Then his legs and arms are pulled off by 4 horses.

Then his hand, with which he held the knife, is cut off. Large pieces of his flesh are pulled off with hot tongues and then the wound is filled with boiling hot lead. He does slightly wound Louis but the tortures he endures are amazing. This is exemplified by the execution of Damien, the misguided young man who tried to stab Louis XV. One theme of the book is the emergence of the Enlightenment against a historic background of feudalism and oppression. When dying, Voltaire is ostracized by the church, and much trickery must take place for Voltaire to be buried. We see Voltaire, always sarcastic and insightful, struggle to get away from Frederick only to have Frederick try to entice him back to Prussia. Both his benefactor (Frederick) and great opponent (Catholicism) influenced his thinking, writing, and philosophy. Voltaire, the witty and creative thinker that made philosophical concepts attainable through this writing, is shown struggling with Frederick the Great and the Roman Catholic Church. We hear of the struggles Diderot had trying to convince the great thinkers of his time to contribute to this massive effort. He sees vision when he has orgasm, and these visions of 20th Century horrors remind us that 18th Century horrors and 20th Century horrors have much in common.ĭiderot, the editor and primary writer of the Encyclopedia that was a bedrock of Enlightenment thinking, is a fried of Rasero's throughout most of the book. He sees the Holocaust in Germany, the Vietnam war, the bombing of Hiroshima, and other scenes of mankind's folly. Rasero reads the book frequently since it corresponds to the scenes of mass murder and destruction that he sees into the future. HIs friend, the court painter Boucher, illustrates it with sepia watercolor. The novel takes place primarily in Paris, Madrid, and Mexico City, Mexico.Įarly in the novel, Rasero is able to transcribe the book of Revelations by St. The book starts with Rasero as a young adult in 1749 and ends roughly around 1812, covering 63 years in which Europe underwent amazing cultural and historic contortions. However this may prove to be the major weakness since it may be too sweeping in scope and thus does not allow for indepth discussion of the philosophical concepts that arise in the book. The major strength of the work is Rebolledo's firm grasp of scientific, historic, political and philosophical movements of the period. Whereas in the film Forrest Gump a dim witted young man is present at major historic events by accident, in this novel, Rasero, a very intelligent man, seems to know everyone of any importance in the Enlightenment period. This is a book of ideas, a very interesting book, that is explored through the life of a fictious character, Rasero.

Rasero by Francisco Rebolledo