Submitted by Elaine
Thomopoulos
Autobiography–Memoir–Biography
a) Autobiographies–Memoir–Biographies
Dukakis, Olympia.
Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress. HarperCollins Publishers. New
York, 2003.
Karalis, Eftihios. Ripples of Fate. PublishAmerica,
2003
After his widowed mother
was killed during the 1953 earthquake in Kefalonia, five-year-old Karalis was sent to an orphanage in Patras. Through a Greek
newspaper in America, his cousin Makis, who lived in the United States, saw his
name. Makis alerted his father Aris, Karalis's paternal uncle. Karalis had
never met this uncle who lived in Kefalonia. He spent the next four years with
Aris and his family, and then when Aris and his family left for America, he
lived with another relative in Greece. Throughout the book, Karalis recalls
lyrics which made an impact on him, like the following lyrics he heard on the
battery-powered radio of the postman: “Life is a simple lie, just a faint
breath of air. Like a flower one day, we'll be snapped off a stem.”
At age 14, he was reunited with his uncle Aris
in America. With courage, hard work, and the help and encouragement of his
family, Karalis did well, earning a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. In 1980,
Karalis married Irene Petros in Washington, D.C. When their son Petros was
born, he writes that he felt “I had a family again, exactly 28 years after the
deadly quake of 1953.” After the birth of their twins, Pavlos and Aphrodite
Marietta, he notes, “It was then, deep in my heart, that I felt an inner peace
as I sensed my mother's spirit finally at rest. The ripples of fate had
transformed into rays of hope.” (adapted from a book review written by Elaine
Thomopoulos and published in The National
Herald.)
Mavrovitis, Jason C. Out of the
Balkans. Sonoma, CA: Jason Mavroritis, 2003. Can be accessed at
Preservation of American Hellenic Heritage,
http://www.pahh.com/mavrovitis/index.html
Out
of the Balkans is
the story of the author’s maternal and paternal ancestors, starting with a
historical background of their origins. It describes the forces that led them
to leave their homelands in a time of war and uncertainty to cross the Atlantic
and risk the unknown. Finally, it celebrates their struggles and successes in
the United States.
Walsh, Efthalia Makris. Beloved
Sister: Biography of a Greek-American Family, Letters From the Homeland.
Tegea Press: Bethesda, Md., 1998.
Bibliographies [new category]
Frangos, Steve.
"Suggested Readings about the Greek American Experience." Books
Special Edition, The National Herald, December 2, 2006, pp. 22, 23. http://photo.ekirikas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/books_2006_2.pdf
An annotated
bibliography of a selection of fiction and non-fiction books that the author
recommends.
Language
Economou, Steven G. Grenglish: A
Lexicon (2nd edition). Steven G. Economou, 2001.
This self-published book,
complete with drawings, is a humorous look at the language developed by those
who immigrated to America at the turn of the century. As the author explains:
“If they did not know the proper Greek word for something, and also did not
know, or feel comfortable with the English word for it …no problem. They simply
first phonetically transformed the English work to suit their speech patterns
and then adopted it as their own. Each “Grenglish” word is accompanied by the
author’s poignant remembrance of an event that took place in Chicago between
1925-1960.
Literature and Poetry –
a) Fiction
Davidson, Catherine Temma. The Priest Fainted. NY: Henry Holt, 1998.
The novel is informed by the personal experience of the
author, a third-generation Greek American. The narrator journeys to Greece, the
birthplace of her grandmother, in passionate pursuit of her mother's and
grandmother's pasts. In the process she discovers insights about herself and
her own identity.
Kokonis,
Nicholas. Arcadia, My Arcadia. Deerfield,
IL: St. Basil’s Publishers, 2004.
Mavrovitis, Jason. Remember Us. Sonoma, CA: Golden Fleece, 2007.
This fictionalized account of
the life of Mavrovitis’s maternal grandparents and their family spans the years
from 1886 to 1936. Here is the description on the book jacket: “At a time of
sweeping nationalism in the Balkans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, the characters in Remember Us
survive pogroms, ethnic cleansing, and guerrilla warfare. Escaping war they
leave homes and loved ones to forge new lives in America. But in the New World,
the immigrants find that they must rely on their culture and enduring family
ties in the face of loss of place, poverty, death, and scandal.”
Literature and Poetry –
f) Children’s Literature [new category]
Aliki. Marianthe’s
Story. New
York. Greenwillow Books, 1998.
Marianthe's Story, which includes illustrations, consists of two
books in one: “Painted Words” and “Spoken Memories.” It’s a children’s book.
Although the words Greece or America are not
used in the stories, the author herself was born to Greek parents and did not
know the language when she began school in Philadelphia.
Book One, Painted Words focuses on Marianthe’s
adjustment to life in the new land and the difficulties she had in school since
she did not know any of her classmates and was not able to communicate with them
in the English language. Her teacher encourages
her to use her paintings to tell her story. Through her paintings, and
eventually through words, she relates her feelings and experiences.
In Book Two: Spoken Memories, Marianthe tells
her classmates the story of her life in the close-knit rural village where she
grew up before coming to the new land, using both spoken work and paintings.
She describes the struggles through famine, war, and separation from the
father. She explains: "People were leaving our poor village. They
were going to a new land, hoping for a better life. First the father left, to
work and save until their families could join them." Marianthe, her twin
brothers, and her mother join the father in the new land. Marianthe
mentions the "sad goodbyes," including "the people and the
village we loved" and "the trees, the rocks, the birds.” However,
the emphasis of the story of Marianthe is not on the sad goodbyes but on the
new beginnings. (By
Elaine Thomopoulos)
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To be
added to entries that are already on the portal:
A description of Greek-American Pioneer Women of Illinois,
edited by Elaine Thomopoulos
The book chronicles the struggles and triumphs, the pathos
and joy of five women who emigrated to the United States from 1885 to 1923:
Georgia Bitzis Pooley, Presbytera Stella Christoulakis Petrakis, Theano
Papazoglou Margaris, and Venette Tomaras Askounes Ashford. With
over 125 historic photos and documents which span the years 1885 to 2000, this
book showcases the life stories of immigrant pioneer women, their families,
friends, and the emerging Greek-American community of Illinois.
A
description of a book already cited in the memoir section: 100
Years: From Greece to Chicago and Back by Nicholas Thomopoulos.
Growing up in Chicago during
the 1930s, `40s and `50s was a life rich in tradition, family and memories.
Nick Thomopoulos in 100 Years chronicles the vibrant life of the
neighborhood surrounding the St. George Greek Orthodox Church. He tells of the tragic death of his
father and the difficulties and joys his immigrant mother faced in raising five
young children in an emerging metropolis unlike Zakynthos, Greece. Because of
the Great Depression, World War II, the Greek Civil War and the hardships in
Greece, Marie received only an occasional letter from her siblings. In 1962,
Marie, with Nick, returned to Greece 42 years after she left. Three of her
five siblings did not know she was coming, and her husband’s lone sister did
not know the family was even alive. The
story describes the excitement of reuniting with the family.
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