American Fugue: A Novel by Alexis Stamatis

Alexis Stamatis has been hailed as “one of the most gifted writers of his generation” (Françoise Noiville, Le Monde) in both Greece and Europe. His work has not yet been published in America and thus has been mostly inacces sible to US readers. Amerikaniki Fouga (American Fugue), published in 2006, is Alexis Stamatis’ most recent work.

This novel continues to examine the basic themes that are persistent in all of Stamatis’ works of fiction: an all-consuming past, the flight to escape one’s personal demons, and, most importantly, the search for personal identity that is ultimately revealed only through what is unknown to the self. The treatment of these themes is also characteristic of the author’s other novels—travel narrative on the surface, mystery or thriller with an existential dimension at another level, but ultimately a quest for self-discovery and personal redemption. American Fugue is one of the first books supported by the National Endowment for the Arts International Literature Awards program.