The Wanderings of an Artist and a Rebel’s Dreams

By Thomas Agrafiotis

In the “Wanderings of an Artist”, the protagonist is the puppeteer Giannis from Amfilochia and the title sets the scene. He is an artist scorned by some puppeteers; a restless spirit, wandering the land like another Odysseus. With one difference: Odysseus seeks his Ithaca in the unknown, while Giannis leaves his home, Ithaca, and goes into the unknown. But Giannis’ path is not smooth. On the contrary, it is tough, difficult, and full of obstacles. And his end, the inevitable course towards Lake Acherousia, following the law of biological deterioration. But we must not forget something important. As the puppeteers wander the land, they find primary elements of folk culture and local verbal idioms and incorporate them into their art, making their work richer and fuller.The narration in the novel “A Rebel’s Dreams” is in the first singular person, as a peculiar autobiography of another puppeteer, unwinding the skein of his life, taking us on a journey through historical events into the political-social dimension of Karagiozis, who, at this point, has already assumed his definitive form as a political being. He is a rebel, unruly and insubordinate to any power. Here, in the narrative of the Rebel, there is a metaphysical originality, an autobiography of the hero, extending over time, beyond his biological presence in this world. He begins before his birth, with his father’s story. He then describes his life and innovates, continuing his narration after his death when, as a spirit now, he watches goings-on from eternity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Agrafiotis
• Release date: Aug 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005683740

Thomas Agrafiotis

Thomas Agrafiotis was born in Kozani in 1976. As a lecturer (Law 407/1980) he taught the module “Art of the Greek Shadow Theater as a Means of Children Education” at the Department of Preschool Education, School of Education, University of Western Macedonia (based in Florina) during the academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11. He is a puppeteer and teacher, as well as an elected member of the Artistic Council of the National Shadow Theater Association. He conducted his doctoral thesis at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on the educational dimension of Karagiozis and its use in Primary Education. His work regarding Shadow Theater has been awarded in literary contests for the novels, I Periplaniseis enos Kallitechni (Wanderings of an Artist) and Ta Onira enos Epanastati (A Rebel’s Dreams), while in late September 2008, he won the Original Script award at the 4th Greek Shadow Theater in Patras, presenting the epic and religious drama, O Karagiozis kai o Thisavros tou Theou (Karagiozis and God’s Treasure).

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Contents

The Wanderings of an Artist

Back in time and in Ioannina with Iakovos

Back in time and to Karvasaras with Ilias

The Christian-slaughterer of Philipiada

Barba Giorgos and Roumeli’s revenge

In Patras alongside Dimitris Sardounis or Mimaros

The disaster of Barba Giorgos in Psilalonia Square

Barba Giorgos’ brawl in Stadiou Street

In Athens, the city of the Olympic Games, with Mollas

At the borders of Melouna and the unfortunate war of 1897

In Athens, the city of triumphs, at the dawn of the new century

From Nionios’ Zakynthos to Memos’ Volos

The final trip from Amfilochia to Acherousia Lake

A Rebel’s Dreams

Father Will Die Thrice

The First Guerilla War

The Porphyrogenitus Puppeteer of Karagiozis

Exile

Strike

At the Lake of Sighs

On the Island of Castroara

America America

Karagiozis, Father of the Poor

Katsantonis the Hero

Indirect Succession

Our Karagiozis in the New Millennium

About the Author

Title Page

Author: Thomas Ath. Agrafiotis

Title: The Wanderings of an Artist and A Rebel’s Dreams

Text editor: Anatoli Fitopoulou

Cover designer: Vassilis Ioannou

Replicas of figures designed

by an earlier Karagiozis player, at the cover:

Thomas Ath. Agrafiotis

Production supervisor: Platon Malliagkas

www.mediterrabooks.com

ISBN 9781005683740

Published by Thomas Ath. Agrafiotis at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Thomas Ath. Agrafiotis

Ε–mail: [e-mail]

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents

either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead,

is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be copied

or otherwise used without the expressed written permission of the publisher, except in cases of a review.

THOMAS AGRAFIOTIS

The Wanderings of an Artist

&

A Rebel’s Dreams

Novels

The Wanderings of an Artist

Novella awarded by the Parnassos Literary Society

Back in time and in Ioannina with Iakovos

The country was in an uproar! Our enslaved brothers couldn’t bear it any more... The Marble King was about to take action... And the Evzone battalions were only waiting for an order. They would pour out onto the vast Thessalian land, the immense Thessalian plain, and liberate the subjected Greek lands, carrying through the heroic fight of 1821. Further up at Karvasaras, right on the border of the Greek Kingdom, Epirus was still awaiting the liberation of Souli. The next in line would be Macedonia and the islands of the Aegean and the Ionian Sea as well as the constantly rebelling Crete. But above all, Constantinople, the Polis with the Holy Church of Hagia Sophia...

The territories of the Ottoman Empire were coveted by many, the apple of discord being the land of Macedonia. Turkey constituted a significant problem for England, France and Russia. What were they to do with it? Should they keep it alive at all costs or finish with it and divide its territories up? Bulgarians and Serbs followed suit. What about us? What are we going to do? Do we stay back and watch our enslaved brothers, waiting for the foreign powers to help us? But their dealings are not fair. Their help ceases when their interests do not coincide...

