The Colossus of Maroussi (New Directions Paperbook) Paperback – May 18, 2010

I really knew very little about this book before I started it. I was looking for something to capture the essence and spirit of Greece as I plan a trip there for 2024. I got lucky, as this book was simply fabulous. I’ve read one other book by Miller, and knew he was talented but his use of language and imagery made me long to be in Greece…no, to move to Greece. They say this is his most autobiographical book, and I certainly hope so. It is poignant and lovely. Definitely worth reading.

Henry Miller has long been considered one of the important early voices in the Beat movement, and among free thinkers who evolved into the 1960s reappraisal of social values worldwide. But this interesting tour of Greece in 1941, at the beginning of WWII, has rarely been read as a take on the landscape of 20th-century politics and Miller's own reaction to violence and a deterioration of human values as the world moved toward its encounter with fascism. The islands are marvelous; his friendships unique and open; and his sense of the world, his anti-Christian critiques, and his call for a new kind of spiritualism among humans, are refreshing reminders of what the world was about to discover for itself. But the War plays a role here too, and his almost desperate desire for a new freedom in the face of possible total destruction rings with authenticity and passion. You don't have to be traveling the islands or touring the Mediterranean to appreciate this book, although it remains true in its scope today if you are there experiencing the changes of the last sixty years.

I took this on a three week car and ferry tour of Greece and certain of the Greek Islands in 2018. I had last been to Greece in 1963. Miller was there in 1941. At first I thought that he was a bit of a blowhard as an artist but d...m me if he did bring it all around. He did see into the heart of the Greeks. I heard from by balcony of my hotel room in Platka a cock crow as dawn approached. I wanted to crow back. Epidaurus, Mycenae, Delphi, Crete are here too. I liked it as much as the Tropic of Cancer. Maybe more.

I first saw mention of The Colossus of Maroussi in a New York Times Sunday travel piece on Crete. I had read Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer a number of years ago and enjoyed it, As my husband and I were flying to Paris I thought it would make a great travel read and was not disappointed. Set in Greece where Miller takes a vacation in 1939/40 it is a travel book and much more. Miller develops a theory about the history of humans and his own unique philosophy about where industrial civilization led humanity astray. It is set against the background of ancient Greece. He includes a section of Surrealist writing "riffing" on America jazz greats of the period. Some may find it off putting but I found it interesting in terms of style. His description of the Greeks he meets are wonderfully vivid and the views he expressed are uniquely Miller's own. Miller called it his best book and I can see why.

Apart from the hideous forward by Mr. Self, Henry Miller's book is a giant among travel classics. I'm an American living in Greece for 20 years, and can attest to the book's deep understanding and love of Greece and its history between the two world wars. We can hardly fault Mr. Miller for Self's insufferable forward that reaches realms never achieved in the annals of publishing. The irony of a Brit--Miller skewers the British relentlessly throughout the book--commenting with such bravado and (no pun intended here) self aggrandizement, is an insult to the monument Mr. Miller carved from the rock of contemporary history. I'm shell-shocked from the tone deafness of the publisher for allowing Mr. Self to deface this masterpiece. Mr. Miller would have run in the other direction.....Still, Colossus should be required reading for all travelers to Greece.

Re-reading this, I concluded that Henry Miller is an author you outrgow. When you’re in your 20s, his irreverent, virulent anti-establishment rants are fun and inviting. He hates anyone who gets in his way and chances are, you do, too. But if, in aging, you make some peace with the world and yourself, MIller’s rants just seem adolescent. Here he alternates between idolatrous praise for everything Greek and bitter tirades against everything else. He even hates the planet Saturn. Unlike his tropics books, there is little fun, no memorable characters, and just rambing prose, sometimes elegiac but more often tedious.

Wish I would have found this book years ago!!! I love the adventure. His descriptions of people and places are divine!

Exhilarating. Miller's optimism and energy, his celebration of life in all it's messy and fascinating forms, his soaring yet earthy style is the perfect remedy for anyone drifting towards depression in these grim times. Greece on the eve of the second world war is an island of sanity on a planet going mad. The gods hover over these ruins still. Many travel books, I think of Paul Theroux particularly, leave me thankful for him making the trip so I won't need to. Miller inspires me to want to go to Greece.