Journal of Balkan Libraries Union
ISSN 2148-077X
h t tp :// w w w.b al k an l ib r a r i es .o rg /j ou rn al
h t tp ://d e rg ip ar k.g o v.t r/j b l u
Book Review
Murat Derin
Trakya University, Turkey
e-mail: muratderin@trakya.edu.tr
Journal of Balkan Libraries Union, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 7-8, 2017.
Copyright © 2017 Balkan Libraries Union - All rights reserved.
On the Unhappiness of being Greek
by Nikos Dimu
Istanbul, 2017
80 pages
ISBN 9786054640553
Nikos Dimu's book “On the Unhappiness of being
Greek” was written in the dark years of the Greek Junta
and published after its fall. (1975). With 32 editions to
date, he is one of the longest lived and controversial
books of every period in Greece.
English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian,
Polish, Chinese and then finally published in Turkish.
This book was translated into Turkish by Hercules
Millas, who knows both sides of the Aegean well.
The original title «Η δυζηυχία ηου να είζαι Έλληνας»
was published in English as "On the Unhappiness of
Being Greek". It is published in Turkish as "Ne Mutsuz
Yunanım Diyen! ”Ne Mutsuz Yunanım Diyen!" was
published in Istanbul in september 2017 as the 38th book
of İstos Publications. Haris Rigas and Seçkin Erdi are the
editors of the book, which consists of 80 pages. The
cover design was made by Aykut Kaplan. The ISBN
number of the book is 978-605-4640-55-3
A series of 193 mostly brief, often cutting and at times
satirical aphorisms about Greece and Greeks. Nikos
Dimou says for the foreign editions:
"People who enjoy reading this book are probably not
Greek. For a Greek this book is painful. He may smile at
some aphorisms, even laugh sometimes, but closing it,
he will feel well …unhappy. It portrays the basic
problem of his existence, his urge for more and his
inability to cope with less. Conflicts undermine his
identity, make him uncertain and changeable. He is
divided between his glorious past and his meager
present, between his Eastern mentality and his European
aspiration – torn asunder by forces of tradition (like the
Orthodox Church) and modernity. His is a difficult fate.
This book is not a humorous collection of aphorisms
about the shortcomings of Greeks – but a bitter reflection
on their tragic destiny of being split among past and
present, north and south, east and west.
It is a declaration of love for Greece, the true, the
profound Greece – and not the superficial land of myths
that Greek themselves have created in order to escape
from reality.
7
Journal of Balkan Libraries Union
By no means is it the work of an “Anti-Hellene” but the product of a man who cares deeply for his country, and
tries to help his fellow citizens fulfill the Delphic motto: “Know thyself”. Something that can be a painful procedure,
if your mentality, education and upbringing have taught you to avoid truth. Greece’s present predicament is to a
large extend the result of all these flaws. More emotional and less rational, a Greek must re-think himself in order to
survive in the modern world. This book tries to help him on the way.”
Herkül Millas says it for the book: "I hope that those who read this book do not read it as proof of their probable
prejudices. My expectation from a careful reader should look at the flaws of the Greeks as if they were looking at a
mirror." Herkül Millas and Istos publications have done a good job by interpreting this book to Turkish.
8
Keep reading this paper — and 50 million others — with a free Academia account
Used by leading Academics
Randolph Head
University of California, Riverside
Ronald Raminelli
UFF - Universidade Federal Fluminense
Iklil Selcuk
Ozyegin University
José Manuel Santos
University of Salamanca
