Friday 16 May 2014

Some Books on Corfu, Island Life and Greece (with reviews)



When The Sun Goes Down, Island Stories, by Maria Strani-Potts

Paperback edition

From Amazon:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant short stories from a unique and trenchant voice 16 Oct 2013
By Christopher
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

"Strani-Potts' most recent collection further establishes her high position among 21st century authors and critics. Her previous book, The Cat of Portovecchio: Corfu Tales stands as a singular example of short-story writing at its finest. This collection emphasizes the sundry metaphors of "the island": a physical, emotional, and/or a political territory isolated from the mainland by the vastness of the sea (itself a chimeric metaphor). One story in particular, "The Exploitation of Panorea," is as fine a parable as Kafka's "Hunger Artist" or Walser's "Battle Of Sempach." Strani-Potts, a Corfiot, cleverly situates her characters in narratives that require a strong sense of place, a temporal anchor. Like Flannery O'Conner's undeniable identification with the South, Strani-Potts' fiction is tied to the Ionian Islands and to the culture of freedom found there".

http://realcorfu.com/the-cat-of-portovecchio-by-maria-strani-potts/


and Real Corfu on Corfu Blues (the book):
http://realcorfu.com/corfu-blues-by-jim-potts/

On "The Ionian Islands and Epirus, A Cultural History", from OUP (USA) website, re the Oxford University Press (USA edition, hardback and paperback):

"He examines perceptions and preconceived ideas (as well as their historical development up until the present day), Greek Nationalism as well as the chauvinism of foreigners. This presentation makes the book more interesting than a strictly historical narrative. The style is fluent, compact, enjoyable and understandable, and the author exhibits a subtle sense of humour. The author's love for the place and the people is obvious, but he also has an honest, open and evenly directed critical attitude." -- To Zagori Mas

"An important book that will kindle new research and thinking on the political and literary history of the region." --Times Literary Supplement

"If evidence is required that Greece can enchant, enthral and engage, then Briton Jim Potts' book is just that... This little gem of a book will provide the discerning traveller with something grossly lacking from other tourist guides: a real cultural history with which he or she can contextualise the wonderful experience that is the Ionian Islands and Epirus." --Athens News





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