
understanding of subjectivity but also the kind of imaginative creation which the
narrative enacts reflecting the poetics of the twentieth-century primitivism. Mythic
sensibility manifests itself as a form of otherness which motivates the subject’s nostalgic
and tedious journey of return to archaic origins relating to the collective unconscious
of the race. Drawing upon Michael Bell’s study on Primitivism and the inferences of
anthropological studies in the beginning of the 20th century, it explores animism,
natural or cosmic piety and rituals as the most pervasive manifestations of primitive sensibility which are opposed to the civilized mentality of the novel. Alexis Zorbas’ life
and ideas substantiate the primitive urge of the novel which challenges the modern
skepticism of the character-author, thus evoking the ancient response to life which
occupies the kernel of the novel. Accordingly it concludes that Kazantzakis’ novel is
constructed as great allegory about the destiny of the civilized man of the twentieth
century. Reflecting on and longing for the unsearchable and grandiose moments in
the history of human civilization, the author is in quest of a spiritual and philosophical
recreation of the human consciousness whereby soul and body, spirit and matter would
reconcile recovering their lost unity.
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Keywords
Greek research, Greece, Australia
Citation
Vogiatzaki, E., 2013. Πρωτόγονη ευαισθησία και νεωτερική διάνοια στο Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά του Νίκου Καζαντζάκη. In M. Tsianikas, N. Maadad, G. Couvalis, and M. Palaktsoglou (eds.) "Greek Research in Australia: Proceedings of the Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University June 2011", Flinders University Department of Language Studies - Modern Greek: Adelaide, 221-233.