Τhe Chronotops of Certain Characters in Captain Michalis

Abstract

The present essay attempts an interpretative approach of N.Kazantzakis novel  “C.Michalis” through the application of the theory of chronotop as it was concepted and expressed artistically in literature by M.Bachtin. This theory is consisted by a special way with wich the literary action forms  the conception of the time dynamics in space having as a base the predefined narrator’s and reader’s views. It is also based on the principal of the inceparability of  time and space and the belief that the image of man is always intrinsically chronotopic. The enforcement of  the theoretical category of  the time is suitable on a multivocal novel in which a historical dialogue is made between the past and the present. The representation of time and space, elements of the form and the meaning of the novel, are living cultural spots of experience of the historical human  subject and his values. Time is read and recognized  in space so that the quality of the facts and characters are a product of the time and space interaction in which they act. In  “C. Michalis”   through the moral fiction narrative historical and  heroic facts are revived  and praised, which took  place in the Cretan revolution in 1889. The narrator achieves a free dialogue between the represented world and the one that undertakes the representation. The chronotops of the characters play a pivotal role in the production of the  ideological background of the novel. They are devided  in  two opposite  axises  from which  the one refers to the chronological category of the greek cultural type and the other to the one of the Turkish. It is a contraction between a moral and immoral world. The main corespondents of them are the protagonistic characters of  C. Michalis  and  Nourys. The first is born  in Crete  in 19^th century and lives the humiliating  and crueling occupation of the island by the Turkish. He is an heir of his ancestors  permanent race for freedom. The historical facts that shaped the present conditions are condensed in the present moments and lead his attitude. Therefore he faces the crucial moments with respect, pride and heroism. The smaller chronotops define his reactions  at  the  places   he moves each time. The second main person,  Nourys  stands on  the other pole of the contraction  being the boss of the enemy. The smaller chronotops  from which he passes along the narrative consequence dictate  him  his own reactions. Simmilarly, the chronotops of the other characters such as Emine  and  Polyxigis  reveal their particular worldviews and ideologies and they lead them to an interior maturity. In conclusion it is  obvious  that the Cretan civilization is strongly connected with the historical  time and space as  the past lives in present  as alive  reality without any gap.