The Fool's Progress

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The Fool's Progress is a book by Edward Abbey, published in 1988.

It is the saga of a journey - a journey through space, a journey through the hero's personal history, and a quest to find meaning under the shadow of death. The journey starts as Henry Holyoak Lightcap blasts away at his refrigerator with a .357 magnum, then takes off with his dying dog, Solstice. Henry leaves the wasteland of Tucson, Arizona, making his way to his (fictional) home town of Stump Creek, West Virginia.

The narrative of the book varies, with the story alternating between Lightcap's present journey home and flashback memories. The flashbacks progress from his childhood up through his recent past. In a sense, the book could be seen as two separate stories, tied together by the single character.

This is a book that Abbey had worked on since the 1950's, originally titled Adventures of the Barbarian. Many of those close to Abbey felt that the book was at its heart autobiography projected through the lens of fiction. It was the last of his works to be published during his lifetime, and was in many ways his magnum opus.