Hace un tiempo tuve entre mis manos una edición de "El hombre que plantaba árboles" prologada por José Saramago. Si bien en ese momento esa conexión me extrañó, ahora, después de haber leído "El húsar en el tejado", la novela más prestigiosa de Giono, veo claro cuál debió ser la conexión que realizó el editor que solicitó ese prólogo.Tanto "Ensayo sobre la Ceguera" como ésta, describen un escenario de ruina absoluta en el que la civilización decae en medio de la demencia al ser arrollada por una plaga incontrolable, creando así un clima asifxiante útil para despojar a la civilización de sus refinamientos y señalar cuáles son sus instintos más auténticos. La principal diferencia entre ambas sin duda está en que mientras Saramago emplea una plaga metafórica en un espacio alegórico, Giono se basa en hechos reales en su escenario nativo, la Provenza. Se nota que hay mucho de invención en lo que escribe, el propio Giono decía que él era un creador, no un testimonio; y no obstante uno se da cuenta que en sus vívidos trazos vive una autencidad que supera la simple verosímilitud. Una de las cosas que más me han gustado, más que sus personajes principales, que son bastante insípidos, han sido esos secundarios que aparecen fugazmente, que se sienten genuinos, tomados de la realidad. Su sequedad, su pragmatismo y su peculiar lógica dan un carácter muy particular a esta novela, que aunque tienen momentos de bajón (normal teniendo en cuenta el sobresaliente episodio con el mediquillo), no deja nunca de sonar convincente y no se abandona a clichés de literatura comercial. Sin ir más lejos, la naturaleza no es idealizada y se nos muestra como un ente bello pero amenazador, en el que unas simples mariposas pueden quedar para dar una vueltecita y comerse unas tapas de ojo humano.Otra cualidad que salta a la vista es el poderoso lenguaje sensual que emplea, el detalle con el que describe los colores, los olores, los sudores y cada palmo del territorio. Una fastuosa exhibición de imaginación en el que el autor demuestra haber sido capaz ponerse en la piel de los personajes y conocer a fondo el terreno que pisan. Eso, a mi criterio, la asemeja con otra estupenda novela ubicada en la Provenza: El Perfume, que, a su manera, también examina con pesimismo al ser humano.En contrapartida, encuentro irritante la tendencia que tiene Giono de hacer perorar ad infinitum a sus personajes. Cuando empiezan, no paran ni con lanzallamas. Esto, más que un exceso en sí, me parece que refleja un tic provenzal, ya que cuando se ven las películas de Marcel Pagnol también se oyen esas peroratas torrenciales. Dónde si me parece que existen excesos es en el empleo de ciertas expresiones como "no le llega la camisa al cuerpo" o el adjetivo "yesoso", que aparecen de forma demasiado recurrente. Intuyo que es problema de la traducción, si no que, en verdad, transparenta un fallo del texto original.A pesar de eso, resulta una lectura más que recomendable. El tipo de novela de género sólida e interesante.
Wonderfully written novel with a strong element of the picaresque. There is a touch of allegory/parable, adventure, romance (understated and hinted at), geoegraphy and history. The descriptions are vivid and you can feel the heat of southern France.The main protagonist is Angelo Pardi, a piedmontese colonel (but still very young), who has temporarily left Italy and is wandering around southern France looking for a friend. He is doing this in the middle of a cholera epidemic and death is ever present in the book. It is also high summer and very hot. He comes across a wide variety of people, all affected by the epidemic (for good or ill) and has a variety of companions and some clashes with authority and with frightened natives. One particular companion, a young woman stays with him for the last half of the book.The vivid descriptions are what make the book. There are some truly horrific descriptions of death by cholera. The counrtyside is described in detail and vividly. Food is an important element and odours are almost smellable and the wine tasteable. Wildlife (most especially birds) comes to life in an exraordinary way; look out for the swallows and nightingales! The heat can almost be felt; even in a cold August/September. The characters Angelo comes across are all to human and appear and disappear or die very quickly. There is a strong streak of compassion running through the book. Angelo is a hero in the Jean Valjean mould who has little care for his own safety. The villians (in authority and ordinary people) are understandable and all too human. I was worried towards the end as I thought that the author might well give way to the temptation to tie up loose ends or go for the obvious. But he didn't and the ending was perfect.
What do You think about The Horseman On The Roof (1982)?
Reading this was a dream. An absolutely gorgeous fantastical dream. The horseman, Angelo, who has had to leave Italy because of a duel in which he has killed a man, travels though the French countryside which is festering with a cholera epidemic, and he moves like a dream of light - which sounds so over the top I'd be embarrassed but for the sheer truth of it. I don't know that I've ever read a more appealing character (I won't even try to describe him as it wouldn't do him a bit of justice). The people he meets, the French countryside itself - all written of with a breathtakingly light touch. The images it put in my mind! Torches on a distant hillside, the heatwave popping the sap in the trees along the road, Angelo running along the rooftops with the cat following him - there was so much charm and thoughtfulness in this book (yes, I realize that I'm gushing, and I don't care)! And the ugliness of the epidemic? Believe me, every excruciating detail is included - the horrific smells, the paroxysms, the black grinning faces - along with all the ugliness it brings out in people who live in fear of it.Here's a little taste:"My eyes always look at things through a magnifying glass, Angelo told himself. Everything I see is magnified at least ten times, and naturally I do ten times too much. Just because the night is painted in all the colors of the inferno, there's no reason to imagine I'm going to see the swift mountain leopard arrive, and the she-wolf and Virgil and 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here.' It's nothing but the reflections from the fires these people have lit because they're afraid of the night. It's quite simple to a simple man. But I'm not simple: I'm double, triple, even centuple."This book is my idea of everything great in the picaresque tradition. Loved it. A couple chapters dragged in the latter part, but the end was exquisite - exactly what I hoped for. Highly recommended.
—Sylvester
There were things that I really liked about the book and some that I didn't. The mood atmosphere and setting were all really well done. The characterization was really good but at times got a bit cerebral for my wee brain. I have to admit I had to skim parts of it as there were too many similar descriptions of the many cholera victims and after awhile this slowed the book down for me too much.All in all a good book that I would recommend to people who enjoy good descriptions, characterization, philosophy and mood over action and plot.
—Shannon
