Word: greco
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...Report to Greco is not an autobiography ... Therefore, reader, in these pages you will find the red track made by drops of my blood, the track which marks my journey among men, passions, and ideas...
...encompassing dualities. One is hardly surprised to find Kazantzakis posing problems like the battle of spirit and flesh in this way--but he extends the approach to many other battles. He explains that he views his life as a battle for spiritual ascent--and the reader of Report to Greco becomes overwhelmed by the extent to which he lived and wrote about life in these terms...
...like Matthew Arnold and fictional figures like Herzog? For one thing, he achieves nobility by immersing himself in a noble tradition. The Consul in Under the Volcano, for example, may be one of the many examples of a man "alienated" from society but the hero of Report to Greco is a descendant of generations of proud Cretans and a son of the ancient island of Crete. It is no accident that the author begins the prologue with Cretan soil in his hand and ends it by addressing his grand-father...
...place myself soldier-like before the general, and make Report to Greco. For Greco is kneaded from the same Cretan soil as 1, and is able to understand me better than all the strivers of past and present...
Kazantzakis was, then, born of a race and land which encouraged him to live on a cosmic scale. And he eagerly accepted this scale, as his introduction to Report to Greco shows. Once one understands this, one can accept seeming pompousness which would otherwise be intolerable. Kazantzakis can use phrases like "my soul began to tremble" because Kazantzakis lived in these terms...