Book review - Oblivion
At
the heart of Héctor Abad’s affecting memoir is the profound love and respect he
held for his father, a medical doctor, university professor, and human rights activist,
dedicated to promoting public health care, fighting inequality and defending
free expression. This honourable career was cut short in 1987 with his violent
murder by Colombian right-wing paramilitaries. It took twenty years before Abad
had the necessary distance to sit down and write Oblivion; “a letter to
a shade.”
His father described himself as “Christian in religion, Marxist in economics and a Liberal in politics.” Abad’s mother came from a deeply religious family; her uncle was the archbishop of Medellín. Abad eloquently describes his childhood as a “struggle between reactionary Catholicism and the principles of the Jacobin Enlightenment (combined with a belief in science-led progress).” This difference of opinion is humorously illustrated in a parental dispute over who Abad most resembled as a baby: “she swore I…
His father described himself as “Christian in religion, Marxist in economics and a Liberal in politics.” Abad’s mother came from a deeply religious family; her uncle was the archbishop of Medellín. Abad eloquently describes his childhood as a “struggle between reactionary Catholicism and the principles of the Jacobin Enlightenment (combined with a belief in science-led progress).” This difference of opinion is humorously illustrated in a parental dispute over who Abad most resembled as a baby: “she swore I…