Kazantzakis: Politics of the Spirit, Volume 1 Book

Preface to the paperback edition     vii
Preface     ix
A note on documentation and transliteration     xiii
List of works     xv
Chronology     xix
Why Kazantzakis is not a Political Writer     3
Politics or metapolitics?
The essential; the adventitious; continuity
Nationalism equals purposeless heroism
The kravyi: A metapolitical "right act"
Philosophical Studies in Paris     23
William James
Friedrich Nietzsche
Henri Bergson
Development of Kazantzakis's (Meta-) Communism     55
The Asia Minor disaster as the stimulus for Kazantzakis's idiosyncratic communism
Vienna: Political yearnings versus Buddhism
Berlin: Bookish and other influences; educational reform
Askitiki
The Iraklion Incident and the Odyssey's First Draft     79
Italy: Buddha, Saint Francis
Iraklion: Praxis
Iraklion: Art
Russia     99
Symposium
Second trip to the Soviet Union; the Anayennisi debate; "Crucified Russia"
Italian Fascism
Egypt and Sinai
Odyssey; third trip to the Soviet Union; Panait Istrati
Greece: The Alhambra speech and its consequences
Fourth trip to the Soviet Union; revision of Askitiki
The Roussakov affair; break with Istrati
Toda-Raba and the Waning of Kazantzakis's Communism     157
A novel of self-revelation
Sorting out Kazantzakis's political allegiances after 1929; why he was never a communist
The attitude of Greek communistsand others toward Kazantzakis
Aristotelianism versus existentialism; the middle ground
Aesthetic Freedom     185
The transitional age
The kravyi
The logos
Heroic action transubstantiated
Odyssey     191
Successive drafts
World-view
Aids to a holistic reading
Political content
The Kierkegaardian paradigm: Aesthetic, ethical, religious
Summary: How the Odyssey reflects Kazantzakis's political convictions
Notes     241
References     287
Index     311