A captivating and wide-ranging interpretation of accidental dismounting. -In Pascal Quignard-s 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 meanings--to be baffled,- -to be thrown--that the book-s 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 d-Aubigné, and countless other writers, philosophers, theologians, or kings who fell off their horses-not 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 sexuality--When lovers have a horse ride, they gallop in another world--come before our eyes, each time from those unsettling vantage points that Quignard knows how t
