I just finished reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Ostensibly, it's about a murder mystery unfolding in a 14th century monastery. The heart of this book is the conflicting ideologies and ambiguity of linguistic signs.
Eco makes liberal use of untranslated Latin and constantly makes references to philosophers, logicians, theologists, and heresiarchs. All this erudition was tough for me to keep up with.
This might seem like heresy to others, but I began translating the Latin and annotating Eco's references in the margins with a pen. I normally don't mark up novels, but this one demanded it.
Somewhere in the midst of this research and annotating, it occurred to me that I was like a monk scribing away on a thick manuscript, copying esoterica from the scrolls of Wikipedia and Google Translate. My marginalia gradually illuminated Eco's message, as I understood it.
Bravo, Eco. One hell of a book! On to Foucault's Pendulum.
by AzoMage
38 Comments
One of my favourite books ever. But I struggled to get through Foucalt’s Pendulum. Thanks for reminding me to pick it up again.
When you’re done *Foucault’s Pendulum*, I highly recommend *The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana*.
I love Eco’s work. Easily my favourite author.
Umberto Eco is like a cure for having your head up your own ass. It’s like professional permission, from an unbelievably talented writer, to get away with a lot of really silly shit. You can just chuck a reference to Rick and Morty into your serious literary tome, nobody cares. Just do it well.
Lucky. I wish I could read FP again for the first time.
I’m delighted you enjoyed it!
I’ve read *The Name of the Rose* (I think) four times now: the first time I had absolutely no Latin and a very rough knowledge of medieval history; now I have enough Latin to understand most of the passages and if not a deeper knowledge of medieval history, certainly the broad strokes of what’s going on in 14th century Italy. And each time I reread it it’s an even more fulfilling experience with new layers of meaning revealing themselves. The theological dimensions of the book are still beyond me, and might always be lmao but what can you do.
*Foucault’s Pendulum* is probably my favourite (although I have a special place in my heart for *Baudolino*), but it’s most certainly the most challenging. It’s a bewildering book by design, but a general understanding of the Knights Templars, Rosicrucians and Jewish history along with the Western literary tradition will go a long way.
Good luck!
So you just [glossed](https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/2015/09/17/reading-between-and-around-the-lines-an-introduction-to-glosses-and-commentaries/) over it, huh?
I friggin love Name of the Rose so much. It’s such a beautiful novel. It takes so much care and love for such a seemingly distant time and place, it really makes the characters human even with their passions and concerns so different to our own. I love that.
I wanted to add another bravo to the translator, William Weaver. He was a link in this chain of monks between me and the story.
When I read Foucault’s Pendulum as a teenager, I was delighted to find that my mother had already annotated all of the non-English chapter headers for me before I started reading. Subsequently I learned how to translate some of it myself.
You made me want to read it too!
It’s a perfect book for our online age. Once upon a time finding all the glosses yourself would have been a monumental task, but now every answer is just a simple Google click away.
Penitenziagite!
As a medieval theology nerd this book felt like it was made for me.
What do you think of [Zizek’s criticism](https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/reloading-laughter-zizek-and-a-theory-of-comedy/) of the Erasmus *In Praise of Folly* theory mentioned in *The Name of the Rose*?
>In his work, Žižek raises important questions about the value of comedy and laughter under late capitalism. In his critique of Umberto Eco’s popular novel, The Name of the Rose, Žižek argues that the most disturbing aspect of this text is its “underlying belief in the liberating, anti-totalitarian force of laughter, of ironic distance.” As such, the greatest form of totalitarianism today is not the lack of laughter, but, rather, the prevalence of cynicism, irony, and laughter.
I’ve heard Z say that he prefer’s Eco’s short works and essays.
Useful thread for me. Loved both *Name* and *Pendulum* (although much went over my head, probably), been an age, due a re-read. Good to see others recommended, and will follow up.
Picked up a copy of *Travels in Hyperreality*, not had the courage to start – any good?
