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With the use of many devices de Bernières seems occupied with conveying his message of history of being the story of individuals. ... The issue of honesty in the retelling of history is also a key point in the novel. The subject of history is clearly very important to de Bernières and many critics have also commented on the use of history and its accuracy within the novel.
A good example of how the portrayal of history should be told by someone who understands the culture of that place is Iannis’s attempt to write a history of the island. This is seen as admirable and presents us with the question of whether you can write about history objectively very early in the novel. Iannis is having difficulty in writing about the history of Cephallonia and he himself is described as thinking : “it seemed impossible to write it without the intrusion of his own feelings and prejudices. ... ” Later he changes the name of his book from “The New History of Cephallonia” to “A Personal History of Cephallonia”. Iannis is established by de Bernières as a character of intelligence and integrity whose views we are supposed to respect so from the start de Bernières is establishing the difficulty of writing about history with complete accuracy. Pelagia’s continuation of Iannis’s task is also significant as it shows history as a connecting factor between father and daughter . History is something which allows us to feel closer to past generations.
Although chapter 2 “The Duce” is a caricature of Mussolini, de Bernières still manages to raise the point of how important the portrayal of important figures in history is to them. Mussolini says: ”it is very important that people should perceive in me an apotheosis of the Italian ideal.” This goes against the view that history should consist only of the anecdotes of the little people. In this instance Mussolini wishes to have none of his personal details remembered in history unless they are relating to him being “the embodiment of Italy.
Approximate Word count = 1598
Approximate Pages = 6.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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