Little Infamies: Stories - Softcover

Karnezis, Panos

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312421540 ISBN 13: 9780312421540

Publisher: Picador, 2004

Synopsis

In a nameless Greek village, the lives of its citizens--the priest, the whore, the doctor, the seamstress, the mayor--and even its animals--a centaur, a parrot that recites Homer, a horse called History--are entwined. As their lives intersect, their hidden crimes, their little infamies, are revealed, in a place full of passion, cruelty, and deep reserves of black humor.

About this title

Review:

The world that Panos Karzenis takes us into in Little Infamies is that of an obscure Greek village. As we are introduced to the quirky inhabitants--the barber, the priest, the prostitute, the doctor, the mayor and the seamstress, we are granted insights into the lives of a series of strongly involving characters, and we are drawn ever deeper into a vividly realised society. But Panos Karnezis is like the magician who distracts us with his left hand while performing sleight-of-hand with his right. In fact, the village here is a strange and magical place: other inhabitants include the occasional animal: a parrot that can recite Homer, a horse called History--even a centaur. All these strange lives intersect, and in such a cloistered village, few secrets are kept hidden for long. Everybody learns about the eponymous little infamies that the human race commits.

This evocative and idiosyncratic book is a singular achievement for its insightful author. Perhaps the shadow of Borges is at the author's elbow (as well as a shot of Marquez's magic realism), but these creations are very much his own. We turn each page of Little Infamies agog, constantly diverted by the contrary actions of the characters here. But Karnezis is fully aware that to weave his spell with maximum power, it is always necessary to remain plausible--we always need that grittiness to anchor us in reality. And the nameless Greek village here comes to feel like a place we could walk the streets of, if we just knew where it was. But here it is, in the pages of this remarkable book. The journey is well worthwhile. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"Downright miraculous...spry and playful, sly and macabre...Karnezis's language is fresh, lyrical, natural... seduc[ing] you into its magically real and soon-to-be-spectral world." --The New York Times Book Review

"A deft stylist: clear and direct, yet subtly ironic...Like many of the masters of this genre--Guy de Maupassant, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty--Karnezis is adept at delivering one startling surprise after another." --Los Angeles Times

"Fierce, twisted, darkly funny stories...[Karnezis] has a sharp, unsentimental eye for contemporary Greek life, while deftly adding intimations of the pagan past." --The New Yorker

"Sly, witty, fantastical, and tragic, with just a touch of something old-fashioned about them...A terrific read." --The Seattle Times

"What a find!...The fruit of an exceptional and leaping imagination...One searches for comparisons--what one might get if Kafka collaborated with Hal Hartley, Aesop, and Italo Calvino--but Karnezis's originality and freshness, his vivid turns of phrase, are his alone." --Annie Proulx

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0312421540
• ISBN 13: 9780312421540
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292