Ten Free Books You Must Read Before You Die 1: The Gadfly
The Gadly by E L Voynich
The Gadfly is a novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich, first published in 1897.
The book is primarily concerned with the culture of revolution and revolutionaries. Arthur, the Gadfly, is an embodiment of the tragic Romantic hero, who comes of age and returns from abandonment to discover his true state in the world and fight against the injustices of the current one. Gemma, his lover, and Padre Montanelli, his Priest, show various forms of love via their tragic relations with the focal character of Arthur: religious, romantic, and family. These emotions are compared with those which Arthur finds and shows as a revolutionary. The relationship between religious and revolutionary feelings is particularly drawn on. This is made particularly explicit at the climax of the book where sacred descriptions intertwine with reflections on the Gadfly's fate. It is debatable to what extent an allegorical comparison can be drawn between the Gadfly and Jesus.
The landscape of Italy, in particular the Alps, is a pervading focus of the book, with its often lush descriptions of scenery conveying the thoughts and moods of characters.
With the central theme of the book being the nature of a true revolutionary, the reflections on religion and rebellion proved to be ideologically suitable and successful. The Gadfly was exceptionally popular in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China exerting a large cultural influence. In the Soviet Union The Gadfly was compulsory reading and the top best seller, indeed by the time of Voynich's death The Gadfly is estimated to have sold 2,500,000 copies in the Soviet Union alone.