Short stories
The End of Our Small Town
Το τέλος της μικρής μας πόλης
Dimitris Chatzis · 1953
Synopsis
In Ioannina, between the two wars, seven linked tales follow the people of a small town: Sioulas the tanner, the Jew Sabethai Kabilis, Aunt Angeliki, the professor and his will, the young Margarita Perdikari. The old trades and small shops die out, the profiteers prosper, and those who hold a different ideal are scorned and suffer for it.
Context
The book first appeared in 1953 in Bucharest, where its author was a political refugee, with five of the seven stories; the other two appeared in magazines in 1959 and 1962, and the complete edition came out in Athens in 1963, the author still being in exile. The title refers to Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and several figures, including Sabethaï Kabilis, are real members of the Jewish community of Ioánnina. Michel Volkovitch translated it for éditions de l'Aube; David Vere into English, in 1995.
Who it is for
Seven linked stories, to be read in order and in one sitting. It helps to know that before the war Ioannina was home to an ancient Jewish community, several of whose figures the book brings to life.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the three landmark books of postwar Greek prose, it was at once a classic, and its stories read as a single book.