Tonda-Rampa is the fruit of Nicos Kazantzakis's profound, moving acquaintance with the Soviet Union, which took place over four trips: 1919, 1925-1926, 1927, and 1928-1929. Exotic, urban, industrial landscapes, each with its own colors and scents, come to life through the unmatched pen of our universal writer.
The October Revolution and global unrest, the struggles of peoples and individuals, hopes and disappointments, dilemmas, heroism and decline, visions and worldviews, experiences and realizations are narrated in a novelistic manner, with a cinematic perspective and emphasis on the timeless aspects of events and characters.
Tonda-Rampa was written in 1929 directly in French. After adventures and hesitations, it was published in 1934 in Paris. It was reissued there in 1962, with an enlightening Introduction by Helen N. Kazantzakis. The Greek translation of the novel, made by Giannis Maglis, was released in 1956.
Now for the first time, the Greek edition includes the Introduction by Helen N. Kazantzakis (1962), translated from the original French by Maria Youroukou, as well as a Prefatory informative note by Dr. Patroklos Stavrou. These texts depict, through interesting biographical and other information, the anxious course of the inspiration, writing, and publishing of this prophetic book, which moved "anonymous" readers and leading literary figures such as Stefan Zweig and Roger Martin du Gard (Nobel Prize in Literature 1937).