Name of the rose is a masterpiece. Foucault’s Pendulum let me down in the end but no spoilers
Baudolino and The Island of the Day Before are good too, although not on the level of Il Nome della Rosa.
Never heard of this book before but now I’m definitely gonna read it
I’ve never read the book, but I just happened to watch the movie last week while folding laundry. It is not a very good movie on rewatch. So… don’t do that…
Writing in the margins of books (that you own) is *highly* underrated. One of my favorite things when I’m reading a used book is to find notes and annotations. They also are great when you revisit a book you’ve already read. Like a time capsule of what you found important.
Oh, I’m so glad you wrote this – I’ve been thinking what to recc for someone who’d appreciate a ‘Murder Mystery Plus Stuff’, and I’d entirely forgotten Name of The Rose. This is perfect. I loved that book, funny, interesting, exciting, smooth.
I love, love, love Eco. My favorite professor (a medievalist often, but not always) taught a seminar on his novels. While I happily wallowed in the nonsense/non sequitur of Foucault’s because I’m a natural-born lunatic, my professor talked about having trouble getting into it. When she first attempted to read it, she’d pick it up, read a bit, put it down in frustration, and so on. Eventually, she theorized that it is a hermetic text and that a lot of what seems excessively detailed, disgressive, and conspiratorial about the book is a labyrinth meant to dissuade casual interpretation. Reading through it all is, itself, meant as an initiation. In that way, it speaks to the mysteries at the center of all of Eco’s books from The Name of The Rose to The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. (Not to be forgotten, and definitely incorporating related themes, the glorious ship-in-a-bottle Island of the Day Before and Baudolino, both of which I love. If you can’t handle a little weirdness, Eco isn’t for you.)
Okay, this is going on my 2024 TBR right…NOW.
Has anyone seen the miniseries? I loved the book, didn’t much care for the movie, and I’ve been trying to find a place to watch the miniseries.
The last time I read it I was accompanied by a delightful supplementary volume, The Key to TNOTR. It has translations of all passages and descriptions of various historical personages and events.
I actually just finished it as well! Really good read. It was challenging, the prose was occasionally intimidating and I often had to consult Wikipedia, even though my degree is history and I love medieval history! If you’re looking for something in a similar vein, there’s a video game called Pentiment – a sort of heavy narrative RPG with no combat set in a monastery in the Alps during the reformation. Heavily inspired by The Name of the Rose.
I’m reading it rn, am very curious about what’s to come
If you enjoyed untranslated Latin and monks, you might like *A Canticle for Leibowitz* by Walter M. Miller Jr., which is set at an abbey several centuries after a nuclear apocalypse where the monks seek to preserve knowledge of the old world.
I always found Focault’s Pendulum to be a critique on “The Da Vinci Code” written before that book was even thought of, just to stir the conspiracies.
Funny, I just checked this out on e-book and immediately decided it would be better suited to reading a physical copy!
Great book, finished it while in HS, reads faster than it looks like it would
Movie was absolutely fantastic too
> Somewhere in the midst of this research and annotating, it occurred to me that I was like a monk scribing away on a thick manuscript, copying esoterica from the scrolls of Wikipedia and Google Translate. My marginalia gradually illuminated Eco’s message, as I understood it.
That’s amazing.
I love this book. It’s been too long since I last read it.
As a sideline, check out Eco’s good buddy Jorge Luis Borges. He was the inspiration for the blind monk Jorge de Borges, and the monastery library is inspired by his story ‘The Library of Babel’.
Yar, enjoy the heck out of it, but I think one of his points was that fanatical religiosity is indistinguishable from madness.
As beyond not write nearly enough books, may I suggest The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The Flanders Panel is also good. But the Club was very Eco.
If on the other hand you like the monk setting check out Dissolution, not as deep. But follows the theme, but during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England.
Shoutout r/bookscirclejerk
I had a friend tell me he wasn’t gonna take any more reading recs from me because of Foucault’s Pendulum
That one and Foucault’s Pendulum are two of my all time favorites.
I’m intimidated by this book and am afraid to start it.