Cavafy's "Ithaca" and Kazantzakis' Zorba have become UNB favorites during the years Modern Greek Literature has been offered as a course at the University of New Brunswick. On Thursday, 19 November, we are watching the film. All students are welcome. Free entrance. See the trailer HERE.
Read an excerpt from Zorba, taught for years in Greek high-schools:
"We are little grubs, Zorba, minute grubs on the small leaf of a tremendous tree. The small leaf is the earth. The other leaves are the stars that you see moving at night. We make our way on this little leaf examining it anxiously and carefully. We smell it; it smells good or bad to us. We taste it and find it eatable. We beat on it and it cries out like a living thing.
"Some men -- the more intrepid ones -- reach the edge of the leaf. From there we stretch out, gazing into chaos. We tremble. We guess what a frightening abyss lies beneath us. In the distance we can hear the noise of the other leaves of the tremendous tree, we feel the sap rising from the root of our leaf and our hearts swell. Bent thus over the awe-inspiring abyss, with all our bodies and all our souls, we tremble with terror. From that moment begins…"
"I stopped. I wanted to say "from that moment begins poetry," but Zorba would not have understood. I stopped.
"'What begins'? asked Zorba's anxious voice. 'Why did you stop'?
"…begins the great danger, Zorba. Some grow dizzy and delirious, others are afraid; they try to find an answer to strengthen their hearts, and they say: 'God'! Others again, from the edge of the leaf, look over the precipice calmly and bravely and say: 'I like it.'!
Translated by Carl Widman, NewYork: Simon and Schuster, 1953.
Ο Ζορμπάς μαζί με την Ιθάκη του Καβάφη είναι οι σταθερές προτιμήσεις των φοιτητών στα χρόνια που διδάσκεται στο Πανεπιστήμιο του New Brunswick η Εισαγωγή στην Νεοελληνική Λογοτεχνία. Φέτος παρακολουθούμε την ταινία από την πανεπιστημιακή βιβλιοθήκη σε ανοιχτή προβολή για την ακαδημαϊκή κοινότητα, την Πέμπτη, 19 Νοεμβρίου. Διαβάστε ένα απόσπασμα που είναι ο πυρήνας της βιοθεωρίας του συγγραφέα ΕΔΩ. Αναλυτικά εξέθεσε τη μεταφυσική του στην Ασκητική ή Salvatores Dei.
