“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” which occurs in several places in Susette’s and Maj-Gun’s stories, is from Hebrews 10:13. “The roses had the look of flowers that are looked at” is from T. S. Eliot’s poem “Burnt Norton” in Four Quartets. “Ready to be gone,” about the Glitter Scene, is from Jean Cocteau, The Holy Terrors, translated by Rosamond Lehmann. The idea about becoming moral as soon as you are unhappy is Marcel Proust’s (thanks to Malin Kivelä).
I took the characterization of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and several statements about Mahler and his music from a fantastic article about Mahler and the philosopher Martha Nussbaum: “Närhet och utanförskap” (Proximity and Exclusion) by Lena von Bonsdorff, published in HBL, June 2008. This article, which breaks down intellectual defenses, was an important source of inspiration for me.
The people and places in the novel are fictional through and through, but I have taken the liberty of borrowing the names of the captains’ homes, Java and Sumatra, from reality; these are the names of two of the most beautiful houses in Hangö. The islands of Java and Sumatra are of course located where they are in the Indian Ocean, next to each other with Borneo just above; it was not really possible to find other nonfictive examples.
Thanks to Silja and Tapani for their indefatigable support and encouragement, and thanks to Hilding, more than words can say.