The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco was one
on the most well-known European literary critic of the 20th century.
His fame would have rested on just his contribution to semiotics (the study of
signs) alone, but he went a step further. He published his first novel, The Name of the Rose in 1983 and became
an international literary sensation.
Being a historian
specializing in medieval aesthetics, Umberto Eco is able to conjure up almost
exactly the pervasive mood of doubt and suspicion of the 14th century
religious conspiracies. The Name of the Rose is set in the year
1327, in a wealthy Franciscan abbey in the mountains of Italy, where a monk has
been found dead. William of Baskerville,
an English brother and follower Aristotle’s logic and Roger Bacon’s scientific
enquiry, is sent on a delicate mission to this abbey. Over the course of seven days, seven grisly
murders take place. Turning detective, it is up to Brother William to collect
evidence, decipher secret symbols and coded manuscripts as he digs into the
eerie mystery that lies behind the murders. He has the help of Adso, a novice
monk. So basically it will appear to be Sherlock Holmes and Watson thrown into
a 1300s medieval abbey with a lot of theological debate thrown in. And when I say
a lot of theological debate, I mean a lot.
Being a postmodernist
cultural critic, Umberto Eco’s book is clearly no simple plot-driven thriller
(so if you thought this book sounds kind of like Da Vinci Code, you will be wrong). He interweaves so many genres
into this one novel –it could be labelled as
historical fiction, mystery, theology and philosophy, meta-fiction, detective
fiction, literature, and more. Being a professor of semiotics, he is also
concerned with how signs produce meanings. So, in many ways the ‘detection’ of
Brother William also becomes a metaphor for our investigation into the nature
and limits of human knowledge itself. William's method of deduction hinges on
his ability to "read the signs" in the world around him.
Perhaps the
most fascinating part of this book would be that this is a book on books! And
you will be completely awestruck with the library in this monastery – it is
constructed as a labyrinth – only the librarian and assistant librarian know
where the each book is kept, no one else. Even if you wanted to get into the library
labyrinth – there would be no way a layman would be able to get out.
"There are
reasons for the silence and the darkness that surround the library: it is the preserve of learning but can maintain this learning unsullied only if it prevents its
reaching anyone at all, even the monks themselves.”
And since
all the murders point towards a secret manuscript in the library, Brother
William and Adso need to find a way to navigate their way through this top
secret, forbidden ‘labyrinthical’ library. Absolutely fascinating those scenes are!
Since there
is a lot of untranslated Latin in the book, it would leave one a bit
disoriented at the start. But I felt that the author may have meant us to be a
little bit of a detective ourselves! Turns out there is an (expensive) reading
companion to this novel …but I found the next best thing – a blog that is
dedicated to collecting all the Latin translations in this book!
The pace of
this book is very slow, and for the first two hundred odd pages, you may even
find it utterly mind-boggling. But, it is a work of a 20th century
postmodern mind set in a medieval times with a ton of history at its back. So, I
guess it is inevitable. As the plot thickens and you wish to get closer to the
mystery, there may occur digressions on philosophy, religion, logic or even
architecture. Be ready to tackle a bit of confoundment if you are getting ready
to read this one.
Surprisingly
there is a touch of humour too that mostly is sprinkled in the dialogues between
William and Adso, while at the same time make an interesting comment on the
nature of truth itself:
“But then…”
I ventured to remark, “you are still far from the solution….”
”I am very
close to one,” William said, “but I don’t know which.”
“Therefore
you don’t have a single answer to your questions?”
“Adso, if I did
I would teach theology in Paris.”
“In Paris do
they always have the true answer?”
“Never,”
William said, “but they are very sure of their errors.”
[...]I had the
impression that William was not at all interested in the truth…..he amused
himself by imagining how many possibilities were possible.
Though it was made into a movie with
Sean Connery as Brother William, the author was extremely disappointed with it
apparently, and never did allow any of his further fictions to be translated
onto the big screen. I have yet to watch the movie though, but the book will
probably have the last say.
Sic semper erat, sic semper erit :)
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