Kazantzakis’ letters to Prevelakis clearly record how impressions from his travels were used to enrich the Odyssey.

It is also well known that in the summer of 1931 Kazantzakis went to Paris to see the Colonial Exhibition in the Bois de Vincennes. As was customary, the organisers had transported entire villages from every colony, together with their inhabitants. Visitors could see the natives living their everyday lives and attend “live” spectacles such as battles and ritual dances.

Kazantzakis used these images to recreate the primitive world in his Odyssey.