The Unsaddled

A captivating and wide-ranging interpretation of accidental dismounting. In Pascal Quignards writing, philology hunts for wild game in a dark forest. The Unsaddled, which features horses as its central figure, is no exception. Taking off from puns, multifarious imagery, and metaphorical meaningsto be baffled, to be thrownthat the books title provides, Quignard focuses on life-changing moments. We meet George Sand (whose father died after being thrown from his horse), Saint Paul, Abelard, Agrippa dAubign, and countless other writers, philosophers, theologians, or kings who fell off their horsesnot to forget Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was knocked over by a dog. Being unsaddled can also be associated, as Quignard shows in regard to Nietzsche, with an overturning of values. Scenes of war, hunting, fleeing or sexualityWhen lovers have a horse ride, they gallop in another worldcome before our eyes, each time from those unsettling vantage points that Quignard knows how to find. As ever, he ranges far and wide in his intense quest, taking examples from across human history, from the neolithic age to his own childhood memories of postwar Le Havre in northern France.