Colossus of Maroussi - European Travel Books

Paperback - June, 1975 - New Directions Publishing Corporation
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By: Henry Miller
ISBN: 0811201090

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Reviews by readers

If you love Greece, you'll love this book!

I've read Miller's book countless times and always feel that I'm traveling in Greece again. His writing and characters are larger than life (particularly Katsimbalis, the "Colossus" referenced in the title). The only book by Miller that I've ever enjoyed, his passion for the subject makes up for any shortfalls. One of a very few timeless tributes to an ageless culture. Vivid and alive!

He's different all right

I found this book lying in a shelter on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia and began reading it. I've read a bit of Henry Miller before.

His perspective and documentation of the Greeks on the eve of WWII is one the most interesting aspects of the book. I also love how he meticulously documents what he eats, especially considering I was eating garbage while I read it.

His ex-patriotic overtones and anti-American sentiments rub me the wrong way, but at the same time it doesn't ruin the book.

What makes it four stars is his insistence on using obscure and unintelligible vocabulary, intentionally I suspect, in order to make the work seem more literary or "artistic".

Whatever man.

Flowery language...other than that, no.

I read "The Colossus" in trains, gazing at the beautiful scenary northeast of Paris. Miller's visual descriptions are excellent, and if you're into actionless descriptions then I recommend reading the book solely based on that account. Otherwise, I can't recommend it. I find the imagery and emotional experiences completely overblown, and I can't relate to them. I should state at the outset that I can't stand Transcendentalism. It seems Miller looks at Greece and sees exactly what he wants to see. The book consists principally of expounding his ideology, using Greece as a backdrop. Looking at and reveling in nature and one's self doesn't always lead to the same path of enlightenment he describes -- I'm sure it could lead a lot of people down the opposite path (think Lord of Flies...or the people in Dogville (a film by Trier)).

For all his preaching of how ignorant working people who enjoy nature are great, he strikes me as a complete hypocrite because this book is all about him not doing anything (and getting free money from friends...like thoreau) and being just as intellectual as the intellectuals when it comes to talking about literary works or what have you. He preaches about how bad technology and the news are and insults everyone when they do nothing about the massacre in Smyrna -- but he doesn't read the news, in fact tries to avoid it, and thus not only does he not know when massacres occur, but he is therefore completely incapable of doing anything about them -- not as if he deigns to tell us what everyone else should do, just that they're all wrong to not do anything. His idealism is completely untempered by reality and the facts of his life and what he does with it. He strikes me as uncompromisingly arrogant and judgemental, but without any obvious warrant of being able to make these statements from a superior moral point of view. His point of view seems to me to shut out all other ways of arriving at the truth -- a truth he knows and is sure of, which he knows because of his emotions, and no arguing with your emotions. He disses religion but I can't put my faith in someone who's too critical of everything else (and doesn't adequately explain his criticisms) and believes that he's found the correct path. As for the massive racial and cultural generalizations...I've never been to Greece, at any point in time. But I can't buy them. They're way too overarching.

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