X.A. Chomenidis draws direct inspiration from the present. He writes an -almost- realistic novel set in Athens in 2021, touching on what moves us, affects us, and frightens us.
Its main character, Jim Papidakis, a child of the 60s and 70s, son of a concierge, adopted by an old star of the National Theatre, finds himself -on the verge of sixty- one step away from fulfilling his great dream: to become the first and best theatrical entrepreneur in Greece.
The theater he has inherited on Fokionos Negri, which -for almost forty years- produced third-rate performances, cheap farces, and disastrous revues, is to become the navel of theatrical Athens. Jim has made excellent use of the pandemic. During the quarantine, he has renovated his theater from the ground up.
He has generously signed on the crème de la crème of actors, writers, directors, musicians... All those who, under normal circumstances, would have snubbed him, deeming him a lesser heir of a glorious name. The show he is preparing, "The Downy Mildew," has all the qualifications to triumph.
Jim is in a state of hyperstimulation. He yearns not for commercial gain but for existential vindication. Jim Papidakis, with his flamboyance, expensive suits, and aristocratic gestures, is a character of the street. At the same time, he is a bit detached, like all of us. Inside him lives his childhood self and his deceased. He converses with them, answering to them. And yet he insists that he despises nostalgia.
One breath away from his triumph, due to a chance encounter with a desperate, ruthless man, Jim Papidakis will be destroyed. He will be crushed by the new reality of social media, fake news, and character assassinations.
Totally confused and innocent, unable to defend himself, he will become prey to a frenzied mob that delights in tearing him apart. A crowd boiling between pity and rage. Jim Papidakis is an analog man in a digital universe. In his person, the coming generations take bloody revenge on the previous ones.
No one close to him can protect Jim. Not even his nineteen-year-old daughter, who belongs to the future. Not even Kypseli, which is changing at dizzying speed and transforming from his homeland into a strange place for him. Jim in Kypseli is the requiem of those who unknowingly remain behind in a rapidly changing world.
The plea on the terrible stage of a good man who is simply surpassed by his time.
Manufacturer
- Author
- CHristos A. CHomenidis
- Publisher
- Patakis
- Publishers
- Patakis
- Type
- Prose
- Cover
- Soft
- Number of Pages
- 368
- Release Date
- 9/2021
- Publication Date
- 2021
- Dimensions
- 14x21 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9789601698014
Important information
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