In a Greek village in the mountains, a charlatan performs miracles pretending to be the holy prophet. Craving for a magic change, the gullible villagers become delirious about him. Everybody talks about the wizard, Elliseus, the Ancient of the Days; everybody is eager to kill one another for a miracle performed by him. A little boy dies in his hands with the promise of his later resurrection. Childless women get magically pregnant after a night with him. At the same time, hoping for money in exchange, parents prostitute their daughters to Nathan, a promising Greek American who just got back to the village, only to spread disease… Paroxysm and ethical paralysis reign. But, who would dare think that your trusted beloved friend may feed you with fraud and betrayal? After being unexpectedly deceived, Elisseus will seek for revenge… Full of supernatural events, mysticism, and paradoxicality, in this novel, Matessis points the finger to lay people’s craving for miracles. He offers a grotesque portrayal of human condition and an allegory of how western influence may ravage tradition, ethos, pureness… “With The Ancient of the Days, a novel as breathtaking as The Daughter, Matessis reconfirms that he is a major novelist…” L.Liban, L’Express, Paris “The Ancient of the Days would surely make unconventional Goya, laugh…” M. Grodent, Magazine des arts et divertissements, Brussels.

Kastaniotis, 1994, 224 p.