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When galore of america deliberation of Greece, we deliberation of Homer. Our minds gully consecutive to past Greece and past Greek, arsenic if the cities of Athens and Sparta lone beryllium successful the mythical days.
But determination is simply a thriving colonisation contiguous speaking successful Greek — Greek that is not Homer’s Greek immoderate much than our English is Shakespeare’s English. Modern-day Greece is haunted by overmuch antithetic ghosts than those of Achilles oregon Odysseus. From warfare with Turkey that resulted successful galore refugees and a large-scale colonisation exchange, to the post–World War II civilian war, to the 1960s subject dictatorship, to the devastating economical situation that began successful precocious 2009, Greece’s modern past has country to capable epics of its own.
These books correspond Greece arsenic overmuch as, if not much than, the Greece of past poesy oregon of influencers’ Instagram photos. But they don’t springiness cleanable representation. I was incapable to find a azygous caller translated from modern Greek into English that was written by authors of color. Particularly fixed Greece’s existent exile crisis, it’s much important than ever that Greek authors of colour and different marginalized Greek authors are published and translated.
Many of these books dwell connected the hardships that came from the conflicts and governmental and economical upheavals that Greece has gone done successful the past 100 years. From a toxic relationship that haunts an anarchist protagonist to a bid of abbreviated stories weighted down by the grief of economical struggle, these books excavation into the heartbreak and combat of mundane radical — with a mates twists of surrealism oregon magic present and there.
Please enactment that portion I took large attraction to database contented warnings wherever I could, things tin autumn done the cracks. Please bash further probe connected the recommended titles if needed.
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Why I Killed My Best Friend by Amanda Michalopoulou, translated by Karen Emmerich
Maria is an anarchist who teaches to wage the bills. One time a chaotic kid appears successful her class, and she instantly recognizes her mother. They were champion friends once, arsenic children and teens, until an lawsuit yet rocked them apart. This caller is simply a diary of that friendship: a toxic, rocky, achy one. Anna is excessively much. She ever takes what’s Maria’s. It’s ever astir Anna. Yet Maria loves her, can’t interruption away, tin lone wonderment if she’s loved backmost adjacent somewhat arsenic much.
The narration volition punctual readers of Elena and Lila from Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. It besides has a satisfying glimmer of sapphic sexuality and governmental commentary astir colonialism, oppression, and feminism moving done the story. It’s a book, ultimately, astir the authorities — some idiosyncratic and societal — of power.
Content warnings for intersexual harassment, disordered eating, g-slur, suicide, homophobia, enactment shaming / misogyny, racism, violence.
The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis, translated by Peter Levi
Hadousa Frankissa has had a long, hard grind of a life. She had a cruel mother. She was joined off. She had children, who left, who went quiet, and she had to effort and wed disconnected her daughters. And past she became liable for each of their children arsenic well. In this satellite of bitter conflict and misogyny, successful which being a pistillate is truthful fraught, a tug begins to propulsion astatine the backmost of Hadousa’s mind. The medicine pistillate begins to wonderment if it would beryllium amended if these miss children didn’t marque it done infancy. If they didn’t person to participate specified a hostile world. It’s a dark, accelerated work astir a pistillate whose caput twists successful each the incorrect ways.
Content warnings for violence, home violence, unit against children.
The Scapegoat by Sophia Nikolaidou, translated by Karen Emmerich
Minas is simply a pupil who has decided helium won’t instrumentality the large exams astatine the extremity of the twelvemonth that would nonstop him to college. He’s bushed of the endless grind, of memorizing cognition that isn’t holistic successful the slightest. But past his teacher gives him a challenge: constitute a probe insubstantial astir the condemnation of a antheral named Gris. A antheral who, it becomes precise clear, was ne'er blameworthy of murder, but was surely convicted of it.
Nikolaidou’s caller is simply a generational, fast-paced story, that picks isolated what it means to spot justice, and however rapidly nine likes to find a scapegoat, a idiosyncratic connected whom they tin spot their problems, arsenic the casual mode out.
Content warnings for g-slur, torture, substance abuse, ableism, racism.
Wildcat Under Glass by Alki Zei, translated by Edward Fenton
Alki Zei (1925–2020) is considered 1 of modern Greece’s astir classic, beloved authors. This book, archetypal published successful 1963, is considered a puerility must-read, and is often present assigned successful schoolbooks — and truthful she has go cemented into Greek lit forever.
Wildcat Under Glass is narrated by a young miss named Melia. Through her eyes, we spot the 1930s fascist authorities instrumentality clasp and however her parents and municipality react. The publication has been translated into much than 20 languages and is portion of a escaped trilogy by Zei that covers 50 years of Greek history.
Content warnings for constabulary brutality, violence, bullying.
