Abstracts

Michalis Paschalis (University of Crete):

Homer, Plato, and Dante in Kazantzakis' "The life and deeds of Alexis Zorba"

In Kazantzakis there is no after-life; Hell, Purgatory and Paradise exist in this world, and so do spiritual guides. The first part of this paper looks at the construction of Alexis Zorbas as a katabasis, with reference to three intertexts: Homer's Odyssey, Plato's Republic and Dante's Divine Comedy. The second part deals with social and political aspects of earthly representations of after-life.

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