Angel of Darkness

Ernesto Sabato's third book, "The Angel of Darkness" is not an easy novel to summarize. Although it contains fantastic elements it is not a work of magic realism. It contains a number of themes and characters which do not develop in an orderly or chronological way. The major character in the book is Sabato himself, in a way that is not played for the usual metafictional tricks. The book contains various memoirs and memories, dialogues between the various characters, historical accounts (such as the last days of Che Guevera, who as it happens was Argentinian), an interview excerpted from Playboy which seems like a parody, but unfortunatley isn't, and a horrific description of torture. It is a tribute to the richness of the Latin American novel that Sabato could use such a complex form.Some context is necessary. Many Latin American novelists of the boom were socialists and sympathetic to Castro. Jorge Luis Borges, of course the most famous of Argentinian writers, was by contrast noticeably conservative and indulgent of the various military regimes that inflicted themselves on the country intermittently between 1930 and 1983. Sabato himself could be described as a liberal, and there are several passages where Sabato defends literature and an authentic appreciation of Marx from the crude Social Realism of left-wing rebels. The time is 1973 and Argentina is ruled by yet another military regime. As English readers should be aware, 1973 marked the period of the false second coming of Peron. As the year went on the military regime found itself compelled to hold elections which the Peronists won. They soon arranged for Peron to return from exile and win the presidency himself with his shallow young wife as vice-president. In 1974 Peron died, his incompetent wife took power and Argentina was soon riven by left wing and right wing terrorists as Peronism's innate demagoguery proved unable to cope with severe economic crisis. It was overthrown by the army in 1976 who scarred Argentina by murdering or "disappearing" thousands of its citizens.Sabato published his book in 1974 and so obviously could not have known about this. But this is a good period for taking an apocalyptic tone. Early in the book a drunken outcast will see the vision of the Great Beast of Revelation. Near the end he will tell others of what he has seen. Meanwhile Sabato, who was originally trained as a scientist, seeks out the supernatural and the mystical in order to find an antidote to Stalinism, simple-minded "Progress" and a superficial positivism. Throughout the book he finds himself with sinister mediums, some of whom were collaborators with the Nazis. He speculates about the geopolitican Haushofer and his links with both the Nazis and the Occult. The theme of Revelation is repeated, most strikingly when Sabato is accosted by a quack who provides an anti-semitic version of the Gnostic myth. One is tempted to see this as a subtle prophecy of the men who tortured Ja

As typical as it is to enclose the best literary masterpieces in centuries rather than in periods, I believe this powerful novel deserves its place amongst the best of Latin America and the world during the past century. Sabato is not your common author; his few works portray, more than anything, the internal anguish suffered due to the solitude and terror of the soul. This novel in particular is some sort of literary behemoth or leviathan. It possesses continuous signals of being a creature of its own, mythical and monstrous at times. But it also deals with commonplace situations, excellent dark humour and devastating poetic narration. If you like novels with experimenting in prose (diversity of narration) this novel does it without a flaw. Few authors have used such an agile and fresh 'editing' of their work. The novel is composed of nearly a hundred and more sections which are like individual impressions of the circumstances around a particular date. However, and despite the plethora of characters, the novel keeps its unity. Sabato himself is one of the characters, in a challenging exposure of his innermost fears and dysfunctionalities. Much of the fiction is probably a simple recolection of his true situation in reality. There isn't a specific plot but a compendium of interrelated people in Buenos Aires, before the armageddon of their lives. Full of symbolisms, Abaddon (an apocalyptic angel of destruction) repeatedly deals with the forces of evil and the malignant spirits that govern the world of shadows inside oneself. I hardly give 5 stars to a book, but this is a special one; I am fully convinced this is one of the best novels ever written and definately underrated by history. This work deserves the merit of being read by anyone ready to enter that sordid world of Sabato, that is so majestic and intimidating.

This book will take you to another world. Ernesto's literature is not for everyone, it's a little hard to take its real meaning, but it worth to be read!