Inventing Paradise

This title won the 1999 Criticos Prize given by the London Hellenistic Society for the best book about Greece in English.

In the 1930s, George Seferis, George Katsimbalis and other poets and writers, welcomed Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell to their homeland. In a blend of memoir, literary criticism and interpretative storytelling, this is a journey into the poetry, friendships and politics of the time.In the looming shadow of an oppressive dictatorship and imminent world war, George Seferis and George Katsimbalis, along with other poets and writers from Greece's fabled Generation of the 1930s, welcomed Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell to their homeland. Together, as they spent evenings in Athenian tavernas, explored the Peloponnese, swam off island beaches, and considered the meaning of Greek life, freedom and art, they seemed to be inventing paradise. In a lyrical blend of personal memoir, literary criticism, and interpretative storytelling, Edmund Keeley takes readers on a journey into the poetry, friendships and politics of this extraordinary time.