For more on the cultural context of Captain Corelli's
Mandolin, please visit our Louis de
Bernieres page. It also features short stories and articles by Louis de
Bernieres, and interviews with him
It was with great pleasure that I read Captain Corelli's
Mandolin the second time around. When I first read it, I was not quite
mature enough to appreciate its charms, and I was quite critical of the
novel. Bernieres' great wit and characterisation soon gets you back into
the flow of things. Bernieres has a great delight with language which is
rarely, if ever, misplaced.
Dr. Iannis lives on the Greek isle of Cephallonia
with his daughter, Pelagia. Iannis is a self taught man who has never
lost his desire for learning. In turn, Pelagia also picks up things from
her father, and seems to be the most highly educated woman on the island.
The death of Pelagia's mother at an early age has also added to her
unconventional childhood. Pelagia falls in love with Mandras, a local
fisherman. Mandras has an excellent physique, which Pelagia likens to a
male nymph, as she secretly observes him swimming naked in the sea with his
dolphin companions. Unfortunately, Benito Mussolini has decided to invade
Greece without telling anybody (including his own generals). Bernieres
allows Mussolini to take centre stage with a cameo appearance. This
passage is a piece of quite excellent comic wit: only Mussolini's own speeches
are more humourous, in an unknowing and grotesque way. Carlo is a young
Italian soldier fighting in Mussolini's Balkans campaign, where "friendly
fire" from other parts of the Italian forces, persistent attacks by Greek
guerillas, and most of all, the perishing cold in the mountains threatens their
lives. Any team spirit has already been ruined for Carlo by the fact
that he and the fellow soldier he admires, have been sent on a suicide mission
in some bizarre attempt to justify the war.
Meanwhile, Mandras continues to woo Pelagia.
Unfortunately, it becomes clear to both lovers that theirs' would be an
unconventional match. Dr. Iannis, for one thing, refuses to garnish
Pelagia with a dowry. Mandras is acutely aware that his illiteracy and
poor education prevents him from communicating with Pelagia on the same
level. Mandras decides that the best thing to do would be to ask for
Pelagia's hand in marriage, and then make a man of himself by fighting against
the Italians. Dr. Iannis meanwhile battles with his history of
Cephallonia and omnivorous goats, whilst watering the herbs in the garden in
his own particular way. With the Italians nearly defeated, Mussolini
decides to call on the help of Hitler. The only consequence can be that
Dr. Iannis will be forced to add yet more names to the invaders of
Cephallonia. When they finally do arrive, it is a certain Captain Corelli
who is billeted at Dr. Iannis's house. Whilst Pelagia struggles to
complete her bed sheet for Mandras, Corelli keeps catching her eye. It
helps that he's an expert musician: soon the Cephallonian nights are
filled with the harmonious songs of the mandolin.
Running throughout the novel is
a Homeric theme. Cephalus, after whom the island was named, was a
forebear of Odysseus (with some dispute over whether Odysseus's home was the
nearby isle of Ithaca or Cephallonia). Certainly the wanderings of
Mandras in his first flight from home resemble the voyages of Odysseus.
He's even seduced by an old hag called Circe in a poetic narration which seems
to be a little bit too literary to have come from such an illiterate man, but
we can forgive Bernieres for writing too well. It is very possible that
Mandras could have had such a literary education even if he cannot read: no
doubt his dreams are inspired by half forgotten tales from Cephallonia's oral
culture. Mandras even has a Penelope waiting for him in the form of
Pelagia, and Mandras's boss in ELAS takes the pseudonym of 'Hector' from
Homer. But Bernieres is never completely true to the fabled myths, for he
has own torturous trail to lead. Father Arsenios is a joy to behold as he
turns from being a drunk and the worst priest Cephallonia has ever had, into a
prophet who startles the occupying forces by quoting the psalms at them.
Even if you think you know your history, the events on Cephallonia will still
come as a big shock to you too.
When I first read Captain
Corelli's Mandolin, I was quite critical of the ending and the character of the
'good Nazi', Gunter Weber. Gunter doesn't irritate at all on the second
reading, and I think that David Morrissey is an excellent choice of actor to
play him in the film. Where the novel has come most under fire, however,
is in Bernieres' portrayal of the andartes, and the Communist ELAS in
particular. Bernieres' bias against them seems to have descended all the
way down from SOE's Brigadier Myers and Winston Churchill. It's very hard
to find any documents written in English which depict ELAS in a favourable
light. No doubt they were guilty of committing atrocities, and weren't
exactly cooperative with the British, but they did play a far more positive role
in the war than Bernieres allows. This seems to be indicative of a
slight, reactionary streak in Bernieres' work. As Corelli asks himself,
would he have had the courage to disobey a direct order which would have
involved committing an atrocity?
But Mandras is not only based
on Odysseus. Pelagia, after all, is not a wife like Penelope, and she has
only one other suitor. It's here that Mandras seems to take on the role
of Aristaeus returning home from the war... Earlier in the novel, Corelli
asks Gunter Weber whether he's related to the famous composer of the same
name. He's slightly disappointed that Weber has never heard of Arcangelo
Corelli, his own famous musical namesake. Now, going back as far as 1682
and Georg Muffat, Corelli has been referred to as the "Orpheus of the
Violin". I was very excited when I discovered this, since the
resolution of the novel has only ever made satisfactory sense to me when
mindful of the tale of Orpheus. Having investigated this myth further,
I'm convinced that this is why Bernieres chose 'Corelli' as the name of his
hero. The way Bernieres twists and deviates myth is the best indication
of the intricate way in which his mind works. Such is his genius, that
Corelli and Pelagia have become archetypal lovers, just like Orpheus and
Eurydice before them.
authortrek rating: 10/10
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
For more on the cultural context of Captain Corelli's
Mandolin, please visit our Louis de Bernieres
page. It also features short stories and articles by Louis de Bernieres,
and interviews with him
