My Mother's Sin and Other Stories by Georgios Vizyenos
G. M. Vizyenos, Georgios Vizyenos. Brown Publishing Company, $25 (249pp) ISBN 978-0-87451-434-6
This first English translation of six stories, written in the first person and set in Greece and the Ottoman Empire, reveals a subtle artist in the 19th century Greek Vizyenos. The demanding, complex tales are replete with character development, probing psychology and detailed descriptions; by today's standards, they may well be considered novellas. In the title work, a boy understands his mother's selfish behavior when he learns of a terrible secret in her past. Other stories also concern the narrators' search for another character's identity or motivation, as in the detective-like ""Who Was My Brother's Killer?'' and ``Between Peiraeus and Naples,'' where a young man sadly discovers the essence of two fond acquaintances during the course of a boat journey. Refined language and close observations mark Vizyenos's dense prose. Charged with strong emotions and a love of nature, it is a triumph that the stories' romanticism comes across fresh and true today. The scholarship evinced in the translation and in the commentary that accompanies the stories is also noteworthy. (April)
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Reviewed on: 02/01/1988
Genre: Fiction