Collected Stories

by Harry Mark Petrakis

Overview

"In an unrehearsed, around-the-fire sense, Petrakis is a storyteller, concerned not with developing character or reproducing human speech, but with the tale and its moral resonance. These 37 stories, six of which are published for the first time, concern Greek grocers, tavern-keepers and shoemakers, rough men like the father in "Dark Eye." Sodden with the wine called mastiha, he is unable to hold a job or deal decently with his gentle wife, but he fiercely guards his skill as a puppet-master, traditionally passed from father to son, yet in this new country doomed to die when he does. Lightening the burden of sadness carried by most of these tales, farces like "The Wooing of Ariadne," an unabashed reworking of The Taming of the Shrew and "The Journal of a Wife Beater" satirize their protagonists' raucous machismo. But the author makes it clear that Greek men, in general, hide their fragile spirits beneath surface swagger, as depicted in "The Bastards of Thanos," in which a dying poet is confronted by the son of one of his reckless couplings. Blunt and inelegant though the style, the bitter honesty and profound empathy that pervade these stories bring a people and a place into memorable focus." (Publisher's Weekly)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940011317750
Publisher:	Harry Mark Petrakis
Publication date:	05/11/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	401 KB

About the Author

Harry Mark Petrakis is the author of twenty-three books, short-stories, and essays, and has been nominated twice for the National Book Award. His books include the 'A Dream of Kings' (1966), set in Chicago, which was a New York Times bestseller. It was published in twelve foreign editions and was made into a motion picture (1969) starring Anthony Quinn. He has won the O. Henry Award, and received awards from Friends of American Writers, Friends of Literature, and the Society of Midland Authors. He was the Nikos Kazantzakis Chair in Modern Greek Studies at San Francisco State University and the McGuffy Visiting Lecturer at Ohio University. In 2004, the American College of Greece in Athens presented him with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree.

What People are Saying About This

Kurt Vonnegut

"I've often thought what a wonderful basketball team could be formed from Protrakis's characters. Everyone of them is at least 14 feet tall."

John Cheever

"I've always thought Harry Mark Patrokis to be a leading American novelist."

Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Harry Mark Protrakis is good news in American literature."

Editorial Reviews

In an unrehearsed, around-the-fire sense, Petrakis is a storyteller, concerned not with developing character or reproducing human speech, but with the tale and its moral resonance. These 37 stories, six of which are published for the first time, concern Greek grocers, tavern-keepers and shoemakers, rough men like the father in ``Dark Eye.'' Sodden with the wine called mastiha, he is unable to hold a job or deal decently with his gentle wife, but he fiercely guards his skill as a puppet-master, traditionally passed from father to son, yet in this new country doomed to die when he does. Lightening the burden of sadness carried by most of these tales, farces like ``The Wooing of Ariadne''an unabashed reworking of The Taming of the Shrewand ``The Journal of a Wife Beater'' satirize their protagonists' raucous machismo. But the author makes it clear that Greek men, in general, hide their fragile spirits beneath surface swagger, as depicted in ``The Bastards of Thanos,'' in which a dying poet is confronted by the son of one of his reckless couplings. Blunt and inelegant though the style, the bitter honesty and profound empathy that pervade these stories bring a people and a place into memorable focus. (February 15)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly