About this title: Set in Italy in the Middle Ages, this is not only a narrative of a murder investigation in a monastery in 1327, but also a chronicle of the 14th century religious wars, a history of monastic orders, and a compendium of heretical movements.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. 0446344109 SS--This mass market paperback book is in good condition! ! Some creasing of the spine. This is a solid used book that looks to have been read and enjoyed a time or two...standard signs of wear from reading. Has store stamp on top border. SMOKE FREE HOME! Do not settle for worn, torn, throwaways. Pay a few pennies more for a nice copy! read more
Description: Good. 0446344109 Good condition paperback book, some creases to spine, some edge/corner rubs, may have corner crease, small edge tear or spine slant, a good book for reading. Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Warner Books
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780446344104ISBN:0446344109
Description: Good. No Jacket. Stamp On First Page, Spine Creased, Sticker Removed Front Cover, Corner Crease Back Cover, Text Is Unmarked, Good Copy. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Warner Books, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780446357203ISBN:0446357200
Description: Good. 0446357200 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in good condition, varying degrees of shelf wear, some spine creases, m...02506705 _ read more
Description: Good. 0446344109 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in good condition, varying degrees of shelf wear, some spine creases, m...02608417 _ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Warner Books, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780446357203ISBN:0446357200
Description: Good. 0446357200 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in good condition, varying degrees of shelf wear, some spine creases, m..._ read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Warner Books, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780446357203ISBN:0446357200
Description: Very Good. 0446357200 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in very good condition, may have slight worn corners and varying degre..._ read more
Edition: 4th ed.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Warner Books
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780446344104ISBN:0446344109
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Entire book is tanned, pgs clean, shows shelf, edge & corner wear with creases at spine, front cover has crease at top corner, stain on upper top & side edge. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 1983 Hard Cover. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. No DJ. 502 Pgs. No reader marks found. Binding tight. Rose boards with tan over spine. Corners lightly bumped. Spine covering with light soiling. Bit of sunning to spine. Light foxing to end papers and page edges. Map end papers. Book with slight floral scent. read more
"I think my brain is still fizzling from this very intense metaphysical drama/ murder mystery/ theological puzzle/ etc. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and was entrapped in the medieval period for a five days straight, but the fact that Eco wrote it as a novel putting flesh on a rumination of cosmological theories and ideals (which is not how I affirm fiction to act) soured his literary triumph (for me).
The body of the novel is posited as a translation of a manuscript written by a Benedictine monk in the fourteenth century, Adso of Melk. In the manuscript, Adso finally sets to rest what happened in his years as a novice, being the disciple of the famed English logician and monk, Brother William of Baskerville, who was called upon to investigate sinister happenings at a wealthy Italian Benedictine abbey. Brother William, having been an Inquisitor of the Roman Catholic Church (before the Spanish Inquisition, but nevertheless dealing very largely with heresy), comes from Oxford and is a disciple of Roger Bacon. If William is portrayed through his sharp observations and support of reason as the Sherlock Holmes of the ecclesiastical and monastic communities, Adso is his young Watson.
Eco's novel is relentlessly researched and believable. One can only imagine he'd lived such a life, being so thorough in presenting the world of a fourteenth century monk, the hours of prayer and work (Ora et labora) in the scriptorium, the detailed hierarchy of the order, the differences between the Franciscan and Cluniac communities, the political circles of power and corruption in the Holy Roman Empire, the schism between the pope in Avignon and the pope in Rome - but above all, Eco's medieval voice is authentic and consistent. His characters feel the desperation of living in the middle ages. They are learned, but feel the burden of knowledge, the possibility of blasphemy, the seductions of heresy, of pride and of power. In this claustrophobic circle, there is no room for the underprivileged, poverty is potentially heretical, and the Devil lurks everywhere in the guise of a Lilith-like woman.
Authority is absolute, sin requires penance, and heresy demands torture or death by fire. Salvation and illumination rests in literacy, and these Benedectines prize their learning, their precious vellum scrolls and manuscripts above all else. Beyond the schisms, the theological and philosophical banter, beyond the apocalyptic-style murders, the intrigue, and hidden vices of the monks, this novel is about the labyrinthine library at night."
"This book is both astonishingly difficult and extremely rewarding. I had six years of Latin in middle and high school and have taken a course on medieval philosophy and I still found this one both challenging and satisfying. Anyone willing to put the work in is going to adore this one. WARNING, however: this is not a trashy medieval-conspiracy novel. This is not a thriller. It is an excellent book and a perfect mystery, but it is still set in the 14th century and all of the characters are still monks. Also, I believe that the fact that I'm a Catholic also contributed significantly to my understanding of this novel-- it some ways it's essentially a treatise on monastic philosophy and the differences between different monastic orders. So don't read this if you want something like the Da Vinci Code. That's trash. This isn't."
