Orthokosta

A Novel

Valtinos Thanassis, Assimakopoulos Jane, Deligiorgis Stavros, Kalyvas Stathis

First published in 1994 to a storm of controversy, Thanassis Valtinos's probing novel Orthokosta defied standard interpretations of the Greek Civil War. Through the documentary-style testimonies of multiple narrators, among them the previously unheard voices of right-wing collaborationists, Valtinos provides a powerful, nuanced interpretation of events during the later years of Nazi occupation and the early stages of the nation's Civil War. His fictionalized chronicle gives participants, victims, and innocent bystanders equal opportunity to bear witness to such events as the burning of Valtinos's home village, the detention and execution of combatants and civilians in the monastery of Orthokosta, and the revenge killings that ensued. As a transforming work of literature, this book redefined established methods of fiction; as a work of revisionist history, it changed the way Greece understands its own past. Now, through this masterful translation of Orthokosta, English-language readers have full access to the tremendous vitality of Valtinos's work and to the divisive Civil War experiences that continue to echo in Greek politics and events today.

About the Author

Thanassis Valtinos was born in the Peloponnese region of Greece and is revered as one of the country's most innovative writers. Jane Assimakopoulos is an American-born translator from the Greek and French. She is currently translation editor for a series of books by Philip Roth. She lives in Greece.

Stavros Deligiorgis is a University of Iowa professor emeritus in English and Comparative Literature. Stathis N. Kalyvas is Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science at Yale. He is the author of, among others, "Modern Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know", "The Logic of Violence in Civil War", and "The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe".

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