Harry Mark Petrakis's Books

Song of My Life

A Memoir

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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With the discipline of a surgeon performing a critical operation, acclaimed storyteller Harry Mark Petrakis strips away layers of his nine decades of life to expose the blood and bone of a human being in his third memoir and twenty-fifth book, Song of My Life. Petrakis is unsparing in exposing his own flaws, from a youthful gambling addiction, to the enormous lie of his military draft, to a midlife suicidal depression. Yet he is compassionate in depicting the foibles of others around him. Petrakis writes with love about his parents and five siblings, with nostalgia as he describes the Greek neighborhoods and cramped Chicago apartments of his childhood, and with deep affection for his wife and sons as he recalls with candor, comedy, and charity a writer's long, fully-lived life. Petrakis recounts the near-fatal childhood illness, which confined him to bed for two years and, through hours of reading during the day and night, nurtured his imagination and compulsion toward storytelling. A high school dropout, Petrakis also recalls his work journey in the steel mills, railroad depots, and shabby diners of the city. There is farce and comedy in the pages as he describes the intricate framework of lies that drove his courtship of Diana, who has been his wife of sixty-nine loving years. Petrakis shares his struggles for over a decade to write and publish and finally, poignantly describes the matchless instant when he holds his first published book in his hands. The chapters on his experiences in Hollywood where he had gone to write the screenplay of his best-selling novel A Dream of Kings are as revealing of the machinations and egos of moviemaking as any Oliver Stone documentary. Petrakis's individual story, as fraught with drama and revelation as the adventures of Odysseus, comes to an elegiac conclusion when, at the age of ninety, he ruminates on his life and its approaching end. With a profound and searing honesty, this self-exploration of a solitary writer's life helps us understand our own existences and the tapestry of lives connecting us together in our shared human journey.

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Page Count

254

Publisher

Univ of South Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1611175038

ISBN 13

9781611175035

The Orchards of Ithaca

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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The Orchards of Ithaca

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

Orestes Panos, a prosperous restaurateur on the eve of his fiftieth year and the coming millennium, personalizes humankind's epic struggle between the unresolved guilt and sins of our shared past and the potential of a still untainted future.

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Page Count

296

Publisher

SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809325780

ISBN 13

9780809325788

Journal of a Novel

1972-1975

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Journal of a Novel

1972-1975

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

In Harry Mark Petrakis's Journal of a Novel, begun while Petrakis was engaged in writing his historical novel on the Greek War of Independence, "The Hour of the Bell," the writer reveals personal aspects of his life and work, and the complex relationship between writing and living, and the creative process by which a writer turns his raw experience into art.

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Page Count

240

Published Date

ISBN 10

1470130734

ISBN 13

9781470130732

Legends of Glory and Other Stories

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Legends of Glory and Other Stories

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

Legends of Glory and Other Stories contains a novella and eight short stories by award-winning author Harry Mark Petrakis. In a departure from his previous, highly regarded work, Petrakis offers a fresh new perspective in the novella, “Legends of Glory.” For the first time Petrakis deals with the traditions and emotions of a small Midwestern town caught in the whirlwind of the Iraq War. In a communal rite of mourning, each character embodies a different voice, a different perspective, in regard to patriotism and pacifism. Although the novella relates to the sacrifice of a young man, the grieving of parents, and the conflicts of a family, it explores human sorrow and anger unchanged from the time of the Trojan War. In a return to his earlier lyrical prose style, Petrakis also treats us to eight beautifully crafted short stories. “Beauty’s Daughter” introduces a sullen-spirited Greek bakery owner and his lovely, more amiable wife. “The Birthday” considers the fear that most people have of the emotional and physical decline that the years bring and the reconciliation with death. In “The Wisdom of Solon,” Solon, who does not realize that life cannot be neatly categorized within the mysterious relationships between men and women, finds that every action sets in motion a series of often bewildering consequences. The question of a proper marriage match and the struggle to make the right choice mark “The Rousing of Mathon Sarlas.” And the longing to believe that something survives our mortal bodies even if reason dictates otherwise is central to “A Dishwasher’s Tale.” Completing the collection are “Christina’s Summer,” “Rites of Passage,” and “A Tale of Color,” which are also presented in an inviting prose style and individualized by engaging characters to provide readers with a cumulative sense of culture, geography, and sensibility.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809327589

ISBN 13

9780809327584

Song of My Life

A Memoir

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Song of My Life

A Memoir

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Page Count

254

Publisher

Univ of South Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1611175038

ISBN 13

9781611175035

The Orchards of Ithaca

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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The Orchards of Ithaca

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Page Count

296

Publisher

SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809325780

ISBN 13

9780809325788

The Hour of the Bell

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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The Hour of the Bell

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

In 1821, in the geographically small but culturally and historically rich country of Greece, a revolution began to overturn four terrible centuries of slavery the Greeks had endured under the Ottoman Turks. Harry Mark Petrakis's historical novel The Hour of the Bell recalls the first year of the revolt. Petrakis provides a panoramic view of the conflict through the stories of a variety of characters, including a village priest grief-stricken over the killing of his Turkish neighbors; a guerilla captain leading a band of wild mountain fighters against the Turkish garrisons; the wife of Prince Petrobey of the Mani, embittered by the fighting that takes the lives of her sons; a sea captain commanding the smaller Greek brigs in brilliant forays against the larger Turkish frigates; and a scribe to the legendary General Kolokotronis. Each character provides a defining perspective on the small but fierce conflict that altered the course of European history.

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Page Count

394

Publisher

SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809328623

ISBN 13

9780809328628

The Founder's Touch

The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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The Founder's Touch

The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

Paul Vincent Galvin was Chairman of the Board of Motorola, Inc. & one of the most dynamic leaders on the American business scene. THE FOUNDER'S TOUCH is the exciting account of a vast business built from scratch, the story of a man whose life reflected the changing world of the twentieth century. Like Edison, Ford, & Firestone, among others, Galvin could not be contained by the limited horizons of his small midwestern hometown. In 1923, he moved to Chicago to manufacture storage batteries with his brother Joe. A new American society was forming; industry had grown & was growing still. On the wave of radio's popularity, Galvin's small manufacturing company enjoyed a mild success. His limitless energy demanded new outlets, & with his brother & talented associates he developed a radio that could be used in the new motorcars appearing on the highway. Galvin's achievements & the expansion that followed World War II tell the story of Motorola. Galvin's faith in himself & his product earned him the respect of his customers & the loyalty of his employees. His life story is a reflection of America in the twentieth century, a life bound to that giant corporation which still retains "the Galvin touch.

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Page Count

284

Published Date

ISBN 10

0894341197

ISBN 13

9780894341199

The Founder's Touch

The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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The Founder's Touch

The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola

By: Harry Mark Petrakis

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Page Count

282

Published Date

ISBN 10

0894341200

ISBN 13

9780894341205

Book's by Harry Mark Petrakis

Song of My Life

Song of My Life

The Orchards of Ithaca

The Orchards of Ithaca

Journal of a Novel

Journal of a Novel

Legends of Glory and Other Stories

Legends of Glory and Other Stories

Song of My Life

Song of My Life

The Orchards of Ithaca

The Orchards of Ithaca

The Hour of the Bell

The Hour of the Bell

The Founder's Touch

The Founder's Touch

The Founder's Touch

The Founder's Touch

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