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CHAPTER 9 – THE GREEK CASE: VENEZIS 
287 
chapter in which the narrator’s sorrows begin is from Psalm 18: ‘The sorrows of 
death compassed me. The sorrows of hell compassed me about’, the heading of 
Chapter 11 in which he is saved by a kindly Turkish doctor is from Psalm 9: ‘the 
Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble’ while the 
heading of the last chapter in which he leaves captivity is from Psalm 78: ‘He had 
commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of heaven’
21
. These 
quotations from the Psalms characterise the sufferings of the narrator as sufferings of 
God’s faithful servant whose hopes are reposed only in Him. This chord of 
traditional piety is somewhat dissonant, however, with the sharpness and sarcasm of 
a text which but for the occasional touches was left unchanged. For an example of 
style changes in 1952 Venezis reverted to the exact words of the 1931 ending by 
omitting the penultimate sentence of the 1945 edition: “Που δεν μπορεί, θα γίνει 
φλόγα…” (It’s impossible- it will become a flame…). For an example of content 
changes, as noted by Kastrinaki, the reference in chapter 7 to Greek reprisals is 
further blunted in 1952 having been substantially blunted in 1945
22
. Why or even if 
Venezis was content with this remains a matter for further research. His gradual 
move from strong if for professional reasons disguised
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radical sympathies to more 
establishment positions which has been noted and in some cases deplored by critics
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does not alone explain the artistic choice made.
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The English is the King James version whose sense is not exactly the Septuagint’s. 
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Kastrinaki, 165-174 
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An unpublished letter to Myrivilis in the Myrivilis archive supports him against accusations of ‘fascism’ by the 
communist newspaper 
Rizospastis
but explains that his position at the Bank of Greece prevents him from writing 
openly to the newspaper. 
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For example Kastrinaki, 167 

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