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Pandelis Prevelakis: Ο Κρητικός (The Cretan)

This is actually a trilogy with all three books published together in the English translation. It is about the Cretan struggle for freedom from the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, thoug h there are a few references to the previous era when Crete was ruled by the Venetians.

There are two main characters – Kostandis Markantonis is very much fictitious while Eleftherios Venizelos was very much real and a Greek as well as a Cretan hero.

The introduction tells us that many Cretans preferred the Turks to the Venetians, at least initially as the Venetians often wanted them to switch from their Orthodox religion to Catholicism. While some Cretans did switch to Islam, though at least in some cases still secretly remaining Christian, the majority remained Orthodox. However by the time we get to this book – late nineteenth century – the Turks are hated and considered for the most part to be cruel and treacherous.

The opening parts are set in the Amari area. We see a man- Siphalios – and his wife, Areti, come and squat in a ruined Venetian stronghold. We learn what happened to them. We already have conflict with the Turks and Siphalios is murdered by them. Areti will give birth to Kostandis. By the time he grows up, the conflict with the Turks has got worse and, essentially, a civil war breaks out. We get lots of exciting accounts of Greek bravery and Turkish treachery. The rebellion is provoked in part by harsh taxes during a period when the weather has been poor and led to their income being much reduced.

Kostandis fights bravely and the Turks are driven off. He later decides to go to the city but he is recognised by the Turks and thrown into prison, where he meets a host of other patriots, who share their stories. We learn of the horrors of prison life, including a few executions but, not surprisingly, our heroes manage to escape though when they return home, they find the area has been struck by plague and many, including Kostandis’ mother, have died, It seems the plague came from infected items they stole from the Turks.

One of the key themes in this book is religion. Virtually all the Cretans are Orthodox Christian and are shown as being devoted to their religion though the monks and other religious people are equally devoted to the cause of Cretan independence. Before the fighting starts again, we see the locals help repair the church but we also see that there is feasting and Kostandis may have found a future wife. The first book ends at this point.Once we start the second book, it is clear that we are in for another round of fighting though we have a wedding and then Kostandis gets engaged to and married to Vangelio before we have a new uprising.

We are now in 1895/96. We follow the latest uprising in some detail. We learn that Greece and other European countries are not too enthusiastic as they are worried they might get embroiled. Kostandis becomes a leader and he is aided by Crypto-Christians (those who pretended to be Moslems, were waiting for the opportunity to come out into the open and shed their Moslem practices. Their ancestors had been forced in desperation to pretend to renounce their faith in order to escape dishonour or even death).

A period of peace sees the Cretans engaged in their farming before war breaks aout again. This one is more serious as firstly it involves several other European nations and, secondly, we see naval battles. We also meet Eleftherios Venizelos for the first time but once again an uneasy truce breaks out.

On his way home Kostandis has an epiphany. He recognises higher homeland that God was now vouchsafing to him was the Christian faith which he shared with his brothers, the same language, the same history, the same way of approaching and thinking about the world.

Peace can sometimes be almost as difficult as conflict and we see that there, as there are conflicts between various players. A key statement a the beginning of Book 3 is Kostandis stood at the edge of the field, free and alone. They may have to a certain degree defeated the Turks but they fight among themselves and with the Europeans. The church and the tax collector, for example, are seen as enemies. In many ways this is the most interesting of the tree books as it is less about actual fighting (at least fighting between the Cretans and the Turks though there is a lot of fighting between the various factions and individuals) and more dealing with what happens when the enemy is more or less defeated but there are varying opinions as to what peace means.

We also get more focus on local issues. Kostandis and his friends had been ambushed by the police and he had killed the police chief. Both his wife and the police chief’s widow were upset by this and take appropriate action.

Eleftherios Venizelos comes to the fore – he will become prime minister of Greece later on – while the regency of Prince George is bitterly opposed, not least because Prince George behaves like a dictator.

As we know it does all more or less ends happily ever after, with Crete becoming part of Greece and the whole country becoming independent.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, with Prevelakis cleverly mixing in the story of Crete obtaining its freedom from the Turks and a a series of colourful stories of various fictitious characters who have their own issues and takes to tell but who are, whether they like it or not embroiled in the struggle for interdependence. Prevelakis makes no bones about which side he is on and is happy to damn the Turks, the various Europeans getting involved and Prince George who, in his view, do not have the interests of Crete at heart.

Publishing history

First English translation in 1945-50 byAestos
First English translation in 1991 by Nostos
Translated by Abbott Rick (first book) and Peter Mackridge (second & third book)