This essay is designed to show how De Bernieres masterfully creates the setting of the island of Cephallonia in the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. The Greek islands have never been better described by an outsider, in my opinion, than by De Bernieres. He encapsulates island life brilliantly, with all its quirks and peculiarities.
The first impression De Bernieres gives of Cephallonia is mixed, although the majority of the reader’s feelings for the island are swayed largely towards the positive. De Bernieres does this by not describing the island, rather the inhabitants of the island.
Our first encounter with Dr Iannis and the description of his daily work suggests that at the present time all is well with the island, and that it is a peaceful idyll where little of significance occurs and the island and villages have become timeless. We are given this impression mostly through the description of the doctor’s rounds, which include a ‘relatively easy calving, lanced one abscess…’. Even the dosing of ‘one lady of easy virtue with Slavarsan’ suggests that although the inhabitants have their illicit practices, this does not rise beyond a certain rustic sense of immorality, rather than a mass indulgence.
The timelessness comes from the sense that the villagers are seemingly unaware of the world beyond their own lives, and only the doctor appears to have received any proper education or knowledge. Nevertheless, these people are not portrayed as ignorant, rather they are simply unconcerned with the outside world and choose to devote their energies to what matters most to them and their lives.
This image of sleepiness and agelessness is further compounded by the doctor’s histories. Although they are describing the history of the island and how it has been ravaged by one administration and ruler to the next, the whimsical nature of religion etc., there is still a sense that the island has not been affected by this mistreatment or randomness, in that life still continues to sustain itself. This image is further expanded through the doctor’s capricious and sweeping way of detailing events, suggesting that although historically significant, they have little import upon the lives of the Cephallonians.
Finally, we arrive at a sense of agelessness and sleepiness through the way in which the De Bernieres switches from the magnificent to the mundane in a matter of sentences, choosing to mesh the two together rather than treat them separately.
For example, we are given the history of Cephallonia through the eyes and words of the doctor, and De Bernieres uses excessive and complex language and themes, such as ‘It is completely virgin. It produces overwhelming clarity of focus, it has heroic strength and brilliance.’ in order to describe the light of Cephallonia. The following paragraph contains a description of the doctor urinating on the plants and the goat eating the doctor’s work.
This intermeshing suggests that, whilst Cephallonia has its place and importance in history, and contains many brilliant and amazing qualities, it is, nevertheless, a place where ordinary people go about their live and urinate on the plants.