“Abel”, by Alessandro Baricco: a metaphysical western
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Alessandro Baricco. FRANCESCA MANTOVANI/GALLIMARD
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Review In short chapters that are like puzzle pieces, Baricco places Abel Crow, a philosophical cowboy who is looking for his destiny, at the center of the story ★★★☆☆
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The eclectic founder of the Scuola Holden, who juggles literature, theater, and essays, hadn't written a novel since "The Young Wife" in 2016. He returns here, taking the reader to the imprecise locations of vast plains, dusty village streets, and wild mountains of the American West at a time when people still traveled on horseback. For him, writing is "a kind of hermitage conducive to meditation" plays with temporality. In short chapters that are like puzzle pieces, Baricco places Abel Crow, a gunslinger born on a ranch on the edge of the "Untouched" with his four brothers and sister, whom he had to take care of after his father's death, at the center of the story. But Abel isn't just an excellent gunslinger. Through his encounters and readings, his conception of life evolves, drawing on philosophy (Aristotle, Plato, Hume, Spinoza) and the paradigms of indigenous peoples.
Women . Baricco carves out a decisive role for the women Abel encounters in his inner journey. His mother, an outstanding horsewoman, determined and incestuous; his sister Lilith, who practices "the thorny art of reading the future," Hallelujah, his elusive lover; and the bruja , an Indian witch who tells him , "It will be very painful, but one day, Abel, I promise you, you will be born."
Far West. Baricco excels at staging, instilling…
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