ICON

A man in his late 80s writes a long letter to the Bishop who is in charge of collecting evidence that will lead to the canonization of a local saint, Saint John the Orphan, who lived in a Greek village in the beginning of the century and died right before the 2nd World War. This man, the narrator, is perhaps the only living eye-witness of Saint John’s death. The night of his death, hardly breathing after being lynched by the villagers, Saint John confesses his sins to the narrator of the book. He tries to explain how everyone came to believe he was a saint, and how in the end he himself was convinced.

Was he really a saint, though? Why everybody today speaks of Saint John as a miracle-worker? And why did the same people who used to worship him come to lynch him? Why did they keep on worshipping his name after his death, making a sanctuary out of his grave? Why the narrator of the book has been accused for Saint John’s murder? And why didn’t he ever before speak about that dreadful night?

 

A novel about faith and money, or about religious beliefs and personal interest.

 

A novel about the mob been fueled by common belief and public opinion.

 

 

Excerpts from reviews

  

…Language works in an ironic and deconstructive way in Icon… [The mixed language of the narrator] gives Icon a dimension of black comedy, which gradually transforms into a fundamental tool with explosive consequences. If we add to this the distant fury of 2nd World War and the Civil War, that occasionally breaks into the scene with distinct tension, clouding from time to time the troubles of the heroes, then the picture of Panayotopoulos’ novel is completed in the most vivid way. We don’t meet everyday among the younger writers signs of such an advanced and inventive maturity.

V. Hatzivassiliou, Eleftherotypia

 

…Like in all of his novels, Panayotopoulos employs a phrase of impressive flexibility in order to narrate the adventures of his ‘saint’. We savour its comfortable pacing in combination to the absolute control of the tone, the expressive rendering of the various shades of this tone through a happily mixed language… This is the way that the writer suggests the passing of time –through the scars left on the body of the written text by the adventure of the greek language. His phrase combines naiveté with subtle irony, the sense of futility with the claim –even in the last minute- for justice, the gasping narrative with the graceful confession of deceit…

E. Kotzia, Kathimerini

 

…Nikos Panayotopoulos created after all an inventive novel concerning not only the theme, but also the language and the narrative structure.

K. Karakotias, Prooptiki

 

…With his two first novels, Ziggy from Marfan – The diary of an alien and Benefit of Doubt, Panayotopoulos has proved that he owns a vivid imagination and a good sense of humour. These qualities are also present in Icon, humour especially, which the writer chooses as his point of view. …Here though, the handling of the narrative material is much more effective…

P. Boukalas, Kathimerini

 

…Nikos Panayotopoulos is not only a skillful writer; he also employs something rare, but always welcome: mature and lucid thinking. In other words, his writing is not self-complacent but a way to express striking and vivid and original thoughts. The special feature of his writing, though, is his artful irony –unrestrained, acute, penetrating. At last, a writer who doesn’t hesitate to shake off the convenience of pomposity, and who, without any fear, adopts ‘hilarious’ as a way to express piercing pains and agonies. Panayotopoulos knows best how to point out with a smile the darkest and most sullen sides of life. To be sure, the language he uses is impressive…

L. Pantaleon, Diavazo

 

«…Dans un roman haletant, l’écrivain grec raconte l’imposture d’un homme vénéré comme un saint dans un village d’Arcadie.  Que reste-t-il de l’Arcadie des Bucoliques ? Depuis Virgile, la région idyllique du Péloponnèse s’est perdue dans le mensonge et la violence. Les bergers sont devenus des assassins et les bergeries d’abjects tombeaux. Dans la nuit du 9 juillet 1940, à Thermo, un homme est battu à mort. Il ne s’agit pas d’une vendetta ou d’un crime d’honneur, comme il s’en passe souvent alentour, mais de la lapidation de Yannis l’Orphelin, un ermite presque saint, longtemps vénéré par les villageois. Il est encore vivant quand Andonios Efstathiou vient le secourir. Son âme s’attarde sur ses lèvres, le temps d’une dernière confession. Soixante ans plus tard, le témoignage d’Andonios, seule pièce à conviction dans l’enquête pour la béatification de l’Orphelin, éclate au grand jour. Dans une longue lettre adressée à un évêque, il défait sa légende dorée… Sans renoncer aux plaisirs de la chair, Yannis endosse la soutane qu’on lui tend et bricole des prodiges pour impressionner ses fidèles. Avec ce roman, Nicos Panayotopoulos nous montre comment la ferveur peut se changer en rage assassine. A l’instar d’un Yannis pur et innocent qu’un pas de côté a mené sur la rive du mensonge, et des habitants de Thermo, que la foi a poussés au crime, le lecteur marche sur le fil du rasoir, où à tout moment, le jugement bascule.»

Astrid Eliard, Le Figaro, 20.04.2006

 

«Après ‘Le gène du doute’, une descente ironique au cœur d’ une Grèce irrationelle. (…) Et il prête à son narrateur des réflexions lucides sur la volonté de croire qui fait tourner le monde.»

Michel Grodent, Soir, 7.07.2006

 

«…Après cette jolie parabole sur le talent at ses ‘obscures séductions’, Nicos Panayotopoulos revient à un univers beaucoup plus grec mais où les themes de l’ imposture, de la roublardise et de l’appât du gain demeurent au cœur de son inspiration…»

Florence Noiville, Le Monde, 9.06.2006