Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres is a story of love and death. In it Bernieres covers the broad spectrum of human existence as a drama. He paints a narrative of young Pelagia from her childhood until her old age when the actions of her youth catch up to her. That sounds ominous, but Bernieres manages to accomplish this in a hopeful manner. As a young woman, Pelagia gets caught up in love with a Greek soldier who must fight the Germans in WWII. When Germany defeats the Greeks, it sends Italian troops to occupy Pelagia's island of Cephallonia. A young Italian captain named Corelli is stationed to live in her home with her and her father, a doctor.
Right as she realizes that she actually never loved Mandras and does indeed love Corelli, Pelagia opens the door to see Mandras, her beloved soldier. She nurses his war wounds and then breaks up with him, after which he promptly joins the Resistance. As the war winds down, Corelli escapes death at German hands by returning to Italy. Pelagia doesn't see him for decades, during which time she adopts an orphan girl and raises her into adulthood. When Corelli finally comes back to her, they are both old. He's now a famous mandolin player. He confesses that he returned years ago only to see her with a child and assumed she had moved on without him. The two are given a second chance at love in the dusk of their lives.
This story is impactful because of its discussion about life and death. Death is an inescapable theme throughout the story. In a chaotic uncertain time when most people around her are dying or losing their homes or losing their minds, Pelagia is asked to remain hopeful. She accepts the fact that Mandras is probably dead, wishing him no ill. When he returns in fury and tries to rape her, he fails and kills himself instead. Pelagia persists, wishing Mandras had only been able to accept the truth which was in front of him the whole time; he didn't love her either. He was complete without a girl in his life, and so was she without a man. Even when her father is taken to a camp by the Germans, she carries one living alone. Through his absence and almost inevitable death comes baby Antonia who appears on the doorstep one day. Pelagia pours all of her hope into this child, viewing her arrival as an omen. To Pelagia, Antonia is the embodiment of life -- the next generation. Her father does return, but his spirit is broken after the horrors of the camp. He loses his faith in humanity and dies shortly after in an earthquake.
Even his loss does not dissuade Pelagia from her commitment to life and to hope. One can conclude that her constant projection of hope and faith was rewarded by the universe when Corelli, an equally righteous person, returns at last. Throughout the text Bernieres is explaining how people survive the trauma of life. His characters view death as a sort of friend whom one need not fear. They live in a manner than prepares them for death.
