M&D - Chapter 16 - A personal tragedy, a divine comedy

[Johnny Marr]

"Here is what Mason tells Dixon of how Rebekah and he first met. Not yet
understanding the narrative lengths Mason will go to, to avoid betraying
her, Dixon believes ev'ry word"

We've established that M&D is a novel boasting a Russian Doll structure of
unreliable narrators - Mason, Cherrycoke, TRP himself. Is it possible to
have a reliable narrator in the first place? Especially when you're telling
the story of how your heart broke and you lost the greatest love of your
life.

I also believe we've previously mentioned a link between Mason and Rebekah
and Orpheus and Eurydice. Rereading the start of chapter 16 now brings to
mind The Divine Comedy

“Amor, ch'al cor gentile ratto s'apprende
prese costui de la bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e 'l modo ancor m'offende.

Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona,
Mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,
Che, come vedi, ancor non m'abbandona..."

"Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,
Seized him with my beautiful form
That was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me.

Love, which pardons no beloved from loving,
took me so strongly with delight in him
That, as you see, it still abandons me not...”


Mason's suffering from a similar heart shattering personal loss, and is
undertaking a deep personal examination of what his lost love meant to him
and how he can properly honour her memory.

Like Dante, Mason soon realises “My course is set for an uncharted sea.”
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