Asolado por los personajes | piezas

[Michael30000]

Hola a todos,

La frase en cuestión es del libro Tinta invisible de Javier Peña.

La mente analítica de Nabokov concibió numerosas novelas con estructuras semejantes a una partida de ajedrez. La más evidente es La defensa, cuyo protagonista es Luzhin, un campeón de ajedrez a quien el juego conduce a la locura. La defensa que da el título al libro es la estrategia que utiliza Luzhin para intentar escapar de la demencia. No lo logrará. Como en una posición en la que el rey está en una esquina dispuesto para que le den mate, en la escena final Luzhin se encierra en el baño asolado por los personajes | piezas que lo amenazan desde fuera. Solo hay una ventana abierta. Luzhin tiene dos opciones: recibir el jaque mate o abandonar la partida...

If I'm not mistaken "asolado" means something like destroyed.

But what does it mean here? That he was destroyed mentally, i.e. got crazy?

Thank you.

[Rusty]

Here, asolado can mean destroyed, but not in the literal sense (losing a game cannot destroy a person). It's true, however, that the author is beat (sunk), synonyms of asolar, with no way to win. Given that he can't win, he is driven to madness, but I believe this is also not a literal description of his mental state. It seems extreme. Normal persons can usually admit defeat, not be driven to madness and be placed in a mental institution. He sees two options. He allows destruction or he escapes it. Either way, the game is over. Mentality-wise, I can't be convinced that this defeat (which isn't his first, since no one ALWAYS wins) is enough to put him over the edge and gets him institutionalized.

[Michael30000]

Thank you, Rusty.

[aleCcowaN]

I’d like to add that, although I think immediately in "wreak havoc" when I hear asolar, the term is increasingly used as a synonim of asediar with a little touch of "to be haunted by", and that is exactly the way I understand the author's words.

Otro huracán asoló de nuevo Florida.[notice the absence of "a"]

Here de nuevo doesn't mean just "again" but "once and again", kind of "hurricanes are up to get Florida".

[Michael30000]

Thank you, aleCcowaN.