You open a masterpiece novel, with high expectations, and suddenly you are confronted with a text that reminds you again what literature is capable of, which you had unconsciously confined within certain common boundaries!
The novel of Robert Penn Warren “All the King's Men” (Polis Publications) redefines the concept of the great masterpiece, a word we use with great ease for almost every well-written literary work.
I think that with this book Penn Warren emerges as the equal, if not superior, to Faulkner, reaching the top of American letters, earning a place alongside in Melville and Absalom Absalom, the best book by the father of modern American prose.
The author's descriptive skill, the vividness of the images, the emergence of the characters through the details that recall Tolstoy's unaffected mastication, and the depth of the anatomy of the characters, which ultimately transcends them to suddenly acquire universal dimensions, are impossible to describe.
Whatever you write about this book, it will be little. Only an excerpt can give an idea of this dizzying work, which, in addition to the power of its descriptions, the uniqueness of its characters, and the genius of its political analysis, has a masterfully woven plot.
The meandering way of constructing each chapter is in itself a staggering achievement. The structure, coherence and overall harmonious harmony of the text need study, which would be valuable for any writer.
In essence, however, this classic masterpiece (like all great masterpieces since the beginning of literature) is a great ontological work. An artistic creation that confronts the burning questions of “Why” and “How” of human existence.
This book would be nothing, for the Greek reader, without the sensational translation by Athena Dimitriadou. I hadn't enjoyed both, Greek translation for years. I enjoy her Greek as an original text, the pivotal word in the pivotal place, which offers the metaphor the new life it seeks in order to emerge in its fullness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mrs Demetriadou.
ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOM
ROBERT PENN WARREN
NEW EDITION
Publications: POLIS
Status: FINE
ISBN: 9789604357215
Price: 19.80€
Date: 2020
Category.
Original language: ENGLISH
Translation.
Pages: 560
Spyros Giannaras