"It took me a long time to finish this book (perhaps the longest time it's ever taken me to read a book). Umberto Eco sets out not just to provide another pulp fiction fodder for the masses, but to construct a richly-textured story--or rather, history--with elements of mystery, rhetoric, and religion. As a result of the book's depth, not to mention its lengthy passages of medieval rhetoric, I started this in October and am only now finishing it; I read other books on the side to keep myself occupied. But the length of time it takes me to read a book is irrelevant, as long as I enjoy it. And that I did.
By including discussions of contemporary events outside the secluded setting of the novel, Eco manages to draw me into 1327. The characters in the book are not cardboard cutouts, modern people wearing the clothing of fourteenth century monks but otherwise curiously resembling our own friends and family. Instead, their language, habits (no pun intended), and thought processes are those of fourteenth century monks. Yet at the same time, none of these digressions distract too much from the main plot. Sure, they may not be directly related to the mystery, but none of them feel artificially-induced for the sake of educating the reader about a particular facet of medieval life. Each conversation originates as a logical consequence of an event within the world of the novel. It helps that the narrator is, at the time of the events, a novice monk, companion to the protagonist--a Watson to William of Baskerville's Holmes would be the most obvious comparison, although not entirely accurate.
And what of our two main characters? Adso of Melk is everything a narrator needs to be. By having him tell the story much later in life, Eco can use the older, narrating Adso as a filter for the experiences of his younger self. We also get to see what life was like for a novice monk in the fourteenth century, the challenges he faces in an uncertain religious climate, and the temptations embodied by physical lust.
Adso's mentor, William of Baskerville, is a self-professed follower of Roger Bacon and William of Occam's schools of scientific method and deduction. As such, Eco devotes a good deal of dialogue to extolling the virtues of deductive reasoning and its function for an inquisitor. And this is the part where my estimation of The Name of the Rose rises from "enjoyable" to "clever": Eco has William spend so much time explaining his deductive methods that one becomes convinced he is a fourteenth century Shakespeare, and that a solution to the story's crime will naturally be forthcoming. So when it turns out that William actually fails, Eco's devotion to deduction provides a counterpoint to his exploration of a lack of order in the universe. Naturally, this is a problem for a monk who believes that there is a God who has a divine plan for every being in Creation. The existence of reasoning monks like William of Baskerville is therefore a quandary--how do they reconcile their two ideologies? Thus, Eco manages to raise quintessential metaphysical issues while still wrapping them around the nougaty goodness of an interesting plot.
For some, the length of the book and the ponderous pace of the first several chapters would make them discard it with a sigh of disinterest. I admit that at times I laboured to get through some of the particularly dense passages. Yet I persevered, and in the end, I feel rewarded. In fact, the failure of William to solve the crime in a timely fashion feels superior to the typical formula of a Christie or Conan Doyle mystery; I don't feel patronized because the detective has figured out the mystery when I could not. Rather, I enjoyed the journey for what it was: a dialogue between mentor and student, couched in a multiple-murder mystery at a monastery.
Eco explains his reasoning for writing The Name of the Rose (as well as his reasoning behind the title) in the postscript included in this edition. I liked the book; I loved the postscript. Not only did it make me appreciate parts of the book better, but I concur with many of Eco's remarks, not only as a reader, but as a writer. One part that I found particularly interesting was where he explains that he intentionally made the first one hundred pages a "penitential obstacle ... for the purpose of constructing a reader suitable for what comes afterward." This is something that many authors and readers often forget: not every story is meant for every person. People are, thankfully, infinitely diverse and different. Trying to cater to the tastes of everyone results in a very bland result. After all, reading a book is an investment. In order to deliver on that investment, the author wants to ensure that anyone still reading near the end of the book will enjoy the ending. The best way to do that is to weed out any other types of people near the beginning.
It's likely that I'll re-read this book in the future--several times, perhaps--and discover even deeper levels of meaning. These won't necessarily be the same interpretations you draw from the book; they might not even be the interpretations Eco intentionally designed for the book. That's the great thing about books so laden with symbolism and detail like The Name of the Rose: readers can find what they want in the book, without the burden of having to guess at what the author intends for us to find. Because after all, reading fiction--even active, thoughtful, intellectual reading of fiction--should not be a chore. While its length and rhetorical nature make The Name of the Rose seem like a chore on a superficial level, a closer examination reveals that it is instead a very enjoyable experience, as long as one keeps an open mind."
""The early history of comedy is obscure," Aristotle wrote in his Poetics, "because it was not taken seriously." Whether or not the Greek sage meant to make a joke, this first novel written by Italy's premier intellectual expands on his theme.
The Name of the Rose is a deep, brilliant, and remarkably engaging detective story set in fourteenth-century Italy. Brother William of Baskerville is a guest at an abbey where monks are being murdered in the most grotesque fashion. Moreover, behind the murders lurks the "true" story of the missing second volume of the Poetics, in which Aristotle delves into the divine nature of comedy. Employing the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and maybe the deductive reasoning of Sherlock Holmes (which I admit, I may have been leaning towards due to the combination of 'detective' with 'Baskerville'), he begins to uncover the abbey's darkest secrets.
Truly enthralling! A second reading may be enough to push this book up to 5-star status for me."
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