Umberto
Eco is a true Italian renaissance man, a semiotician, novelist, children’s
author, critic, philosopher and author of non-fiction and essays. He also
collects books and apparently has some 50,000 in his collection, including 1200
rare editions. Now that’s what I call a passionate bibliophile! The Name of
Rose
is definitely his most well known book, having sold some 26 million copies
since its publication in 1980. Eco is an academic who has caught the imagination
of the reading public the world over.
With
The Name of the Rose Eco has created a highly credible medieval world in which
fiction and fact are interwoven. This can be heavy going and there are on
occasions long sections that deal with papal politics, heretical sects and
monkish philosophy, all of which tests the reader’s resolve. Despite this the
novel also has political and philosophical themes that have strong relevance
today. You could even argue that the book has an uncanny prescient quality thirty-three
years on, with its examination of the nature of truth, freedom, intolerance and
the sometimes-uneasy relationship between church and state.
The
central protagonists are William of Baskerville, a monk who values rationality
rather than faith, and his novice assistant Adso of Melk, who also acts as the
narrator. William and Adso appear to be playful allusions to Holmes and Watson,
that other famous sleuthing pair. William and Adso are finely drawn
protagonists who are both humane and complex. But as a murder mystery the book
was unfortunately lost for me, due to viewing the movie version many years ago.
This, at least, allowed me to enjoy how Eco manipulates the reader, spinning a
web of diversions and blind alleys to obscure the truth, which is in any case
very well hidden in more ways than one. As a murder mystery the novel is
certainly compelling, however your average murder mystery fan will find it hard
going.
The
Name of the Rose is five hundred pages of dense narrative that will challenge even the
most determined fan of literature. I did struggle despite having studied
medieval history, but ultimately I enjoyed the novel. Eco is certainly a fine
writer. The complex plot and the characterizations are his great strengths,
although the pacing is sluggish on occasions, suffering from the burden of
medieval detail. The descriptions of the monastery and the labyrinthine library
are detailed and genuinely atmospheric. One of the best passages involves Adso
becoming lost in reverie as he describes the carvings on the doors of the
church, leading me to the conclusion that medieval art attempted to do what
cinema does so readily in the modern age – to take people elsewhere and nourish
the imagination.
Ostensibly
a medieval murder mystery, the novel also examines the meta relationship
between narratives, how they feed into each other and also how they blend with
the ‘real life’ narratives of the humans who read them, in this case scared
apocalyptic fourteenth century monks. About half way through the novel, after
William and Adso have already ventured through the library labyrinth (a
highlight of the novel), they ruminate on the nature of books, how “Often books
speak of other books.” In The Name of the Rose Eco does indeed speak of other
books, with many references to ancient books, real, lost and perhaps even
fabricated by Eco himself. Books and the stories they tell are the key to
understanding this complex murder mystery. Keep that in mind when reading and
you’ll have a chance of solving the mystery yourself.
Blending
medieval history with a murder mystery has certainly worked for Eco in terms of
capturing readers’ imaginations, but I wonder just how many people have
actually finished the book? I know of at least two people who have had up to
four attempts at completing it. If you are interested, but can’t face up to the
long medieval interludes, perhaps try the movie, or even the board game.
But that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?
