An evaluation of Ernesto Sábato's collections of essays leads one to the conclusion that his production in this genre is basically oriented toward the study of the human being in an irrational and transitory universe…. A talent for essay writing is evident in all of these collections, although it is apparent that in the volumes of essays the results are uneven, occasionally leaving the reader confused by the encyclopedic nature of certain collections while reaching the zenith of lucidit...

The 125 captioned chapters of Abaddón offer the reader an unconvincing pastiche made up of the "flesh, blood, tears and thoughts" emanating from [Sabato's] previous writings. Thus we find Sábato playing himself, surrounded by a host of characters from his two previous novels …; monologues on the function of literature, on the writer and his public and on literary genres and currents (anti-Robbe-Grillet but pro-Kafka) which are barely paraphrased statements taken fro...

If one is in the mood for speculation there's a lot of material to work upon in ["The Outsider"]…. It is ostensibly the story of a crime, and the narrator, who begins, "I am Juan Pablo Castel, the painter who killed Maria Iribarne …," is presumably going to tell all. He does and he doesn't, and it is Ernesto Sabato 1911– Courtesy of Ernesto Sabatowhat he doesn't tell which...