Ο Μοσκώβ-Σελήμ
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1895
A curious traveller meets an Ottoman soldier in a Thracian meadow who describes himself as the Moscow-Selim — a man who fought Russians, loved one, and borrowed a life he could not keep.
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός
1849–1896
A Vizuenos page should feel like sitting with a quiet, exact narrator who remembers childhood in a Thracian village and won't look away from what people keep hidden — a mother's confession, a door left open for a son, a mind coming apart in a German mining town. The six stories share that patience and that hush, and they repay slow reading. Start with Το αμάρτημα της μητρός μου, where a boy keeps vigil in a church to cure his dying sister and learns, decades later, what his mother confesses into the dark, or with Μεταξύ Πειραιώς και Νεαπόλεως, a comedy on a boat from Piraeus that turns into a study of vanity and misreading. Both will show you what he does with a small scene and a long memory.
Feels like melancholy, memory and family.
Start with Ο Μοσκώβ-Σελήμ.
Vizyinos wrote only a handful of stories; this one was published in 1895, and he spent his final years in a psychiatric hospital in Athens, dying at forty-six.
The small hope of a dress that might make a father love you.
’Ελεγα άλλοτε με τον νου μου: αν δεν με αγαπά ο πατέρας ίσα με τ’ άλλα μου τ’ αδέλφια, φταίουν τα κοριτσίστικά μου φορέματα. Επερίμενα λοιπόν να με πάρη με το καλό, τώρα που ενδύθηκα ωσάν εκείνον, που εκαβαλίκευα περήφανος το αλογάκι κ’ επήγαινα εις το σχολείο. Τίποτε. Πάντοτε εγώ ήμην ο ανίκανος, ο δειλός, ο συχαμερός. ’Ο, τι και αν έκαμνα, πάντοτε έφταια. ’Ελυωνε η καρδιά μου, όταν έβλεπα πως ο πατέρας με κανένα τρόπον δεν ήθελε να με αγαπήση. Και όχι μόνον αυτό. Εθύμωνε όταν έβλεπε πως ο μεγαλύτερος αδελφός μου δεν άφινε τον μεσιανό να με καοκομεταχειρίζεται. Το εναντίον, η μητέρα μου που τα εμάθαινε όλα προσπαθούσε να με κρατήση όσον το δυνατόν περισσότερον καιρόν κοντά της εις το χαρέμι, με την πρόφασιν ότι μ’ εδίδασκε το μάθημά μου. ’Ηταν από μεγάλη οικογένεια και ήξευρε γράμματα. Books by Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός
Το αμάρτημα της μητρός μου
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1883
A boy keeps vigil in a church to cure his dying sister; thirty years later he learns what his mother confesses into the dark. A story of a family's guilt, faith and stubborn love.
Ποίος ήτον ο φονεύς του αδελφού μου
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1883
A mother keeps a door open for a son who never comes home; years later a murder in a Thracian village asks who among the living owes the dead a reckoning.
Το μόνον της ζωής του ταξείδιον
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1883
A boy visits his grandfather, who claims to have travelled to the edge of the world. What emerges is a story about where we really go and why we stay.
Μεταξύ Πειραιώς και Νεαπόλεως
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1883
A poet sails from Piraeus hoping for scenery and conversation, and finds a rich Indian Greek who only wants one listener for his verses. A comedy of vanity and misreading, told by a man who cannot stop narrating himself.
Αι συνέπειαι της παλαιάς ιστορίας
Γεώργιος Βιζυηνός, 1883
A student arrives at a German mining town to visit a brilliant friend, and finds a mind coming quietly apart. A haunting study of love, guilt, and the stories we inherit.
Authors with a similar feel
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
BookFeed is a feed of real passages from real books. It learns what moves you and finds your next book.
Open BookFeedFree, no sign-up.