Louis de Bernieres

Rob Spence's study shows how Louis de Bernieres developed as a writer, discussing the author's early 'magic realist' phase in which he used his experience of living in Columbia to produce a series of fantastical fictions involving drug barons, corrupt cardinals, reanimated conquistadors, giant cats and other manifestations of Latin American culture.

The central focus of the book is on the literary phenomenon of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an extraordinarily moving love story set against the violent backdrop of the Second World War in Greece, and the book that established de Berniers as a major literary figure. A thorough analysis of the novel is complemented by an account of the Hollywood film based on it. A final section examines de Bernieres' more recent work.

About the author:

Rob Spence is currently Associate Head of the Department of English and History at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk. He has written on a wide range of modern and contemporary authors, including Anthony Burgess, Robert Nye, George Mackay Brown, Penelope Fitzgerald and Jane Rogers.

54  pages

ISBN: 978-1-906075-13-2