Zorba the Greek

The narrator introduces his literary inspirations and includes Zorba in a list of luminaries with Homer, Bergson, and Nietzsche. According to the narrator, “Zorba taught me to love life and not to fear death” (9). Zorba granted him “deliverance,” making the mundane matters of food and love new again for the narrator (9). He wishes he had met Zorba sooner, so he could have fully emulated him, not only used him as a subject for his art. At the same time, rendering Zorba into art has granted the narrator relief, even if it is secondary. The narrator recalls leaving Zorba to continue his intellectual pursuits and being called back by Zorba. At the time, given the troubles around him, going to see Zorba felt too indulgent, and Zorba himself castigates the narrator for that reaction. The narrator describes his desire to write and remember all that Zorba told him and what he did while they spent time together. He sees his manuscript as a “memorial” that also carries the memories of his friend and Madame Hortense (14).