48 pages • 1 hour read
Zorba the Greek
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Zorba the Greek is the first novel of Cretan author Nikos Kazantzakis. Published in 1946, the story chronicles the narrator’s friendship with Zorba, who accompanies the narrator on an extended trip to Crete. The novel revolves around their disparate personalities and perspectives; while the narrator is a young, bookish intellectual with a penchant for abstract thought, Zorba is a sixty-year-old man with an enthusiastic appreciation for life and authentic lived experience, something the narrator yearns to attain for himself.
Zorba the Greek begins with the narrator at a cafe in Piraeus waiting to take a boat to Crete, where he has rented a lignite mine. While he is waiting, he thinks of his friend, Stavridaki, who recently left to fight for the Greeks in the Caucasus. Before leaving, Stavridaki called the narrator a bookworm for his intellectual inclinations. Through his venture with the lignite mine, the narrator means to escape this existence as an intellectual. Alexis Zorba’s entrance to the cafe interrupts the narrator’s thoughts. Zorba approaches the narrator and asks to go with him, offering to cook for him. The narrator finds himself drawn to Zorba’s boldness and simplicity. He agrees, and they set off for Crete.
In Crete, the narrator and Zorba first stay at the inn of Unlock all 48 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
