Dense, informative, prosaic, lived and well written. A melding of PLF's travels in the 1930's and 40's, a classic Oxford man gone native. His writing is directed outside of himself toward his surroundings, the Greeks, and the multi-layered history and cultural aspects that pervade the Peloponnese. It makes me want to go.. A little tedious in places w all the lists but classic travel literature at its best. ( )

Mani is the very southern part of Greece, an isolated peninsular surrounded by the Aegean and Ionian seas, and made more remote by the Taygettus mountain range. It is a harsh environment too; precious little grows here because of its rugged and barren landscape.

This isolation also means that the region has maintained much stronger links to its ancient past too. The myths and legends of history feel so much more alive here than in other parts of Greece. The language harks back to old dialects, and even thought the orthodox church has a strong influence, pagan and old habits still exist.

Mixed in with Fermor’s travels around Mani are several chapters on the history of the land and the people. Some of it is fascinating, in particular the reason that the towns are peppered with towers. These are the remanats of the long battles that used to take place between the various families and people of the region, who all seemed to have a long term running vendettas . That is until the Turks turned up and suddenly they were all fighting the common enemy.

The travel part is beautifully written, Fermor has a way with words that make what he is seeing so evocative and appealing. Overall 3.5 stars, as the history parts were a little tedious occasionally.
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This was my first introduction to PLF, many years ago, and I was swept away by the beauty of his prose. ( )

I have enjoyed reading 'Mani' but it is a dense read. This is not really a review but some notes which I wanted to make so that I could return to them. The writing is interesting and sometimes I have had to re-read sentences several times in order to get the gist. Some of his sentences are extraordinarily long. Take this for example:

'Very often, wandering in the wilder parts of Greece, the traveller is astonished in semi-abandoned chapels where the liturgy is perhaps only sung on the yearly feast of the eponymous saint, by the beauty of te colouring of the wall-paintings and the subtlety with which the painter has availed himself of the sparse elbow-room for private inspiration that the formulae of Byzantine iconography allow him: a convention so strict that it was finally codified by a sixteenth-century painter-monk called Dionysios of Phourna. '( p.212 Chapter 15 Ikons).

On the other hand, they can be short like this- they are brilliantly expressive:

'Scholarship died. Spiritual development fossilized. Falling static at the time of the catastrophe, Orthodoxy became the most conservative of religions. All but rudimentary teaching vanished.' ( p. 218 Chapter 15 Ikons).

This chapter on Ikons is one of the ones I have most enjoyed. What he does really well in this chapter is contrast Greek icon painting with the way in which Christ and the saints are depicted in the Western painting tradition.

I was surprised to find on p.240 of the use of the word 'consubstantial'. This word has been used in the 'new' translation of the Nicene Creed. It is not a word in common usage in the 21st century. PLF writes:

'...and beyond the symbol to its essence, the Transcendent God, with whom, as they themselves had defined, He was consubstantial.'

PLF's use of language is amazingly broad and there are so many new words to learn if one is so-minded to look them all up as one reads. I didn't do that but noted a few such as:

klepht (p.236 and many other pages): an anti-Ottoman insurgent living in the mountains when Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire.

hispid state (p.282): having stiff coarse hairs or bristles

pard-like stubble (p.282): chap or fellow. It is actually from an Ancient Greek word 'pardos'.

I tended to enjoy the later chapters best?? It really helped to use Google images to search for photos of some of the places that were mentioned such as Gytheion.

I appreciated being reminded on p.238 that the Parthenon and its statues, friezes etc. were all painted in brilliant colours.

On p.282 PLF talks about the 'un-Praxitelean aspect of modern Greeks'. For Hellenophiles it is always tempting to idealise the Greek of today and to expect them to be like the statues and the depiction of Homeric heroes.

A rewarding book even although it needs effort and care in reading.

I regret to say that this book was a disappointment: too many digressions, too many metaphors, too flowery for my taste.
Difficult to read if your mother tongue is not English. ( )