Tales from a Greek island /

The setting of these 12 tales is the Aegean island of Skiathos, the birthplace of Papadiamantis, a 19th century writer in the naturalist tradition of Hardy and Maupassant. He celebrates the folkgoatherds, weavers, olive gatherers, sailors, and ne'er-do-wellswhose fates are determined by centuries of custom, by the beauty and severity of the island and by ordinary passions. Disease, usually consumption, claims young lives, as in ``The Matchmaker,'' or in ``Civilization in the Village,'' where a doctor will not interrupt his card game at the tavern to save a child. Experience repeats the patterns of ancient myths. In ``The Haunted Bridge'' a father's superstitious need to be rid of his daughter evokes Iphigeneia's sacrifice. The sea's lure is omnipresent: ``The Homesick Wife'' shimmers with fairy-tale beauty, but often the sea takes men to the Americas, where they disappear. Revered by present-day Greek writers, Papadiamantis commands a highly accomplished narrative art and a view of humanity tinged with melancholy charm. (May 11) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved