Athens Tales

Athens Tales is a portrait of Greece's capital through the city's own writers. Joshua Barley presents eighteen short stories, in English translation, by different Greek authors, from the 1890s to the present day. Through these stories, follow the history of Athens through its multiple transformations, from a small town in the nineteenth century to a sprawling modern metropolis. Observe the major events of Athens's recent history - form the effects of the 1923 Population Exchange with Turkey, to Nazi Occupation in World War Two, to post-war boom, to Economic Crisis - through a literary lens. Athens Tales explores a sample of different eras of Greek writing, from nineteenth-century realism to postmodern fiction to detective fiction, complete with a scholarly introduction, notes, and further reading.

Stories include:

A Dervish Fallen from Grace - Alexandros Papadiamantis

The China Shops - Emmanuel Roidis

Night Piece - Michail Mitsakis

Yakoumis's Moment of Glory - Zacharias Papantoniou

Tatters - Petros Pikros

Chips - Lilika Nakou

A Song in Athens - Dimitris Hatzis

Savvas - Menis Koumantareas

The Euclidean Birds - Maria Mitsora

A Break-up - Marios Hakkas

Athens, My Grandmother - Kostas Tachtsis

The Prison - Nikos Houliaras

Valeria - Sotiris Dimitriou

Green Card - Petros Markaris

Blind Date - Kallia Papadaki

I Will Squash You - Amanda Michalopoulou

A Scar on the Arm - Christos Kythreotis

In the Museum - Kostas Peroulis