Nikos Kazantzakis
Alexander the Great
(serial), c1940s (Greek)
Theodora Vasils, trans. (English); Virgil Burnett, illus.
Ohio University, c1981, ISBN 0821406639
 

Nikos Kazantzakis, author, poet and philosopher--Greece's "Modern Homer"--is probably best known in the US for his novels, Zorba the Greek, and The Last Temptation of Christ, the latter of which caused much controversy when transferred to the big screen in the mid 1980s.  But his most ambitious work was the epic poem, The Odyssey: a Modern Sequel, some 33,333 lines long, which takes up where Homer left off.  Of all the authors on our list of Alexander fiction, he and Renault probably have the highest profile as literary artists (along perhaps with Wassermann).  If written for the juvenile reader, his novel on Alexander -- originally published in Greece in serial form in the 1940s -- still captures the lyric quality and mythic power of all Kazantzakis' prose.  The 1981 English edition includes lovely pen-and-ink illustrations as well as end-maps.

If there is a "problem" with the book, it lies in its historical accuracy.  But first, several caveats need to be applied.  Like Renault, Kazantzakis wrote (and, in fact, lived and died) before the recent bloom of Macedonian studies (see the review on Renault for more details).  There is much that he simply did not know.  Kazantzakis was also a Greek, with a Greek's understandable pride in the history and heros of the past.  This does not mean that he idolizes Alexander entirely -- in fact, he resists doing so, never being one to overlook the faults in individuals, even while he celebrated their virtues.  Zorba remains so charming because we see in him on the grand scale our faults and virtues, our victories and failures.  Kazantzakis' heros are human, and he treats Alexander with the same perception.  If this is an heroic Alexander -- a young Achilles -- it is not a perfect Alexander.

The third and final caveat is that the book is written for older children and young teens.  Much is simplified, from the language to
the emotions of the characters, without being simplistic.  Like C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, an adult reader can enjoy Kazantzakis' novel.  But it is the sort of book which might be particularly fun for adults to read to older children, like Tolkein's The Hobbit.  Thus, even while Alexander is not simplistic, he is not complex in the way Kazantzakis might have written him for adults.

Some of the idolizing, however, has to do with perspective.  Alexander is not the main character.  Instead, we follow Stephen (Stephanos), born in Pella, a slightly younger contemporary of Alexander.  Stephen accompanies the conqueror to Asia and it is through his eyes that most of the story is told.  Like many younger soldiers in Alexander's army, he entertains no little hero worship for his king.

Another peculiarity of the book is the time frame.  Although it does cover the entirety of Alexander's career, it does not do so evenly.
Again, this has something to do with the choice of point of view character, but far more time is spent on Alexander's early career than on his later.  At page 131, over half-way through the novel, Alexander and company is just entering Egypt.  One reason for this lopsided emphasis is no doubt that Kazantzakis assumes (probably correctly) that the younger Alexander would appeal more to younger readers.  But by taking the focus he does, he can also avoid dealing much with the less savory aspects of Alexander's later years, even though he does not avoid or gloss them entirely.

It is too bad more novels of this quality are not available for young readers, particularly young male readers.  It is an enormous
improvement over the usual fare of Star Wars and Animorphs!  But then,what else would one expect from the Modern Homer?