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Literary
lions and lines of Hydra
This Saronic island, only 1 ½ hours from
Piraeus, has been inundated for decades with creative types. In the first
of two articles, we look at writers who have merely visited and those who
have made it their home.
JONATHAN CARR
Extract
Another man who knows how to make
people laugh is David Fagan. Islands need all-rounders and this Irishman
who grew up mostly in Africa is a prime example. Whether running a bar,
preventing visiting artists from confusing dinosaur and dolphin skulls,
serving dinner to royalty, searching for missing donkeys, restoring
monasteries, digging for gold or introducing the internet to islanders,
Fagan has certainly been around. In Rhubarbs From a Rock he
recounts in a light-hearted way some of his experiences over twenty years
of living on Hydra. From an unashamedly expatriate viewpoint, in one close
call and adventure after another, he reveals some of the absurdities of
island life and sketches many a memorable character. He laughs both at
himself and others, and successfully conveys the degree of his affection
for the island and its people.
A lifeline
One of the characters Fagan introduces is Don, "an
extraordinary fellow, an Englishman, who hasn't budged from the Rock since
he landed more than four decades ago". Don (now in his sixties) lives
in a "ramshackle, little stone cottage with a concave roof and an
outhouse with a selection of gypsy-like cages containing chickens and
ducks, scattered in an adjacent, unkempt garden.
ATHENS NEWS , 30/07/2004, page: A24
Article code: C13077A241 |
