The Angel's Game

"Those were years in which bloodshed and violence were beginning to be everyday occurrences in Barcelona. Days of pamphlets and bombs that left strewn bodies shaking and smoking in the streets of the Raval quarter, of gangs of black figures who prowled about at night maiming and killing, of processions and parades of saints and generals who reeked of death and deceit, of inflammatory speeches in which everyone lied and everyone was right. The anger and hatred that years later would lead such people to murder one another in the name of grandiose slogans and colored rags could already be smelled in the poisoned air." 

Here, the author describes the political conditions in the years prior to the Spanish Civil War, which breaks out shortly after the completion of David's manuscript for Corelli. This quote also implicates both ideology and narrative as sources of the violence, signifying a recurring theme that words can inspire people to commit atrocities.

"Never underestimate a writer's vanity, especially that of a mediocre writer." 

The idea of vanity as a driving force in David's life and the lives of other writers is frequently revisited. Though in this quote David refers to Pedro, the narrator could be talking about himself. While the reader is told on multiple occasions that David is considered a great writer by his peers, David is also a notoriously unreliable narrator. It is possible that his vanity and grievance over his own mediocrity are part of what drives him into the arms of Corelli and, possibly, violent psychosis.

"It seems that in the advanced stages of stupidity, a lack of ideas is compensated for by an excess of ideologies." 

Throughout the book, both the author and the narrator view ideology—religious, political, or otherwise—with deep suspicion. Unlike ideas or true intelligence, ideologies in the world of the novel largely serve to divide individuals into tribes so that they may be manipulated by those in power. This particular quote refers to the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, which lasted from 1923 to 1930, roughly the timeframe of the novel. His reign was deeply rooted in ideology in the sense that his dictatorship took a repressive approach toward censoring the press and attacking dissenters.

"Ignatius B. Samson had been left lying on the rails in front of that tram, exhausted, his soul bled dry, poured into too many pages that should never have seen the light of day. But before departing he had conveyed to me his lash wishes: that I should bury him without any fuss and that, for once in my life, I should have the courage to use my own voice." 

David's near-death experience by the rails is a profound turning point for his character. Not only does it lead to his first in-person meeting with Corelli, it also acts a wake-up call, causing him to visit Dr. Trias, who gives him his brain tumor diagnosis. Moreover, considering the events that follow David's transition from Ignatius into his supposed true artistic self, the quote speaks to the theme that creative expression often grows out of dark, petty, and selfish motivations.

"You're an artist and you want to make art, high literature, something that springs from your heart and will engrave your name in golden letters on the steps on history." 

In this quote, Barrido makes a total mockery of David's ambitions. At this point in the narrative, Barrido's quote feels extraordinarily cynical, but as the book progresses and the fruits of David's devotion to self-expression in pursuit of an artistic legacy turn rotten, the reader can better sympathize with Barrido's sardonic point of view.

"Because our lives don't belong to us. Not mine, not my father's, not yours." 

The idea of owing your life to someone else is a major theme of the novel. For perhaps the first time, this quote signifies the true extent to which Cristina and David feel indebted to Pedro for having served as their benefactor and lifting them both up out of poverty. This debt makes both of them unwilling or unable to follow their hearts and be with one another. 

"That the man in black is the master of this place, the father of all secret and forbidden knowledge, of wisdom and memory, the bringer of light to storytellers and writers since time immemorial. He is our guardian angel, the angel of lies and of the night." 

Satan's connection to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is—like many things in the novel—a matter of ambiguity. From a purely symbolic perspective, however, the connection is clear. By referring to the Cemetery's master in these terms, Isaac makes a direct reference to Lucifer, which in Latin literally means "bringer of light." Moreover, the idea that storytelling is an inherently Satanic act emerges at numerous points throughout the novel.

"I felt a gust of wind whipping against the tower and the study windows burst open, hitting the wall with great force. An icy breeze touched my face, bringing with it the lost breath of great expectations."

The novel Great Expectations is one of the dominant symbols of the narrative. Not only is it David's favorite book, but parts of the narrative mirror that of the Dickens's classic. To David, the broader ambitions that go along with "great expectations" often stem from a place of vanity, so in this quote, when the thought of great expectations prevents David from committing suicide, it is as if David is too vain and thinks too highly of himself to go through with the act.

"Everything is a tale, Martín. What we believe, what we know, what we remember, even what we dream. Everything is a story, a narrative, a sequence of events with characters communicating an emotional content. We only accept as true what can be narrated." 

This quote serves in large part to support Corelli's decision to hire a fiction writer rather than a true believer to create his so-called religion. It also reinforces the theme that in a universe full of mystery, humanity behaves not in accordance with objective verifiable truth but with emotional truth. At the same time, fiction is by definition a lie, a view that lends credence to the perspective that there's something inherently wicked about the act of telling a story.

"Storms of blood and fire pouring over cities and peoples. Armies of corpses in uniform running across endless plains, destroying all life as they passed. Babies strung up with torn flags at the gates of fortresses." 

These are images found in Diego Marlasca's book, Lux Aeterna, which he also wrote on behalf of the Satanic Corelli. While the language is exaggerated, the imagery is intended to be seen as prophetic of real-life events that would occur over the 15 years following the timeframe of the novel. Between 1930 and 1945, the world would suffer through the Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust, World War II, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings—in other words, "storms of blood and fire" unlike anything the world had seen.

"Poetry is written in tears, fiction with blood, and history with invisible ink." 

This aphorism supports a number of the themes found in the novel. For example, the idea of fiction as something of a blood pact with the Devil is frequently revisited throughout the novel. Moreover, history's tendency to disappear from mankind's memory is part of what causes humanity to fall again and again for the same devilish tricks of power-hungry ideologues over the ages, embodied in this historical era by the Fascist leaders of Spain, Germany, and Italy. Meanwhile, poetry may not start any wars, but it can only be conjured through immense sorrow, which David spends most of the novel trying to avoid rather than acknowledge.

"It is part of our nature to survive. Faith is an instinctive response to aspects of existence that we cannot explain by any other means, be it the moral void we perceive in the universe, the certainty of death, the mystery of the origin of things, the meaning of our lives, or the absence of meaning. There are basic and extremely simple aspects of existence, but our limitations prevent us from responding in an unequivocal way and for that reason we generate an emotional response, as a defense mechanism. It's pure biology." 

While the idea of faith as a purely biological conceit may sound extraordinarily cynical to more spiritual readers, it is a theme that the novel explores in great depth. The quote also speaks to the book's frequently pessimistic view of fiction writers. From this perspective, narrative can be viewed as a method of manipulating these biological limitations to provide humanity with the illusion of order, morality, and coherence.

"Most of the simple, well-intentioned anecdotes are a mixture of common sense and folklore, and all the belligerent force they eventually develop comes from a subsequent interpretation of those principles, or even their distortion, at the hands of bureaucrats." 

Here, David seeks to explain why religions founded on principles of love and compassion so often lead to war and repression. Later, when David writes his own gospel, he brings belligerence into the scripture itself by centering it around a warrior savior rather than a peaceful one. It's an approach that clearly delights Corelli as it stands to bring the scripture's adherents hurtling ever faster toward violence.

"With these general ideas in mind, I asked myself, why not get straight to the point and establish a mythology around this warrior messiah? A messiah full of blood and anger, who saves his people, his genes, his womenfolk, and his patriarchs from the political and racial dogma of his enemies—that is to say, from anyone who does not subject himself to his doctrine." 

Here as elsewhere, the author draws connections between scripture and the kinds of toxic political ideologies and personality cults that emerge in the first half of the 20th century. The idea of a warrior sent to save his people from enemies domestic and foreign is not so different from how leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco framed themselves. This trend can also be seen emerging in the 21st century among various Populist leaders in Europe and the United States who rallied their followers against what they perceived as an invading horde of immigrants. 

"The narrative prepared the way for the arrival of a warrior savior who would liberate the nation of all pain and injustice in order to give it back the pride and glory that had been snatched away by its enemies, foes who had conspired since time immemorial against the people, whoever that people might be. The mechanics of the plot were impeccable and would work equally well for any creed, race, or tribe. Flags, gods, and proclamations were the jokers in a pack that always dealt the same cards." 

Here, the author explores the concept that the animating factors behind communities that conspire violently against a perceived "other" often have little to do with the specific contours of the ideologies and nations involved. Rather, these leaders and their followers are called to action through more fundamental shared qualities of grievance and in-group pride. 

"Nothing makes us believe more than fear, the certainty of being threatened. When we feel like victims, all our actions and beliefs are legitimized, however questionable they may be. Our opponents, or simply our neighbors, stop sharing common ground with us and become our enemies. We stop being aggressors and become defenders. The envy, greed, or resentment that motivates us becomes sanctified, because we tell ourselves we're acting in self-defense. Evil, menace—those are always the preserve of the other. The first step for believing passionately is fear. Fear of losing our life, our status, or our beliefs. Fear is the gunpowder and hatred is the fuse. Dogma, the final ingredient, is only a lighted match." 

Corelli neatly outlines the basis on which large groups of otherwise non-violent people can be compelled to participate or become complicit in violence. As seen in the previous quote, these feelings of victimhood and grievance can be found across a broad range of national and cultural identities around the world and throughout history. 

"With the lawyer dead and buried, it was time to turn the page and put all our efforts into the pursuit of starving anarchists and schoolteachers of suspicious ideology." 

While most of the author's commentary on Spanish politics in the first half of the 20th century is metaphorical, here he addresses head-on the repression of the Spanish state during David's lifetime. The state's antipathy toward anarchists, communists, and other ideological criminals is largely the result of fear among wealthy and middle-class landowners that Spain would undergo a communist revolution that would redistribute wealth and property across Spain. This fear of losing their status and livelihood relates to the novel's broader themes of how social divides are exploited by leaders through ideology.

"Only to those who never had a first chance. Actually, they're secondhand chances that someone else hasn't made use of, but that's better than nothing." 

David speaks these words in response to Cristina's belief that there are no second chances. His statement suggests that all good fortune comes at the expense of some other person, creating a circle of indebtedness that manifests in both the book's domestic narrative and its supernatural narrative. In the domestic narrative, David and Cristina struggle to negotiate their own feelings of indebtedness to Pedro, who suffers greatly as a result of their actions. In the supernatural narrative, Marlasca tries to extend his life by stealing the souls of others.

"The words and images sprang forth from my hands as if they'd been waiting angrily in the prison of my soul. The pages flowed from me without thought or measure, with nothing more than the desire to bewitch, or poison, hearts and minds. I stopped thinking about the boss, about his rewards or his demands. For the first time in my life I was writing for myself and nobody else. I was writing to set the world on fire and be consumed along with it." 

This quote is key because it shows that, at heart, David is no mere mercenary working off a debt to the Devil. Rather, the venom that flows from his fingers to the page is his soul's truest artistic expression. 

“I had fallen fast asleep, for once dreaming and believing that words, even my own, had the power to heal." 

The scenes at Villa San Antonio, where David writes a story that helps guide Cristina out of madness, offer the strongest counterpoint to the book's theme that fiction writing is chiefly a malignant force of deception. Further, they emphasize the extent to which David has been manipulated by Corelli into believing that storytelling can never be therapeutic nor profoundly transformational in a positive way. At the same time, the author leaves the issue as an open question, given the fact that Cristina's recovery is short-lived.

"The truth is what hurts." 

The concept of truth is one that is debated at various points throughout the novel. To Corelli, the truth is hidden behind a veil that is impossible for humans to lift. For that reason, emotional truth offered by great storytelling is the only truth that is of any use to humanity. Here, Grandes offers a far different definition. It suggests that there are truths that are both real and accessible to humans, but they are often willfully avoided because of the pain and suffering they cause.

"I returned the book to its place and picked another at random, flicking through the pages. I took another, then another, and went on in this way until I had examined dozens of the volumes that populated the room. They all contained different arrangements of the same words, the same images darkened their pages, the same fable was repeated in them like a pas de deux in an infinite hall of mirrors. Lux Aeterna." 

David's realization that all of the tomes in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books are variations of the same fable is somewhat ambiguous. Nevertheless, it suggests that the Devil's method of perpetuating evil in the world is by enlisting writers over the ages to project their darkest fantasies onto the page in a cycle that's lasted for millennia. 

"The years have taught me to live in the body of a stranger who does not know whether he committed those crimes he can still smell on his hands or whether he has indeed lost his mind and is condemned to roam the world in flames that he dreamed up in exchange for a few coins and the promise of evading a death that now seems to him like the sweetest of rewards." 

While a connection between David's manuscript and real-life atrocities lurks in the background throughout the novel, this is the first explicit mention that the two may be linked. The connection could also be an illusion, however, dreamed up by David and borne out of the same vanity that drives so many of his thoughts and actions.