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Aris Alexandrou: Το Κιβώτιο (Mission Box)

The novel is set in 1949 as the Greek Civil War is coming to an end. We open with an unnamed man who is clearly under arrest and in prison. Instead of telling his story in person to the interrogator, which apparently has not worked, he is writing down his account, though this is slow as he is only given a few sheets of paper every day and he is, by his own admission, quite verbose in his story.

We soon learn that he was part of a communist brigade and it is assumed, though it is not entirely clear, that his captors are also communist. We learn of various people executed for not following the current party doctrine.
We learn very early that he was part of a mission which has failed, for which he blames the leaders of the subversive dogmatist faction, though it seems that his captors are blaming him, at least in part.

He recounts to his captors and us the full story of the mission. He had been selected – he is not sure why – and sent of to the the town of N. He had to walk there and manages to get there ahead of schedule. Before departure he had been given a small envelope and told to give it only to a person who uses the code word calling card. He does not open it. Some time after arrival in N, a captain does use the codeword and he gives the envelope to him surreptitiously in the men’s toilet. Later still he admits that this is untrue and gives another account.

N has been badly hit by the enemy. The church clock has been damaged and no longer works. There is later a discussion as to whether to repair it. As the majority seem to favour repairing he goes along with it. As he is the only one who knows how to repair it he is given the job. The clock is barely damaged but he deliberately wrecks it. The solution is then to have a series of soldiers to move the hands manually every few minutes. This is by no means the only somewhat irrational decision and Alexandrou, though very much left-wing himself, is presumably mocking doctrinaire communists.

The whole set-up is, indeed irrational. Nearly all those selected for the mission are sergeant or above and many have medals for valour. However, apart from the major in charge, it is decided to do away with traditional rankings and a corporal is put in charge. There is also lots of physical exercise – gymnastics, chopping down trees and carrying the heavy trunks back to base and the same with heavy rocks. Some of this takes place at odd hours. In addition the food is awful.

Finally they are off on their mission. They have to be disguised as peasants and the eponymous mission box – a large metal box concealed in a rudimentary wooden box and then concealed in a cart carrying hay and pulled by horses. The case must be delivered to the town of K. “Men, I can tell you this: If we succeed in delivering this box to the town of K, victory is ours! If we fail, our cause is forever lost.

Before they start they have to execute five of their number who are deemed to be politically unacceptable.

Though they have a medic it is decided that any man who cannot continue during the journey because of illness or being wounded will take a cyanide pill.

The main problem on the journey is an attack by the enemy. They defeat the enemy but lose several men and also lose some to illness and casual encounters. They also execute one of their number. In short he gives a brief overview of what happened.

However there are now two key changes. Firstly he now tells the story again but in much more detail. Secondly we learn that he has been lying.

We know he has been lying because he tells us and the interrogator that he has. His lies were partially to protect himself. However there are three other reasons. The first is to provoke a reaction from the interrogator. He tells lies which he is certain that the interrogator knows are lies so that the interrogator will challenge him. He does not. Indeed our hero only sees the warden on his daily rounds, bringing food and paper and taking away what he has written. The interrogator does not appear.

The second reason is that he is not sure who has arrested him. Is it his own side, the Leninist communists, the doctrinaire communists or the royalists? He and we do not know. The final reason is that he suspects that nobody is reading what he has written, so he can write anything.

Eventually he gives up writing but tells us the story, including events prior to the expedition, when he had two friends and they joined the communists together. The key issue there became loyalty to the party versus loyalty to one’s friends. He also describes what life was like under the German occupation. Even then there was some dissembling and he may well have obtained his medal under false pretences.

We learn a lot more about their journey including the fact that the majority die from reasons other than at the hands of the enemy. We learn that they seem to be sent on a circuitous route (they often return to the same place) and even engage in some tourism (skinny dipping and a visit to an archaeological museum). In short, the more detailed version gives a quite different view from the original summary version.

I found this to be a fascinating almost Kafkaesque book (is it coincidence that the destination town of the mission is called K?)

We have a thoroughly unreliable narrator who changes his story more than once so we are left unsure as to exactly what is going on. We know that Greece is in turmoil and this expedition and the account of it only add to that feeling. Is this expedition a straightforward expedition or is it a legendary one? It canot be coincidence that our hero’s initial commanding officer is called Odysseus and that the members of the expedition have names such as Spartacus,Hector, Telemachus, Pericles, Brutus, Hermes, , Demosthenes, , Icarus, Androcles and Belisarius with even an odd Robespierre thrown in.

The book – Alexandrou’s only novel – is considered a classic of modern Greek literature and rightly so.

Publishing history

First published in 1975 by Kedros
First English translation in 1996 by Kedros
Translated by Robert Crist