I reread The Last Dance, by Victoria Hislop, a collection of
short stories I’d picked up while travelling in Greece many years ago. I’m loving
it. Because these vignettes of Greek village life could so easily have been set
in RK Narayan’s Malgudi.
These are stories of a simple, happy people, living among friends
and family members they have known for generations. They sometimes get into
fracas with each other, but these frictions are quickly and happily resolved.
There is a story of the Malkis brothers who fight over an
inherited street café, split it down the middle, but then make up and reunite. There
is the story of Claire from Yorkshire, who is engaged to Andreas the Cypriot, who
learns about her fiancé’s family and to feel at home in this place where it is
really hot even at Christmas. The title story is about Theodoris, who shares a dance
with his one true love on the night they both are getting married to others. Fortunately,
this collection doesn’t feature any deeper tragedy or pathos.
Sometimes reality does intrude on this idyllic world.
The anti-Euro Athens riots make an appearance in one story, sort of like the
Indian independence movement makes an appearance in Swami and Friends. But for most
part, this collection evokes a simple world that carries on despite these
intrusions, like Tolkien’s Shire, or Asterix the Gaul’s indomitable village, or
RK Narayan’s Malgudi.
“I am often asked, ‘Where is Malgudi?’” wrote RK Narayan in his introduction to Malgudi Days. “All I can say is it is imaginary and not to be found on any map…”. So, Malgudi can’t be found on a map of the Aegean. But it does have kindred spirits on those rocky islands.
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| From Malgudi Days |
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| Victoria Hislop with her husband Ian |
