A captivating and wide-ranging interpretation of accidental dismounting.  In Pascal Quignardâs 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 meaningsââto be baffled,â âto be thrownââthat the bookâs 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 dâAubigné, and countless other writers, philosophers, theologians, or kings who fell off their horsesânot to forget Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was knocked over by a dog. Being âunsaddledâ can also be associated, as Quignard shows in regard to Nietzsche, with an âoverturningâ of values. Scenes of war, hunting, âfleeingâ or sexualityââWhen lovers have a horse ride, they gallop in another worldââcome 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. Â