Silk by Alessandro Baricco (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Silk by Alessandro Baricco. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including the decline of silkworm farming in France, as well as Barrico’s unusual writing style. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 21-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Alessandro Baricco
• Presentation of Silk
• Summary of Silk
• Character study
  • Hervé Joncour
  • Hélène
  • Baldabiou
  • The young girl
  • Hara Kei
• Analysis of Silk
  • The decline of silkworm farming in France
  • The art of copy and paste
  • Writing where form is linked to content
  • “A spectacle. Light and inexplicable”

About Silk

Silk was first published in 1996 and tells the story of the downfall of the silkworm trade in 19^th-century France. The main character, Hervé Joncour, is a silkworm trader who is forced to journey to Japan to continue his business after a silkworm epidemic hits the whole of Europe. However, silkworm eggs are not the only things he finds in Japan; he also meets a mysterious young girl who he cannot stop thinking about.

Silk quickly became a bestseller when it came out in Baricco’s native Italy. It was first published in English in 1997, and a new translation by Ann Goldstein was released in 2006.  The novel is set in the Bakumatsu period in Japan and tackles many interesting themes, including the politics and the burgeoning anti-Western feeling of the time . It has been adapted for both theatre and cinema.

About Alessandro Baricco

Alessandro Baricco is an Italian writer, composer, producer and director who was born  in 1958. Although he had already written several books before Silk, this was the novel which confirmed him as one of the most significant writers of his generation. In 1994, he and a few friends established a school of narrative techniques in his home town, Turin, where students come to learn first how to write, and then how to write like him. He currently lives in Rome with his wife and two children.