Title: Der Name der Rose. Aus d. Ital. von Burkhart...
Publisher: Frankfurt am Main ; Wien ; Olten : Büchergilde Gutenberg,
Publication Date: 1984
Binding: Leinen
Book Condition:Gut
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
"I'm very tired and very exhausted by this book. But it was also very good.
The nutshell is this is a murder mystery set in a fourteenth century Benedictine abbey, with Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his Benedictine novice Adso of Melk on the case. And it's genuinely fun! A Holmesian romp set in medieval paranoia. But everything in this book is a conceit; the entire abbey vibrates with a deconstructive menace. Behind the beautifully described murals, the rich and perversely interesting history of the persecution of mendicant monks, and even the trappings of a wicked murder plot, there is a nagging metafiction suggestion that what you see is wrong, and darkness is inevitable.
Honestly, I don't recommend this to everyone. This is my second Eco novel (after The Island of the Day Before), and this time around his writing is far more focused. That being said, Eco loves to indulge himself and deluge the reader with historical minutiae. The curious background character Salvatore speaks in an odd pidgin language, with mixes of bad Latin and whatever else he's happened upon. It's a book that requires work, and it is super easy to feel deflated when the climax hits. But I just spent two very enjoyable weeks chugging through it every night, intrigued by the tapestry, and I reckon I will think often about it for the upcoming months.
Aside, as much as I appreciate Eco's erudite prose and keen eye for mixing philosophy, religion, and literature, I'm in awe of the translator, William Weaver. The English reads well and I can still feel the character of Umberto Eco -- and he had to contend with a mass web of Latin, French, German, and a lot of specialized medieval terms. I'm interested in the man behind the book, but I think I'm even more interested by the man in-between."
.jpg?t=1681295048)
