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Loading... The Name of the Rose (original 1980; edition 1994)by Umberto Eco, William Weaver (Translator)
Work InformationThe Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (1980)
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The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is probably the greatest work of historical fiction set in Medieval Europe, and if that sometimes makes it difficult, pedantic, overly symbolic and a dragging theological treatise, either learn to deal with it and even enjoy it, or else forever abandon this extremely interesting but deathly hostile period and place. As a history enthusiast, popular media always disappoint me with their grim image of the past, the Dark Ages being quite literally dark and dirty, the average peasant having shit smeared on his face. The truth is very different. Bright colors were universally loved, churches were still decorated with extremely detailed Orthodox style, not to mention that people outside great cities actually bathed because they thought diseases were transmitted through scent. It was a time of constant geopolitical changes, of actual progress in many fields, but also of great spiritual stagnation. The darkness was spreading in the hearts and minds of men and women, forever looking at the ground and interpreting everything through the lenses of Scripture, always awaiting an Apocalypse that would never come. link to full review
35 livres cultes à lire au moins une fois dans sa vie Quels sont les romans qu'il faut avoir lu absolument ? Un livre culte qui transcende, fait réfléchir, frissonner, rire ou pleurer… La littérature est indéniablement créatrice d’émotions. Si vous êtes adeptes des classiques, ces titres devraient vous plaire. De temps en temps, il n'y a vraiment rien de mieux que de se poser devant un bon bouquin, et d'oublier un instant le monde réel. Mais si vous êtes une grosse lectrice ou un gros lecteur, et que vous avez épuisé le stock de votre bibliothèque personnelle, laissez-vous tenter par ces quelques classiques de la littérature. The Name of the Rose is a monumental exercise in mystification by a fun-loving scholar. One may find some of the digressions a touch self-indulgent... yet be carried along by Mr. Eco's knowledge and narrative skills. And if at the end the solution strikes the reader as more edifying than plausible, he has already received ample compensation from a richly stocked and eminently civilized intelligence. The Jesuits didn’t exist in William of Baskerville’s time, but – learned in Aquinas and Aristotle and prepared to use the empirical techniques of Roger Bacon – William would make a very good English Jesuit. Although in orders, he lacks the rotundity, Wildean paradoxicality and compassion of Father Brown, but clearly Dr Eco knows his Chesterton. Theology and criminal detection go, for some reason, well together... I probably do not need to recommend this book to British readers. The impetus of foreign success should ensure a large readership here. Even Ulster rednecks, to say nothing of mild Anglicans who detest Christianity cooking with garlic, will feel comforted by this image of a secure age when there was an answer to everything, when small, walled society could be self-sufficient, and the only pollution was diabolic. Patriots will be pleased to find such a society in need of British pragmatism. Belongs to Publisher SeriesBiblioteca Folha (2) Biblioteca Sábado (39) — 13 more Is contained inContainsHas the adaptationInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a studyHas as a supplementHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
In 1327, finding his sensitive mission at an Italian abbey further complicated by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William of Baskerville turns detective. No library descriptions found.
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Current DiscussionsUmberto Eco / The Name of the Rose in Someone explain it to me... Popular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)853.914Literature Italian and related languages Italian fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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It's about faith. It's about sin. It's about various schismatic movements within the Catholic Church in the 1200s and 1300s (the time of the anti-popes). It's about laughter and poverty and their roles within the lives of the cloistered. It's about those cloistered, their relationships with each other and the outside world. It's about books and learning and whether wanting to learn more is always a good thing and whether knowledge should be controlled. It's about power and having it and wanting it.
The story follows Adso, a young novice monk, traveling with Brother William of Baskervilles, a Franciscan when Franciscans were a very new movement. They arrive at an abbey famous for its incredible library and are begged by the abbot to help inquire into the death of a monk just the night before. William, who is an obvious and intentional analogue to Sherlock Holmes, is intrigued and goes about investigating. Was it a suicide? A murder? And every day, another monk keeps turning up dead, making William and Adso's work a race against time.
I can already tell I'm going to need (and want) to read this one again. It's so dense, so full of allusions and historical references I just don't understand, that it's obvious that to read this only once means that you'll never be able to fully appreciate it. It reminds me of Dante's Divine Comedy, in that it's certainly readable and enjoyable on its own, but without a fuller understanding of the world at the time, you can't really understand everything that's going on. So I'll need to read up on the establishment of the Franciscan order and the other religious splinter groups that developed around the same period and tackle this one again. The writing is lively and the characters and drama compelling enough that I'm sure it'll be a rewarding experience. But for the first time through, despite having liked it, I feel like I've missed enough that it wasn't quite as satisfying as it could have been. ( )