Giannis was thinking about all of the above, but couldn’t make sense of it all. He listened to the news and tried to keep abreast, hard though it was. He was certain that the only solution was for the army to cross the borders and liberate all brothers. So he waited for the promised command, thinking of the late Otto, who was said to have been buried wearing the traditional fustanella, a kilt–like piece of clothing. He had been a great king! While George was a different story altogether. All he cared about was the high life! As for the politicians… What a fine mess! Dimitris Voulgaris had been held accountable for electoral fraud... Trikoupis opened fire against the palace for royal interference in political life and couldn’t care less about what went on beyond the borders. Koumoundouros also seemed indecisive as to our external affairs. Until when are we going to wait for the hero of 1821, the fire ship Captain and Admiral Konstantinos Kanaris to do everything for us? What could he possibly do, at his old age from his mansion in the deserted area of Kypseli, and after the unfair death of his children? Ah, when will the Successor come of age and lead the nation and defeat Turkey?

However, Giannis’ mind was also troubled with things other than important ideological aspirations. He did care for other issues too, though he had temporarily neglected them while serving as an evzone. He also cared about his art: the cloth, the candles and their shadows, the carved figures, the scrim and, above all, his hunchback. Though his service time in Athens was short, he did manage to catch a few performances, usually at the Thiseio, though his heart could not bear to see them again. The little figures performed skilfully, but what brutal content! The hunchback dressed in his Sunday best, donning shoes and hat, constantly swearing and reiterating profanities. Some of the heroes were depicted as obsessed with opium, while the hunchback and Hadjivat kept peeping into the hammam! He watched and wept. It was totally unlike what they saw and played at Karvasaras and what he had first seen in Ioannina with his father...

In the west, these obscenities had no place at all. Iakovos, that old dog, had made a new trend, in Ioannina –which was still under Ottoman occupation. They said that in the old days, in the time of Ali Pasha, he had performed these old obscene works as perhaps he had seen and heard them himself. Exactly as Ali Pasha liked them. Any stranger arriving there watched Iakovos, in the court of Pasha, performing the hunchback’s funny gigs, exactly as they were performed in the city of Constantinople. Ioannina and Constantinople shared common customs and habits. Ioannina was called Tserek Stabul. Iakovos had learned the shows well from Karagöz–Perde’s old masters, but also from Ali’s hangout and the coffeehouses of various neighbourhoods. Even the Lord himself had seen and heard him. All this stopped when Ali died. With Tepelenli’s decapitation, which Father Kosmas wisely foretold, Iakovos changed his mind. He began to perform exclusively what had been forbidden until then. Exclusively that which had been played in secret...

Habits had changed, and so had the hunchback. Iakovos introduced Alexander the Great to defeat the beast. He brought in thieves from the mountain. He turned the Vlachs into shadow theatre puppets from koutsounia (rag dolls). He placed Katsantonis beside the hunchback. Liberated from the threat of Ali, he now showed the sufferings of Christians using just five figures. He presented Velighekas, Tahir and the sarays, and he even dared to perform with Tepelenli’s puppet. Giannis had met Iakovos in his old age, when he performed Katsantonis’ torture murder. The torturer would hit him with the sledgehammer on the one side and Ali threatened on the other, the hero silently enduring his terrible martyrdom as the audience cried in silence!

He had been in Ioannina years ago, when he was still young, with his father for business. They had crossed the borders of the Kingdom and from Karvasaras they reached Ioannina, still under Ottoman occupation. Ioannina was a great and legendary city; they were the first to use chariots, piasters and letters. The spirit of Kyra Frosini still wandered over the lake. And with her, the spirit of Ali, the islet, the mosques and churches, the schools, the Jews, the shops, the gentle aura of Father Kosmas, the narrow streets, some Franco–Levantines, the rains, a dull and melancholic climate, the Hellenic identity and above all, the shadow puppets of the puppeteer Iakovos from Ioannina...

Old now, aged and raddled by time, Iakovos went to his permanent hangout, a traditional café and still performed. He had renounced Karagiozi’s obscene comedies long ago. Even if someone asked for them, Iakovos obstinately refused to play them. When requested to do so, he would perform the legend of Alexander the Great, even in Turkish, if needed. He didn’t mind. But on the whole, he only performed stories about Christians. His speciality was stories from Ali’s rule and the persecutions of the Souliotes. That was the performance my father took me to. The scrim was small and the figures made from tin or cardboard. Candles were lit. The show was in Greek. The hunchback cast a shadow everywhere. The audience was Christian. A man was on the lookout next to a window, just in case. Though no one would dare to do or say anything. Ali’s times were long gone and never to return. But, just to be safe, everyone needed to take precautions...

Ali’s figure ordered the executioner to start hammering Katsantonis, to torture and annihilate the hero of slavery. And the acts of torture began. Antonis did not utter a single sound and the Pasha was infuriated. The entire play was a small epic tale filled with tsoliades (evzones), klephts and armatoloi, adventure, laughter, emotion and a fleeing sense