Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1993 | Page 48

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Popular Culture Review

approaches Mastama, who reveals her true origins. With their
conunon love for Musa as his plea, Mastama seizes the chance to get
help for a second escape.
In the tomb Este teaches her about the classical and Etruscan
myths, but Musa is confused by her love: "the ardor of the Sicilian
left her hard and scornful"; "the gentleness of Sanctis had left her
cold and thankless"; and yet "one languid smile from Este's eyes, one
listless word from his mouth ntade her grateful" (656). Musa cannot
rationally comprehend her love for the one 'bad" suitor, because it is
m o tiv ate by more powerful irrational forces: Este's criminal ties to
Mastama and thus to the archetypal lucumo (Este inhabits his tomb
and even complains of lack of air [660]). Her ambivalence is also
expressed in the choice of a lover who is bound to fail her: besides his
characterological flaws, Este is of a social class far above Musa's.
Meanwhile, having discovered that Este is his successful rival,
Sanctis decides to clear Este's name and stipulates only that he wed
Musa and save her from the Maremma (714).
Musa's vow to Joconda holds until she is in a boating accident and
Este rescues her, water again serving as the means of rebirth. While
the fear of losing her makes Este think himself in love, she in her
weakened condition allows him to kiss her-one of many references to
love connected to disease—and they become lovers. For Musa it is a
resurrection, love winning over death: "She had descended into the
grave of the deep waters and been delivered by the hand that she
loved" (749). The "Syrian Magdalene" has broken her vow, just as
Joconda broke with her family. Musa is thus in the vein of the
Romantic Fatal Woman analyzed by Mario Praz: beautiful, exotic,
often innocent and therefore more enticing, associated with death,
the moon (715, 721), and Artemisian frigidity, having an uncanny,
dreamlike gaze, and possessing a vampire wisdom (Praz 207). Sanctis
thinks she is "eternally young, p>erserved in the secrecy of these
forests, without change, whilst all the rest of earth grew old" (683);
she preferred Este's tales of prehistoric Tuscany to all others (658). In
Mantua, Sanctis clears Este's name, but his midsummer exertions have
cost him his health and he dies from a disease contracted from the
marshes. In Ouida, they die who sacrifice for love.
As Musa expected, on learning of his pardon Este abandons her.
She compares him to the vanishing lucumo (768), but a repetition of
the first "abandonment" by Mastama has occurred too. (Xiida puts it