Tuesday 7 April 2015

The Nifi, Linda Fagioli-Katsiotas - and an interview; Margariti, Epirus



From the author's blog

The Nifi is a wonderful book which I still recommend highly to my friends.

An interview with the author


3 comments:

  1. Hello Jim,

    I am actually reading the Nifi on my kindle right now and it is indeed very readable. I finished reading "The Cat of Portovecchio" last week and enjoyed the vivid description of the places, characters and food with the presence of Mamee entwined in the story (en filigrane?) but not the gruesome account of the slaughterhouse! I guess a lot of it is autobiographical memories of Maria's own childhood?

    On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed with Theresa Nicholas' book "Suntouched". While it is an interesting narrative of that period in Corfu and we probably have all come across a “Tasso type” character (ours was called Takis) I cannot understand how an intelligent woman could be so passive and subdued not having any other activity but hanging around endlessly, not trying to learn Greek and integrate in all the years she spent there. Corfu, had/has so much more to offer.
    Thank you for recommending and all the updates on Greece. Nickie

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  2. Thanks Nickie. I really enjoyed "Suntouched", for its descriptions of Corfu in the 60s, and for its honesty. A lot of Theresa's writings (very varied) can be sampled on Real Corfu: http://realcorfu.com/the-island/the-life-and-works-of-theresa-nicholas/.
    Her sketches and works of art are very impressive. Have you seen this book of Corfu Sketches?- http://www.yiannisbooks.com/sketches.html

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  3. Thank you for the links. They have given me another perspective of the real Theresa Nicholas. I love her sketches and very much enjoyed reading the various articles of her walks through Corfu as well as the talk she gave at the Durrell Institute in 2009; there are several of her memories I can relate to, especially Diktia, the Boas brothers, the beautiful sea front, full moon and romantic music - my first date there with Spiros on July 8, 1967 (his 20th birthday). Contrary to what I thought reading “Suntouched”, it appears Theresa did keep active in the 1960s both writing and sketching, and there was a lot more to her vision of the island and its people than I perceived. I also understand better now her attraction to Tasso/Cristo. So apologies for my comments!

    I too enjoy painting and maybe one day, who knows, I will write my own impressions of "my” island, spanning over the last 50 years

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