Vintage Books List of the Best Reading Group Books (14)
The general praise for this novel and the encomiums from friends suggest
that perhaps my own negative reaction should be greeted with even greater
skepticism than the usual dyspeptic bromide found here. But the seemingly
interminable book requires the reader, once again, to surrender to the
belief that peasants were happier than are we and had some special wisdom
that we have lost as we've distanced ourselves from nature and the earth.
De Bernieres himself sort of makes fun of this viewpoint when, after the
War, a Canadian poet comes to the Greek isle of Cephalonia :
He was the first in the new vanguard of Western romantic
intellectuals with Byronic aspirations, and
he was looking for a simple house amongst simple
people of the earth where he could get to grips
with the truly gritty realities of life.
Pokes fun, but this seems to be the entire point of the book.
All of the islanders are achingly precious, their lives idyllic, their
society charming, but then war comes, well actually, its not even the war,
they're still fine when it's just the equally cute Italians, but then the
Nazis come, and this wonderful culture is destroyed.
Here's my question though : everyone's always nattering on about how
wonderful the lives of agrarian and aboriginal peoples were, how in tune
with nature, at one with the land; so how come no one ever wants to be
a peasant when they grow up, most especially the peasants themselves ?
(Reviewed:29-Aug-01)
Grade: (C)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-Granta's
Best of the Young British Novelists: 1993
-INTERVIEW
: Louis de Bernieres (Books on Kensington)
-BIO
& BIBLIO : Louis de Bernieres (Andrew Dickson, What Am I Going
to Read)
-PROFILE
: From Chantry to the heights of Hollywood (Tina Heath, From the Evening
Star, March 3, 2001)
-PROFILE
: Louis de Bernières Lying low among the romantic shadows
(Sunday Times of London)
-READING
GROUP GUIDE : Corelli's Mandolin (Random House)
-ESSAY
: Captain Corelli's crisis (SEUMAS MILNE, 7 August 2000, The Age)
-ESSAY
: MAGIC AND REALISM : The worlds of Louis de Bernieres (JASON
ANDERSON, Eye)
-ESSAY
: "Captain Corelli's Mandolin": a true story in the shadow of Louis De
Bernieres' 1995 novel
-ARCHIVES
: Corelli's Mandolin (Times of London)
-ARCHIVES
: bernieres (Find Articles)
-ARCHIVES
: bernieres (Mag Portal)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres (Natasha Fairweather,
Times of London)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Tom Holland, Dec 4, 1998, New Statesman)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (David Davidar, The Hindu)
-ANNOTATED
REVIEW : of Corelli's Mandolin (Janice L. Williams, Medical Humanities)
-REVIEW
: of The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (Susan Lowell, NY
Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts (Stephanie Gold,
India World)
-REVIEW
: of THE TROUBLESOME OFFSPRING OF CARDINAL GUZMAN By Louis de Bernieres
(James Polk, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman by Louis de Bernieres
(Phoebe-Lou Adams, Atlantic Monthly)
-BOOK
LIST : Greece : If you'd like to delve deeper into the history and culture
of Greece, here are some books to consider before you go (USA Today)
-BOOK
LIST : JOHN MORTIMER'S BOOK BAG (Salon)
FILM :
-Official
Movie Site
-INFO
: Captain Corelli's Mandolin (IMDB)
-ESSAY
: Retuning Corelli's mandolin : John Madden changed much of the plot
in his film adaptation of Louis de Bernieres's bestseller. He explains
why to Jasper Rees (Daily Telegraph)
-ARTICLE
: Captain Corelli fails to strike a chord (Paul Sussman, May 22, 2001,
CNN)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Charles Taylor, Salon)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Siobhan Grogan, New Music Express)
-REVIEW
: of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (George Perry, BBC)
-REVIEW
: All that's bad in film today : The movie adaptation of Louis de Bernieres's
best-selling Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a piece of Americanised schloc
(Andrew O'Hagan, Line One)
GENERAL :
-cephalonia.com...connecting
KEFALONITES around the world!!
-Kefalloniá
(Kefallinía, Cephalonia) (Rough Guides)
-ESSAY
: FICTORY OR FACTION? ( Paul Dukes, History Today, Sept, 1999)
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