The Feasts of Memory: Stories of a Greek Family

by Elias Kulukundis

The famous Greek shipping family of Kulukundis is the source of inspiration for a clever combination of travel book, Kulukundis' autobiography, and a collection of the family's stories. The tales told around the dinner tables of his family in exile recreate the ancestors' life on the island of Kasos.

These stories are imbued with the sophistication and wit of a Greek expatriate, but at the same time they delve deep into the motivating passions of the Aegean islands. Some of them reveal skeletons in the closet, and some, in the words of The New Yorker Magazine, are "as savage as Homer's."

An obliging Uncle George accompanied the author through the labyrinth of tales, narrating and explaining along the way. Uncle George's uncle, Doctor Nikolakis, was a honey-tongued bachelor who became the character of the longest story in The Feasts of Memory.

Later the same doctor turned into the fateful hero of Kulukundis' opera libretto Three Brides for Kasos, based on Nikolakis' unusual destiny. In a whirlwind drama in which two island families vie for the hand of this peculiar bachelor, a tug of war between old and new mores leads to a tragicomedy where laughter bursts like the sun through an Aegean storm.

The Feasts of Memory is a book that charms all those who left their homeland behind as well as those in search of new realms.

Genres: Ebooks

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Grandson of two Kasiot sea captains and son of a Kasiot shipowner, Elias Kulukundis was born in London in 1937. Three years later his family moved to America and he grew up in Rye, New York. Educated at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, he became a versatile linguist as well as a writer. Mr. Kulukundis translated Viktor Nekrasov's Both Sides of the Ocean from the Russian. Mr. Kulukundis currently lives in New York.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend of mine loaned me this book, telling me it was the story of his family. The book sat on a shelf for a few months but I got to it. I easily saw the nature of his relationship with the author in the family tree near the front of the book, and so was sad to hear when I returned the book that Cousin Elias, the author here, passed away this summer.

Kulukundis may have been an overlooked author. It doesn't appear that his books are widely read, and that is too bad. He writes well. As a memoir, though, I'm not sure the stories here will resonate very widely. Ultimately, that's what this is: a collection of stories seeking to connect the Kulukundis diaspora to its ostensible homeland.

The main narrative is of a younger Elias' journey with his uncle, George, to the Greek island of Kasos, whence George departed as a boy with his family. Most of the stories Elias hears and collects during the trip and elsewhere pertain to his family specifically. Stories of families in exile often carry a portentous nostalgia, thus elevating the narrative. This is no exception, and it is fortunately not at all mawkish.

But there is one lengthy story that might almost be the centerpiece, and it has nothing to do with the family. The story is rich in its own right, but one wonders if there just wasn't enough family-specific material to flesh out the memoir. If not, that would have been a choice made by Elias to limit his narrative mostly to the idea of exile. Certainly, the Kulukundis family had its successes after departing Kasos. By choosing not to focus on those, Elias perhaps gave up a chance at an audience seeking the spectacular. His more cerebral exploration here may have been conceived for his family, but found its way to publication because of its sparkling competence.

[Marymar Coll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me topé con esta joya porque dentro de la pequeña librería de Syros, que por casualidad abrió el lunes de Pascua, había dos opciones en inglés, ambas de autores griegos y pues ya saben... el de la portada que más te guste 😬.

Lo amé de principio a fin!