Henry Miller: Colossus of Maroussi
Account of Greek Journeys in Athens, Corfu, Crete, Mycenae, Delphi
Jul 2, 2007
Edmund Wilson said that Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi was 'unlike anything else ever written about Greece.' Having read dozens of travel books about the country, including wonderful accounts by Lawrence Durrell, I have to agree. Miller's remains one of my favorite accounts of travel in Greece, and its welcome re-issue by Summersdale gives me a chance to see how well it stands up.
The Colossus of Maroussi was first published in 1942 and vividly recounts Miller's travels in 1939-40. Lawrence Durrell features prominently in the book, as he and Miller were friends and Miller stayed with the Durrells at their home in Corfu. A letter from Lawrence Durrell, which Miller says was delivered just as he had written the last line of the book, provides an Appendix.
Durrell's letter, written on a Greek ferry journeying to Tinos and then to Mykonos, describes a visit to the Acropolis in Athens with the Greek poet Katsambalis – the 'Colossus' of Miller's title. Katsambalis is a larger than life character, and at the Acropolis in the early hours of the morning he imitates a cock crowing, causing all the cockerels in the city, it seems, if not the whole of Attica, to crow out their replies.
Greece tends to produce these exuberant and extrovert characters, in love with life – think Zorba the Greek – and Miller (no shrinking violet himself) enjoys their company. It seems to drive his writing to new heights. He responds to the passions of the Greeks, and to the Greek landscape, and describes both with accuracy and skill. He refers to 'a fang-like row of houses' along a Greek waterfront, bringing to life the square, white buildings of different heights so typical of a little Greek port.
And how could anyone who has traveled on a budget in Greece disagree with Miller's tribute to the country's cheap hotels: 'I like hotels which are second or third rate, which are clean but shabby, which have seen better days, which have an aroma of the past.'
Miller's journeys take him through parts of the Peloponnese with Lawrence Durrell, to Mycenae, Epidavros and to Sparta. Here there's an amusing account of Durrell's attempts to get a medium-boiled egg for breakfast. Durrell's patience is sorely tested as he keeps sending his eggs back, only to find them returning even colder than before. He finally learns that the hotel has no stove, and the eggs are being taken down the street to the baker to be boiled a little more each time.
Miller starts the book by describing how he first wanted to go to Greece after conversations with a girl in Paris about her travels there. In the first few pages he travels to Marseille and takes a boat to Piraeus, where his friend Lawrence Durrell will meet him and take him to his home on Corfu. On board that ferry from Marseille Miller meets a Greek medical student, then a French archaeologist, and their conversations lure Miller – and the reader – into the vibrant and colorful world that is Greece. 'The ride from Piraeus to Athens,' writes Miller with absolute accuracy, 'is a good introduction to Greece. There is nothing inviting about it. It makes you wonder why you decided to come to Greece.... The driver was like an animal who had been miraculously taught to operate a crazy machine.'
Yes, Henry Miller is good on Greece. In the 65 years since The Colossus of Maroussi was first published, everything has changed and little has changed.
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The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller is published by Summersdale in the UK at £7.99, and is available at all good bookshops, through Amazon and other online bookstores, or direct from the publishers. Visit their website by clicking here.
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