Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis | |
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Kazantzakis in 1904 | |
| Native name | Νίκος Καζαντζάκης |
| Born | 2 March (OS 18 February) 1883 Kandiye, Vilayet of Crete, Ottoman Empire (now Heraklion, Greece) |
| Died | 26 October 1957 (aged 74) Freiburg im Breisgau, West Germany |
| Resting place | Martinengo Bastion, Venetian Walls of Heraklion |
| Occupation | Poet, novelist, essayist, travel writer, philosopher, playwright, journalist, translator |
| Language | Modern Greek |
| Education | University of Athens (1902–1906; J.D., 1906) University of Paris (1907–1909; DrE, 1909) |
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Nikos Kazantzakis (/kæzænˈzækɪs/; Greek: Νίκος Καζαντζάκης [ˈnikos kazanˈd͡zacis]; 2 March (OS 18 February) 1883 – 26 October 1957) was a Greek writer, journalist, politician, poet and philosopher. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in nine different years, and remains the most translated Greek author worldwide.
Kazantzakis's novels included Zorba the Greek (published in 1946 as Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas), Christ Recrucified (1948), Captain Michalis (1950, translated as Freedom or Death), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1955). He also wrote plays, travel books, memoirs, and philosophical essays, such as The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises. His fame spread in the English-speaking world due to cinematic adaptations of Zorba the Greek (1964) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).
He also translated a number of notable works into Modern Greek, such as the Divine Comedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, On the Origin of Species, and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.