Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

by

Louis De Bernières

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Dr. Iannis is the only doctor in his unnamed village in Greece. He's also an amateur and hobby historian and spends most of his life working on "A Personal History of Cephalonia," which explores the history of Greece and how Greece's history of conquest influences the Greek people’s behavior in the present. He learned medicine on a ship as a young man and his wife, Pelagia's mother, died very young. Because of the loss of his wife and because he has no sons, Dr. Iannis raised Pelagia to think for herself and engage with the world like a man might. He's not particularly keen on Mandras as a husband for her, as he believes that Mandras won't want a wife that's smarter than him. Though he's a proud Venizelist, Dr. Iannis regularly encourages his best friends, Stamatis and Kokolios, to care for each other and treat each other with kindness and respect regardless of political differences. When the Italians invade, Dr. Iannis is initially rude and short with them. He torments Corelli and makes him feel guilty for invading Greece. However, as Dr. Iannis gets to know Corelli and the other soldiers, they become great friends. He worries when he recognizes that Pelagia and Corelli are falling in love with each other, as he's very aware that the Greeks would persecute his daughter were she to break off her engagement with Mandras to marry an oppressor. He encourages them to wait to marry until after the war. Dr. Iannis's medical knowledge is tested after the massacre, when Velisarios brings a bullet-riddled Corelli to him. Dr. Iannis is able to provide care until Corelli is well enough to be smuggled off the island. Before Corelli goes, Dr. Iannis gives him his blessing to marry Pelagia on the condition that Corelli allow her to become a doctor. Dr. Iannis is taken to a concentration camp during the Greek Civil War and though he returns, he's mute, shaky, and haunted by memories. He accepts his granddaughter Antonia without question and dies in the earthquake while making sure that Pelagia and Drosoula get out of the house.

Dr. Iannis Quotes in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

The Captain Corelli’s Mandolin quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Iannis or refer to Dr. Iannis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

This would never do; why could he not write like a writer of histories? Why could he not write without passion? Without anger? Without the sense of betrayal and oppression? He picked up the sheet...It was the title page: "The New History of Cephalonia." He crossed out the first two words and substituted "A Personal."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

"I have always been a Venizelist; I am not a monarchist, and I am not a Communist. I disagree with both of you, but I cure Stamatis' deafness and I burn out Kokolios' warts. This is how we should be. We should care for each other more than we care for ideas, or else we will end up killing each other."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Stamatis, Kokolios
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

As she reached for it she realized for the first time, and with a small shock, that she had learned enough from her father over the years to become a doctor herself. If there was such a thing as a doctor who was also a woman. She toyed with the idea, and then went to look for a paintbrush, as though this action could cancel the uncomfortable sensation of having been born into the wrong world.

Related Characters: Pelagia, Dr. Iannis, Mandras, Drosoula
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

"It had 'To The Glory Of The British People' inscribed on the obelisk. I have heard that some of your soldiers have chipped away the letters. Do you think you can so easily erase our history? Are you so stupid that you think that we will forget what it said?"

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

"I should have brought her up stupid," said the doctor at last. "When women acquire powers of deduction there's no knowing where trouble can end."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 61 Quotes

"You must allow Pelagia to become a doctor. She is not only my daughter. She is, since I have no son, the nearest to a son that I have fathered. She must have a son's prerogatives, because she will continue my life when I am gone. I have not brought her up to be a domestic slave, for the simple reason that such company would have been tedious in the absence of a son."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 350
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dr. Iannis Quotes in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

The Captain Corelli’s Mandolin quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Iannis or refer to Dr. Iannis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

This would never do; why could he not write like a writer of histories? Why could he not write without passion? Without anger? Without the sense of betrayal and oppression? He picked up the sheet...It was the title page: "The New History of Cephalonia." He crossed out the first two words and substituted "A Personal."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

"I have always been a Venizelist; I am not a monarchist, and I am not a Communist. I disagree with both of you, but I cure Stamatis' deafness and I burn out Kokolios' warts. This is how we should be. We should care for each other more than we care for ideas, or else we will end up killing each other."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Stamatis, Kokolios
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

As she reached for it she realized for the first time, and with a small shock, that she had learned enough from her father over the years to become a doctor herself. If there was such a thing as a doctor who was also a woman. She toyed with the idea, and then went to look for a paintbrush, as though this action could cancel the uncomfortable sensation of having been born into the wrong world.

Related Characters: Pelagia, Dr. Iannis, Mandras, Drosoula
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

"It had 'To The Glory Of The British People' inscribed on the obelisk. I have heard that some of your soldiers have chipped away the letters. Do you think you can so easily erase our history? Are you so stupid that you think that we will forget what it said?"

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

"I should have brought her up stupid," said the doctor at last. "When women acquire powers of deduction there's no knowing where trouble can end."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 61 Quotes

"You must allow Pelagia to become a doctor. She is not only my daughter. She is, since I have no son, the nearest to a son that I have fathered. She must have a son's prerogatives, because she will continue my life when I am gone. I have not brought her up to be a domestic slave, for the simple reason that such company would have been tedious in the absence of a son."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 350
Explanation and Analysis: