In the novel "The Accident," there is a part where the main character, Besfort, reminds his lover, Rovena, of the first time they went to "Lorelei." Lorelei was a meeting club for swingers.
"Do you remember when we crossed the door of 'Lorelei'? Not just us, but I believe everyone felt that jolt or, more precisely, the fear of breaking a taboo," Besfort says.
He knew he would never forget that late afternoon, when both of them, hiding their anxiety, were getting ready to go there. He also remembered how, while they wandered around the room, for some reason, they spoke in low voices. Of all that turmoil, the part that burned Besfort the most was her long stay in the bathroom. From the slightly open door, he watched her movements: her concentration in the mirror, the mascara on her lashes, the final check under her arms... It was the first time he saw her getting ready not just for him, but for all of manhood...
"Of course, I remember," she replied.
"Everyone thought it was a new modern experience, but it had been known for a long time. At least, this man here had described it four centuries ago."
Rovena read aloud the title of the little book: Miguel de Cervantes, "The Tale of the Curious Impertinent."
"But this is part of 'Don Quixote,' isn't it?" "Exactly. Long ago, before publishing his full translation, Fan Noli published precisely this excerpt as a teaser. It's undoubtedly the first project of today's swinger clubs." "How strange," she said. "And to think that Noli was a gloomy bishop and a conspirator." "The story was mysterious," Besfort continued.
Besfort had read it with a pencil in hand, as if deciphering a secret text. She was flipping through it curiously, but Besfort took it from her hand. Rovena had a blush on her cheeks, naturally linked to love. At the entrance to "Lorelei," her face had been pale. He no longer doubted that as much as she tried to avoid it, she was also drawn to sin.
But what is this story from Don Quixote that Kadare mentions here, the one that sparks something in the couple? For those who have read Don Quixote, this part will come to mind immediately. If it doesn't, it means you only read Don Quixote in middle school or high school as required reading, and probably didn’t know how to appreciate it. This is an invitation to reread what is rightly considered the greatest novel ever written. The same invitation goes to those who have never read it.
Cervantes’ mysterious story is about the couple Anselmo and Camila, and their close friend Lothario. The two friends, Anselmo and Lothario, were inseparable. When Anselmo marries the sweet Camila, Lothario withdraws a bit. The newlyweds notice this and are troubled. They convince their friend to visit them as before, like his own home. Lothario comes, but hesitantly. He fears gossip. But the couple, not at all.
One day Anselmo opens his heart to Lothario. He has a worry gnawing at him. One that might drive him mad. Naturally, he is happy with his wife, but the torment won’t leave him. It’s a doubt. He doubts Camila’s faithfulness. Lothario is stunned when he hears his friend's suspicion.
Wait, Anselmo tells his friend when he opens his mouth to speak. I know what you're going to say. I also know that my Camila is spotless. But... But can a woman truly be called good if she's never had the chance to be bad?
Lothario tries everything to calm his friend. But Anselmo’s obsession has no cure. In a fever, he returns again and again to his dark doubt. Finally, he makes his friend a macabre proposal. Lothario, his lifelong friend, he and only he, can free him from this nightmare. There is only one possible way. The only one that would prove Camila's fidelity. Dangerous, yes, but sure. Put Camila to the test. In short, seduce her.
Lothario, in disgust, refuses. He is deeply offended. He rises to leave. Forever. Then, a word from Anselmo freezes him. A threat. If he won’t do it, a stranger, a random man might. A scoundrel, perhaps. A night thug.
Lothario buries his head in his hands. The threat breaks him. He accepts the horror - or rather, pretends to. Alone with Camila, he sits like stone. Anselmo eagerly awaits the outcome. Lothario tells him: Camila is pure as crystal. As Alpine snow. She called him a scoundrel. She rejected his advances. She threatened to tell her husband.
Instead of calming down, Anselmo darkens like a storm cloud. Traitor! he says. Liar! I spied on you through the keyhole. I saw how you deceived me. How you sat like a statue. A fraud. Now you’ll see when I bring in real scoundrels, true thugs of the night. At least they won’t lie.
Lothario tries to calm him. He apologizes. He begs for another chance. One more test. The last one. Just so the thugs won’t come.
At last they agree and set the trap together. Anselmo will go to the village. Lothario will stay at the house. Three days and three nights. This is Anselmo’s order. Camila reluctantly agrees.
The first evening falls. They are alone. Lothario and Camila. They eat dinner together. Drink a little wine. Watch the fire in the hearth... Lothario confesses his love. Camila resists desperately. But resistance has an end. Camila breaks (in Cervantes’ text, the word "surrender" is used twice, mercilessly). Camila gave in. Camila fell.
In Kadare’s book, Besfort imagines the moment his lover Rovena reads this scene when Camila surrendered... He wonders... Does Rovena feel sorry that Camila fell, surrendered? It’s likely the opposite, that she could hardly wait for it to happen.
At the illuminated entrance to "Lorelei," for the umpteenth time, Besfort asked himself roughly the same question. Did she like what they were doing or not? Rovena’s pale face gave no answer. (Note the lighting of "Lorelei" with Rovena's pale face... Kadare is a master of cinematic imagery).
Back to "Don Quixote"... Anselmo returns from the village to learn the outcome. Lothario naturally tells him the opposite of what happened. Anselmo seems happy. The test of loyalty is over. Lothario now comes and goes like it’s his own home.
The great deception has triumphed. Everything is upside down. The higher the glory of Camila's honor rises, the deeper she sinks into the mire. Lothario too.
But this story doesn't end here. Nor does Cervantes' narrative genius (which you should read in his words, not this brief summary).
One night, everything collapses. One night, or more precisely, one pre-dawn morning, Lothario, blinded by jealousy, sees a stranger sneaking out of Anselmo's house. A new lover of Camila, he instantly thinks. A scoundrel, a thug, a night villain. These are Anselmo’s words that come to his mind but now with a new meaning.
To Besfort in Kadare’s book, it always seemed that the story ended here. The fury of Lothario against Camila, the temptation for revenge, the maid’s confusion, the escape of the two sinners, the scandal, and finally, the deaths of all three: from madness, from a spear in battle, from the sadness of a monastery - Besfort never read these parts carefully.
As he watched Rovena drying her hair after a shower, he thought she had devoured, just as he had, the final pages. He slowly opened the bathroom door and, from the threshold, saw her lying on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Don Quixote, half-open, was beside her. Their eyes finally met. Hers were empty, like after a fading resentment. She asked why he had given her that book. He shrugged. Why? No reason. "You rarely do things without a reason, Besfort," she said. He told her he assumed she had read "Don Quixote." Of course. Since high school, when it was part of the curriculum. The battle with the windmills. Dulcinea of Toboso. But she barely remembered it.
"Besfort, be honest. You gave it to me because you think there's something similar to our story, I mean, the two of us?" "Something similar?" Besfort laughed. "Not something - everything. And not just us, but everyone."
He stroked her hair before lying beside her. With words he struggled to find, he tried to explain that this story was a model, a sort of infernal machine, through which, knowingly or unknowingly, millions of couples pass.
They recalled again their visit to "Lorelei." The story of the Curious Impertinent was so close to theirs in essence that they nearly overlapped. And the words "infernal machine" didn’t appear by chance. Everything in that essence reminded them of the underworld, but unlike the well-known one, it was another kind of hell-soft, fleeting, resembling a pre-Christian underworld.
"Now I understand why you gave me Cervantes' text," Rovena said once they calmed down. "You told me the text was mysterious. And you've found the key to deciphering it." "I don’t think I’m the only one. Do you want to hear it?" Besfort asked. She took a deep breath.
"The moment when the girl of pleasure tells the curious client about her fate as an orphan. Her alcoholic father, her insane mother."
"Oh, enough," he interrupted, covering her mouth with his hand.
He felt her lips against his palm, a gentle kiss, and in his heart, there was a faint tremble.
And you, are you curious to hear the explanation of Cervantes' mysterious text? Then go and read The Accident.
If you manage to grasp something from the mysterious ending of the book and have an interpretation, I invite you to share it with me, because I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
Happy reading.
