Smaragdis: Save Kazantakis' Antibe house

The house was home to the writer, after he resigned from UNESCO in 1948, to devote himself to writing. Kazantzakis lived in the house with his wife Eleni until 1957, and used tto call it his “cocoon.” It is the house he lived in when “Zorba” was awarded as best foreign book, and when in 1956 he received the international peace prize.

The house passed into the possession of his wife, who then sold it, to the present owners that are now trying to sell it.

In his appeal, Yannis Smaragdis who is preparing a film on the life of Kazantzakis, waxes lyrical noting among other things that “Irakliots, Cretans, Greeks everywhere, awaken! This chance to wash away our shame for all that we should have done for this Great Greek that believed in the eternal Greek Light.” The director also refers to how the state allowed the home of his birth in Iraklio to be torn down and be turned into a parking lot.

Smaragdis states that a concerted effort should be made by all to buy the house at Antibe. Alas, there is no mention of how this should come about.