2016 Chapters (Layout Features)

Ιστορίες της κάθε μέρας: Ιουλία Περσάκη

Van Dyck, Karen

Introduction to Katohi kai peina: istories tis kathe meras, an anthology of short stories by Ioulia Persaki.

Ioulia Persaki (1895-1980) lived for almost a century, experiencing two world wars, living in three different places (Athens, Paris, Aegina) and, throughout all of these events, fighting to make Demotic the official language of Greece. She published four collections of short stories about everyday people living everyday lives; the stories in this anthology were selected from these collections.

"All of Persaki's stories feature a little girl, a child, an animal (a dog, a goat, a canary), someone or something that needs protection. Struggles between the different generations, human passions, joys and sadnesses, tender affection and disappointments get mixed up with the difficult events of the times and are expressed as desire and lack, as a hunger. Jobs, too, end up being whatever is at hand that gives structure and meaning: the farmer, stone mason, sewing lady, maid, kiosk owner, waiter, sailor, fisherman, horse and carriage driver, pistachio seller and the writer, Persaki's own profession. Persaki borrows their words, their gestures, to feed the hungry child with her own words, making writing itself the way to fill every child's empty mouth."

(From Karen Van Dyck's introduction)

Keywords: women’s writing, World War II, German occupation, demoticism, island life, animals

Alternative forms of the author Van Dyck's name: Κάρεν Βαν Ντάυκ, Κάρεν Βαν Ντάικ