Diaries of Exile by Yiannis Ritsos, translated by Karen Emmerich and Edmund Keeley
Poet Ritsos spent years successful situation camps for his Communist beliefs and his absorption against the right-wing. His poesy was banned and burned, helium was nominated respective times for the Nobel, and Pablo Neruda erstwhile said that helium was much deserving of the prize than Neruda himself.
This publication features the poems helium wrote portion imprisoned. He writes of a benignant of assemblage paired with heavy value and loneliness. He writes of silence, the emptiness of words, and the symptom and fearfulness of the encampments. His poesy is rich, sad, and worthy the read. “Ants / person their location of ungraded — it’s lukewarm successful there. / I don’t acceptable into my voice. My feet / instrumentality out.”
Content warnings for g-slur, implied violence, themes of torture and pain.
The Great Chimera by M. Karagatsis, translated by Patricia Felisa Barbeito
In this modern Greek classic, a young pistillate leaves France, fleeing her household and its hard past to unrecorded with and wed the Greek oversea skipper she’s fallen successful emotion with. At first, everything seems cleanable — but arsenic you’ve astir apt guessed, it’s not fated to enactment that way. When the household hits connected fiscal trouble, her hubby leaves to effort and reconstruct their fortune, leaving her and her mother-in-law to stock a home, trying to span the generational and taste chasm that lies betwixt them.
Content warnings for kid death, home abuse, intersexual violence, suicide.
A Tale Without a Name by Penelope S. Delta, translated by Mika Provata-Carlone
This publication is an entertaining, compelling fable that fits close successful that cleanable spot betwixt for-children and but-for-adults-too. Delta (1874–1941) lived done galore idiosyncratic experiences of war, violence, and governmental strife. In this abbreviated book, she writes of the King of the Fatalists, Witless, who ruins the kingdom done his greed and neglect — and she writes of the Prince and his sister Irene, the 2 young royals who statesman to question the kingdom, learning the values of manufacture and of starring by example.
I cognize it sounds a spot obvious, but it’s genuinely delightful: a fun, classical phantasy communicative of what a bully king should beryllium and what a bully kingdom looks similar that without excessively overmuch stretching tin beryllium applied to our modern-day systems and how, with the close mindset and cognition astatine hand, they could beryllium changed.
Content warnings for fatphobia, ableism, violence.
Seven Lives and One Great Love: Memoirs of a Cat by Lena Divani, translated by Konstantine Matsoukas
In this cute, unexpected novel, Sugar is simply a witty feline connected its final* beingness trying to “fix” the beingness of his human, a writer who he’s hoping volition yet constitute his memoirs. He listens successful connected her conversations, judges her sensation successful music, and mostly hopes that she’ll get it unneurotic astatine immoderate point. Cat owners volition laughter (and yet cry) implicit this 1 and astatine Sugar’s snarky attitude.
*Sugar is connected his seventh life. I primitively recovered this immensely puzzling until discovering a enactment online that the Greek operation references cats’ 7 lives, not nine.
Content informing for carnal death, racism.
Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki, translated by Karen Van Dyck
This NYRB classical features the communicative of 3 sisters — Maria, Infanta, and Katerina — arsenic they turn up implicit the people of 3 summers successful the countryside extracurricular of Athens. It’s a affluent caller archetypal published successful 1946 that digs into the romanticist and intersexual lives of these 3 teenage girls. It’s a reflective coming-of-age communicative of 3 sisters figuring retired who they are and who they volition become, and dealing with the ups and downs of romance and find on the way.
Content warnings for adult/minor relationship, intersexual assault, carnal death, fatphobia.
Something Will Happen, You’ll See by Christos Ikonomou, translated by Karen Emmerich
This postulation of interconnected abbreviated stories is quietly, brilliantly sad. In the aftermath of the economical crisis, the radical astir Athens suffer, suffer their jobs, conflict to provender their children. A pervasive hopelessness and the quiescent unit of the implicit nonaccomplishment to enactment the mediocre travel unneurotic to make these devastating stories successful which radical mourn, dream, hope, and privation for amended that they aren’t definite tin come. A pistillate makes halva aft being near by her partner; a antheral protests the workplace decease of his friend; a idiosyncratic assigned to house-sit for his brag can’t participate due to the fact that the canine is excessively vicious. The grief of crisis, loss, and hunger comes done successful these vivid, compelling tales.
Content warnings for violence, rape, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, ableism, carnal cruelty, and homophobic, antisemitic, and racist language.
Looking for much works successful translation? Check retired these books from Catalonia, Japan, Southeastern Europe, Argentina, Central Africa, Japan, Ukraine, Germany, and Chile, and books translated from Arabic and French. Or you tin cheque retired all of our in-translation content.
If you person recommendations oregon requests for aboriginal lists of books successful translation, oregon if you privation maine to cognize astir a publication I missed, please let maine cognize connected Twitter!
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