There are many challenges that one confronts when living overseas for an extended period of time, most notably a language that is "foreign" to your ears. While Greece has many culinary delights to offer, I do find that from time to time I "hunger" for more American fare. However, my most quixotic task since my arrival in Ioannina was finding "food" for my soul, in other words, books written in English. There is a bookstore in downtown Ioannina. Upon discovering it, I was initially optimistic that I might find a few New York Times bestsellers and, indeed, I did find them. However, they were in Greek (I must admit that it was entertaining to see Stephanie Meyer's books in Greek). When I asked a salesperson if there were any books in English, she directed me to a modest shelf that contained mostly classics with an occasional romance novel or murder mystery in the mix. I hoped that my disappointment was not too discernible and I thanked her and proceeded to take a closer look. As I was standing there I remembered thinking, "Who wants to read classics? I have probably read them all." Yet, as I cocked my head sideways to read the titles, it became apparent to me that I had not read most of them. I found this a little embarrassing. I have always believed that I received a first-rate education through the Lincoln, Nebraska Public Schools (LPS), but before I even got to Henry James (the titles were in alphabetical order) I was already concocting a letter in my mind to the Superintendent of LPS asking why I was never required to read Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte? Was LPS discriminating against women writers at the time? Was there a problem with Dostoyevsky? Of course, I realized that LPS and my teachers exposed me to some fine works. Furthermore, I realized that there was no way an English curriculum could expose you to every important work. Still, I found it ironic that I was on a Fulbright grant trying to learn about a foreign country, when knowledge of my own country, specifically its writers, was not too impressive and my knowledge of British and Russian novelists was even worse.
After standing for a long time, I eventually got over my disappointment of having only classics to choose from and my embarrassment that I had not read many of them. I boldly chose a couple of titles. When I was sophomore at the University of Nebraska, I decided to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. I am not sure what prompted me to buy it, but that book affected me like few others. To this day I still feel badly for Tess. Oddly enough in the intervening thirty years or so I never read another book by Hardy. Therefore, I decided to pick up Jude the Obscure. I couldn't walk out of the bookstore with just one book, so I also picked up The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. As I read the foreword while I was debating whether to buy it, I learned that Cooper's contemporaries, such as Mark Twain, viewed him as a hack writer. I thought to myself, "Cooper may not be the best writer, but how many novelists from the 19th century can say that their book was turned into a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis?" With that I checked to see if I had enough Euros to pay for my purchases and I was on my way.
As a postscript I found Jude the Obscure as sad and as tragic as Tess. Hardy used many words that I had to look up, which I loved doing. Cooper wasn't a stellar writer, but I enjoyed The Last of the Mohicans, especially his style of writing which was probably typical of the early 19th century.
So have you read any classics lately? If so, I would appreciate your suggestions and I will see if I can find them at my bookstore in Ioannina.
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