Plot

The Ascent is a post-war and strongly anti-war novel with many autobiographical elements of the author himself. The work is structured in three sections with the titles "Crete", "England", "Loneliness" and the central character is Kosmas, an intellectual who returns to his birthplace, the Great Castle (Heraklion), after the end of World War II, accompanied by his wife, the Jewish Noemi. The place where the events unfold is the Great Castle, London, the cold cities of the North, but also the birthplace of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon. In the novel, we follow the efforts of Cosmas – a literary persona of Kazantzakis himself – who, traveling to England, tries in vain to establish an "International of the Spirit" but also his anxiety about his debt as a spiritual person about the situation of the modern world.

The author intended at the end of this book to include the entire text of the “The Saviors of God. Spiritual Exercises”, as the protagonist isolates himself and devotes himself to writing by starting to write this novel.

Writing history

1946 is a landmark year for Nikos Kazantzakis and marks the beginning of the last period of his life, his definitive emigration from Greece and his attempt to establish himself not only as a European but also as an international writer. In 1946 Nikos Kazantzakis travels to London, invited by the British Council for a series of lectures and with the aim of establishing an "International of the Spirit". At the end of July, he settles in Castle Bray, a suburb of Cambridge, in a small room rented by the British Council, and there, working feverishly, he writes The Ascent, with the aim of having the work published first in English. For this purpose, he sends the new novel in parts to his philosopher and friend, Elli Lampridi, who lives in London for translation. Lampridi translated the work into English under the title The Up-hill way. Both the work and its translation were never published during the author's lifetime and remained almost unknown until 2016 when they were identified at The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum by the Curator of its Collections, Paraskevi Vassiliadi. The only surviving manuscript is being preserved in The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum.

Greek editions

  • Nikos Kazantzakis, O Aniforos, Dioptra, Athens, 2022 (prologue-epimeter: Nikos Mathioudakis, Paraskevi Vasiliadi)
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, O Aniforos, Dioptra, Athens 2023 (Special edition. Introduction: Peter Bien, foreword-epimeter: Nikos Mathioudakis, Paraskevi Vassiliadi)

Foreign editions & translations

  • Nikos Kazantzaki, L’Ascension, René Bouchet (trl), Cambourakis, Paris 2021 ( in French)
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, Ascensiunea, Elena Lazăr, (trl), Humanitas Fiction, Bucureşti 2021 (in Romanian)
  • Никос Казандзакис, Стръмнина, Николай Костов [Николай Костов] (trl), Enthusiast, Sofia 2022 (in Bulgarian)
  • Nikos Kazancakis, Yocuş, Hâroun Ömer Tarhan (trl), Can, Istanbul 2022 (in Turkish)
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, La sublime ascesa, Gilda Tentorio (trl), Crocetti Editore-IF Idee editoriali Feltrinelli, Milano 2024 (ιταλικά)