Review of The Cleaner of Kastoria by Edward Wilson (Author of the Midnight Swimmer, The Envoy, The Whitehall Mandarin)

Jacqueline Paizis has written an informative and powerful novel about Greece's struggle for democracy during the country's Civil War. As has happened more recently, democracy in Greece was sacrificed for Western political and economic interests. Jacqueline tells the truth about Greece. I think the Cleaner of Kastoria is a wonderful book.

Review of my first novel The Cleaner of Kastoria

    

By Anastasios Vamvakas

05-May-2016

A compelling account of the life of a former Greek Civil War guerilla fighter. Through flashbacks and the heroine's own reminiscences, the writer sheds light on a troubled era of Greek history which still remains largely uninterpreted and has left a lasting legacy of bitterness between segments of the Greek population. The motives, hopes and subsequent frustration of the Greek Democratic National Army fighters are laid bare in the heroine's simple, everyday yet powerful language, along with a host of issues which are totally relevant to this day, such as women's and workers' rights, as well as the rise of racism and the class divide in Greek society. Drawing on interviews she conducted with real Greek women who had fought in the Civil War, Jacqueline Paizis has managed to create a poignant story with a distinct, original Greek flavour throughout. I heartily recommend it!

slenderbeak: The Good Shepherd and the Bad Shepherd - A Little ...

slenderbeak: The Good Shepherd and the Bad Shepherd - A Little ...: On a fine, balmy late September evening I was sitting on the veranda with two friends when a shepherd appeared silently at the garden railin...

The Good Shepherd and the Bad Shepherd - A Little Tale from Kefalonia

On a fine, balmy late September evening I was sitting on the veranda with two friends when a shepherd appeared silently at the garden railings. His flock were milling around under the big olive tree across the road, some straying onto the road in different directions. He didn't seem to care about gathering them in. He asked for coffee twice. We said no twice but offered water. He grudgingly accepted. After drinking the water he handed the glass back through the railings without saying thank-you and turned. What I heard come out of his mouth I can only describe as a gurgling sound like coffee percolating from his lips - a private language spoken only between shepherd and sheep. He swiped his staff down on one of his flock and they started crowding away down the hill.

On the day of the big storm here I had seen the same shepherd herding his sheep up the hill outside my house. The road was a running river. I heard their little clinking bells and looking out my window, saw them trotting ankle deep in the water. I jumped in surprise when I noticed the shepherd standing still under a large umbrella on the opposite side of the road. I had never associated shepherds with having things like umbrellas. It unnerved me because his gaze was so focussed on my house

When I told Vangelis about him he explained that there were two shepherds in our village, one good, (καλος) and one bad (κακος). The bad one is the one I have described; the good one is Albanian. This good shepherd has a very old car without number plates. He is very poor and lives with his family in one of the semi-derelict buildings that were built many years ago to house the school teachers in a nearby village. He never bothers anyone or asks for anything. He just looks after his sheep and his family, in that order.

To Vangelis this is all black and white but for me? It has haunted me. Our village is populated with Siemens cookers and Samsung televisions, Fiat cars and wifi but we only have two types of shepherd.

slenderbeak: Greece - Primal Fear

slenderbeak: Greece - Primal Fear: IN case you have been hibernating or in some remote part of the world where there is no internet or newspapers you will have heard that the...

Greece - Primal Fear

IN case you have been hibernating or in some remote part of the world where there is no internet or newspapers you will have heard that there is a very important referendum in Greece on Sunday.
Talking to people here over the last few days it emerges that the Samaras, New Democracy camp claim they have 70% of the Yes vote in Sunday's referendum. The Syriza Left predict a 54% No vote and around 40% Yes. The people I have spoken to are a cross section of plumbers, electricians, bus drivers, retired seaman, shopkeepers, fire engine driver, housewife, holiday apartment owners, students.

When Tsipras spoke to the country recently he said something that stayed in my head. His words were to the effect that the only thing Greeks have to fear is fear itself. This will be tested on Sunday. I sense there are plenty of Greeks who will vote Yes out of fear of the unknown. They may not really believe in their Yes vote but they will cross their ballot paper that way because they believe there is some safety being within Europe. Fear of the unknown, fear of what is foreign is called xenophobia, a Greek word of course. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

The No vote encompasses a myriad of voices who disagree on many issues but they understand that a No vote will send a clear message to the creditors, bankers, eurogroup but also to their supporters in other southern European countries such as Spain that they will not stand idle to be humiliated and dictated to by the Eurogroup bullies. Even the German parliament has Hellenophiles who urge an end to the punishment of the Greek people because they had the audacity to elect a Left wing government and say no to further austerity.

Whatever you think of the Syriza government now is not the time to cut them down in their prime. What a short chance, what impatience it is to suggest their time is up. For what? To elect another Party of grey suited men (with ties) who will do the bidding of any eurogroup as long as they are 'allowed' to 'stay' in Europe. As if Greece was going to be uprooted and replanted in some other part of the world.

Having said this I admit to a fear. It is the fear that the vote will be Yes and it will open the way for more hardship, more suicides, less available medicines and quite likely a return of Samaras. That's what he is planning. That's why he is courting favour with the likes of Junker.

Fear is primal. We must scream it away.

slenderbeak: What Is To Be Done About English Politics?

slenderbeak: What Is To Be Done About English Politics?: People keep adding more information to the overflowing pot. We read avidly, to understand more. But do we? Is our search for greater unders...