"Athens Tales is a portrait of Greece s capital through the city s own writers. The book is made up of eighteen short stories, in English translation, by different Greek authors, some of whom have never appeared before in English. Taking a roughly chronological course from the 1890s to the present day, through these stories, the reader follows the history of Athens through its multiple transformations, from a small town in the nineteenth century to a sprawling modern metropolis. The reader also observes the major events of Athens recent history - from the effects of the 1923 Population Exchange with Turkey, to Nazi Occupation in World War II, to post-war boom, to Economic Crisis - through a literary lens. The stories have been chosen to give a representative sample of different eras of Greek writing, from 19th century realism to postmodern fiction to detective fiction. As well as being a portrait of the city, the volume also serves as an introduction to the last one hundred and fifty years of Greek fiction writing. Each story is accompanied by a black-and-white photograph (contemporary with the story), some published for the first time, giving the reader a sense of the changing visual landscape of the city, as well as a visual counterpoint to the writing. The volume also includes a scholarly introduction, providing the literary and historical context of the stories, as well as notes and suggestions for further reading."
