ABOUT NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS
Greek author who wrote the philosophical novel, Zorba the Greek (1946), as well as the 1951 novel, The Last Temptation of Christ, which was later made into a film by Martin Scorsese . Kazantzakis' other literary works include The Greek Passion (1954), Freedom or Death (1956), and The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1953).
He published his first work, Serpent and Lily, in 1906. Four decades later, he became the leader of a Left-wing, non-Communist party and entered the Greek government as Minister without Portfolio.
In 1957, he lost the Nobel Prize for Literature, by one vote, to French absurdist writer, Albert Camus .
He married his first wife, Galatea Alexiou, in 1911. The couple divorced fifteen years later.
His renowned novel, Zorba the Greek, eventually became a film starring Anthony Quinn .
