Konstantinos Theotokis

Konstantínos Theotókis was a Greek novelist of the realist school, whose clear and pure Demotic Greek was flavoured by Corfiote idioms. Born into an aristocratic family of Corfu, Theotókis was given a sound education. At first much under the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche, he later, in Germany, became interested in socialism, an interest that coloured all his works, such as Honour and Money (1914), a novel with a distinctly social focus. His long novel Slaves in Their Chains (1922), set in Corfu during a period of social change, reveals the old aristocracy trying to keep up a way of life that is long past, the bourgeoisie on the decline, and the newly rich trying to use their wealth to buy social status. Two long novels, The Convict (1919) and The Life and Death of Karavelas (1920), are psychological studies of social outcasts. Theotókis also wrote short stories, such as the Corfiote Stories (1905), which depict the life and customs of his native island. He died of heart failure in 1923 at the age of 51.