The Ides of April

I can never say enough good things about both versions of Z -- either Vassilis Vassilikos' 1966 novel or Costa-Gavras' film adaption, released in 1969. The combination of intrigue, assassination, coverup, investigation and crackdown all set within an exciting and clearly articulated social, economic and political milieu permanantly shaped the tone for my worldview. If they're not the greatest such works of all time, they've certainly had the deepest influence on me. What more can you ask from two paired masterworks? I keep two English translation copies of the novel and one copy of the DVD (French with various subtitles, including English) in my small personal library -- because they never fail to buoy my spirits.

From the back cover of the Bantam Books 1969 paperback edition:

Needle-sharp and harsh as a documentary, Z is based on an actual murder -- the political assasination of a celebrated Greek patriot and pacifist -- and the subsequent investigation by a . . . young [government] attorney who followed the trail of responsibility and guilt to the highest levels of a ruthless military regime. Vassilis Vassilikos has dared to expose the story of a political murder and corruption in a novel charged with anger, passion, and mounting suspense.

Quoting the New York Times Book Review: Shattering validity, exciting reading . . . This haunting semi-documentary . . . racing in and among what seems to be half the population of Salonika [Greece], is exhilaratingly wide-ranging and cinematic in the best sense of the word . . . Vassilikos's gifts are dazzling.

Flashed on the screen during Z, the movie:

Concurrently, the military banned long hair on males; mini-skirts; Sophocles; Tolstoy; Euripides; smashing glasses after drinking toasts; labor strikes; Aristophanes; Ionesco; Sartre; Albee; Pinter; freedom of the press; sociology; Beckett; Dostoyevsky; modern music; popular music; the new mathematics; and the letter "Z", which in ancient Greek means "He is alive!"



Today's Rune: Partnership.

Birthdays: Leonardo da Vinci, Émile Durkheim, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Montgomery, Claudia Cardinale, Dave Edmunds.

Andio sas!