Quest in the Sky

A South Asian traces the triumph of reason in 18th-century Lisbon

ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF the month of June, in the year of grace 1731, my brother, Bartolomeu Lourenco, rose on his airship from the an-cient ramparts of Sao Jorge Castle.” Sitting in the 21st century, it is difficult to conceive of a time when men were tried, tor-tured and condemned to death for the heresy of asking questions. Yet there were times when it was sinful to doubt, to be curious, to wonder what lay hidden in the corners of the earth. Passarola Rising, set in such a time, is the story of two brothers who dared to dream of fron-tiers beyond those known to man.

The Passarola (great bird) was the title of a flying ship conceived of by the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu Lourenco de Gusmao in the early 18th century. Abidi tells us that the first practical demonstration of this flying model was made before the Portuguese Court on 8 August 1709—some 70 years before the Montgolfier hot air balloon. Yet Lourenco’s feats drew the attention of the Inquisition, and he was forced to flee to Spain, where he died of fever in Toledo in 1724, aged 39.

Abidi fictionalises Lourenco’s story, using Bartolomeu’s real-life brother Alexandre as narrator. “Will you bear my witness?” asks Bartolomeu on the Passarola’s first flight, and his younger brother carries out this promise. From Brazil, Alexandre travels to Lisbon, first to the mannered routines of court life, and then to join his brother on the great adven-ture of first building and then flying the great yawl in the air. “The sky is infinite and without borders,” says Bartolomeu at the King’s dinn-er, to which Voltaire —who appears briefly at several points in the book—responds, “Man creates borders wherever he goes.” Negotiat-ing the space between these two worldviews is the practical Alexandre, loyal and helpful assistant on his brother’s flights of fancy, fol-lowing him across Europe and even to the North Pole. But the inevitable fork in their paths, the moment of an unexpected truth, arrives when Alexandre questions the funda-mentalism of his brother’s faith in reason.

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Some truths, believes Alexandre, are best left untold. At less than 250 pages, and with the weight of its themes, this little novel (with lovely cover design by Ajanta Guhathakurta) is remarkable for the delicacy of its narration. What is truth, asks the novel, and where is it to be found—bringing to mind not only the great adventure storytellers, Verne and Stevenson, but also their more contemporary brothers, Eco and Calvino.

Yet Abidi’s style is assured and original as it negotiates the shifting landscapes of history, ideas and imagination in which its story is set. Narrated in Alexandre’s thoughtful, observant voice, Passarola Rising is a fable about reason and religion, science and imagination, loyalty and love. It is about the forces that rule hu-man life—gravity, adventure and curiosity— and also the pulls of family and homeland.

Investigators, including a bomb squad, combed the site. (Representational)

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In a targeted attack, a man rammed his car into the FBI's Pittsburgh field office on Wednesday and then threw an American flag over the damaged gate before fleeing the scene. No FBI personnel were injured, and the suspect had previously visited the office with a nonsensical complaint. The FBI is asking for the public's help in identifying the suspect.

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