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The Name of the Rose including the Author Postscript Umberto Eco William Weaver 9780156001311 Books

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The Name of the Rose including the Author Postscript Umberto Eco William Weaver 9780156001311 Books

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.


Tags : The Name of the Rose: including the Author's Postscript [Umberto Eco, William Weaver] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>It is the year 1327. Franciscans in an Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, but Brother William of Baskerville’s investigation is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book </div>,Umberto Eco, William Weaver,The Name of the Rose: including the Author's Postscript,Harvest Books,0156001314,Mystery & Detective - General,Italy;Church history;476-1400;Fiction.,Monastic and religious life;Italy;History;Middle Ages, 600-1500;Fiction.,Monastic libraries;Italy;Fiction.,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction Mystery & Detective General,Fiction-Coming of Age,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical fiction,History,ITALIAN (LANGUAGE) CONTEMPORARY FICTION,Italy,Middle Ages, 600-1500,Modern fiction,Monastic and religious life,Monastic libraries,Mystery & Detective - Historical,MysterySuspense,United States,Western Europe

The Name of the Rose including the Author Postscript Umberto Eco William Weaver 9780156001311 Books Reviews

I love this book, much as I love the movie it inspired, mostly for the world it so vividly recreates a 14th-century monastery in the mountains of northern Italy, populated by monks, peasants – and an apparent serial killer. Although this medieval community is a great place to visit in a book, you probably wouldn’t want to live there. Not unless you enjoy fetching water from wells, laboring from dawn to dusk, and adhering to the strict lifestyle of a monk.

Eco, a scholar specializing in signs and symbols, depicts this world of bookish monks and warring religious factions with painstaking detail. (Alas, at times the reader might also experience pain; Eco’s lengthy philosophical and historical conversations can grow tiresome.)

The plot is driven a la Agatha Christie – someone is picking off abbey denizens, one by one – and the protagonist is courtesy of Arthur Conan Doyle – a brilliant Franciscan friar named William of Baskerville investigates the murders – but above all it’s the atmospheric sense of time and place that makes this tale so absorbing. -- grouchyeditor.com
The mystery and the setting are intriguing. Much of the story, however, is weighed down by long, rambling, unnecessary descriptions and expositions. At first, some of them are interesting, but this book is nearly 600 pages long. It would have been much better if it were 350 pages. Instead of describing four or five items (like images on a church door or sacred relics) that give the reader a complete idea, the writer routinely literally describes 25-30 items, sometimes in long lists! The same occurs with historical details. What could effectively be said with precision becomes confusing, boring, and tedious because the writer is so circumlocutory.

Also, there are entire parts of the book only in Latin. I became so frustrated with those excerpts, and with the book itself, that I quickly stopped translating them. I just skimmed through that.

Most of the time I felt the author was focused on indulging in his own intellectuality instead of writing a good book. I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on it.
_The Name of the Rose_ is a challenging read Eco infuses the dialogue with Latin, the primary plot doesn't really develop until after the first 100 pages, and he provides a superabundance of sub-plots and historical details. But where the journey is difficult, the rewards are tremendous - and I encourage readers who otherwise might consider leaving the book after the first dozens of pages to hang in there - the details Eco provides in the opening chapters are what make this such a marvelous, masterful work.

Eco is writing on several levels as a mystery, to be sure. Who is killing the monks at the abby and why? And why is there an apocalyptic theme to the deaths? What are the secrets being hidden by the monks, and how are they related to the crimes committed? But there is another level to the story Brother William and his novice (Adso, the author of the story) are part of a larger theological mission regarding the nature of the Church - should it emphasize poverty? And if so, how does one reconcile this with the tremendous wealth and power the Church wields in the 14th century? (The backdrop of the story is set during the "Avignon Papacy" which resulted in two Popes claiming leadership of the Church). This conflict, in fact, may play a role in the murders; as a stand-alone issue, Eco not only shows remarkable historical accuracy, but also makes a commentary on the Church specifically and religion more generally. Yet Eco goes further still for those readers who are looking while many of the characters and issues are drawn from history, Eco also gives a nod and wink to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in several respects - Brother William is "William of Baskerville"; the methods used by Brother William are identical to those used by Doyle's creation (deduction, inference and Occam's Razor - in fact, Occam is cited as an acquaintance of William's) - in fact, as the pair arrive at the abbey, the deductions William makes are too reminiscent to be overlooked. Further, the narrator writes as did Dr. Watson - _The Name of the Rose_ is essentially an account written by the investigator's side-kick.

Eco's brilliance is also demonstrated in the organization of the book it opens with the same lines as Genesis ("In the beginning was the word ...") and is broken up into seven days, each day divided into the monastic measurement of time (Matins, Lauds, Prime,Terce, Sext, Nomes, Vespers and Compline). This not only reinforces the sense of authenticity of the story, but it also draws readers into the rhythms and pattern of monastic life. The details of the monastery - and especially the library around which the investigation revolves - speaks to the conflict between reason (as exemplified by Brother William) and faith (as exemplified by the monks). This is a conflict that continues to the present and is related to the other issue of wealth and Christianity that is at the heart of the internal conflict within the Church in the 1300s.

Perhaps my analysis is more than the casual reader is interested in, in which case Eco provides a top-notch mystery that is complicated, difficult to solve and rewarding in its conclusion. The only complaint I have plot-wise is the resolution I was frustrated at the way in which Eco chose to end the mystery, if only because of my tremendous reverence for and love of the written word. That being said, the conclusion certainly does point to the value of monastic work in the Middle Ages, and the miracle that we have so many texts from the ancient world still extant.

_The Name of the Rose_ is dense and sometimes difficult to read (because of Latin, because of the historical details, and yes, because the mystery itself is a real challenge). But it is truly a masterpiece of writing - I highly recommend it.
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.