The Name of the Rose

The Name of the Rose, a 1980 novel by Umberto Eco, is a murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327 during the papacy of Pope John XXII. The book was also made into a film in 1986, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Sean Connery as the intrepid Franciscan monk, William of Baskerville.

Related Topics:
1980 - Umberto Eco - Murder mystery - Monastery - 1327 - Pope John XXII - 1986 - Jean-Jacques Annaud - Sean Connery - Franciscan - Monk

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Along with his apprentice Adso of Melk (named after the Benedictine abbey Stift Melk and played by Christian Slater), William journeys to an abbey where a murder has been committed.

Related Topics:
Adso of Melk - Benedictine - Stift Melk - Christian Slater

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As the plot unfolds, several other people mysteriously die. Our heroes explore a labyrinthine medieval library, the subversive power of laughter, and come face to face with the Medieval Inquisition.

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The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and to William of Ockham, who first put forward the principle known as "Ockham's Razor": that one should always accept as most-likely the simplest explanation that covers the facts. The name of the narrator, his sidekick Adso, is among other things a pun on Simplicio from Galileo Galilei's Dialogue; Adso = ad Simplicio ("to Simplicio"). It is also a play on Holmes' friend Dr. Watson.

Related Topics:
Sherlock Holmes - William of Ockham - Ockham's Razor - Galileo Galilei - Dr. Watson

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On one level, the book is an excellent exposition of the scholastic method which was very popular in the 14th Century. William demonstrates the power of deductive reasoning, especially Syllogisms. He refuses to accept the diagnosis of simple demonic possession despite demonology being the traditional monastic explanation. Despite the abbey being under the misapprehension that they are experiencing the last days before the second coming of Christ (a topic which is closely examined within the book), William through his empirical mindset, manages to show that the murders are, in fact, committed by a more corporeal instrument. By keeping an open mind, collecting facts and observations, following pure intuition and the dialectic method, he makes decisions as to what he should investigate, exactly as a scholastic would do. The story also demonstrates the crucial importance of chance in any investigative endeavour. Nevertheless, William could not have solved the cases if he had not properly prepared a framework of facts and interconnections, which the chance discovery then made meaningful.

Related Topics:
Scholastic method - Deductive reasoning - Syllogisms - Demonology - Monastic - Christ - Empirical - Dialectic

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The book meticulously describes monastic life in the 14th century.

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The action takes place at a Benedictine abbey during the controversy between branches of Franciscans.

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The spirituals abhor wealth, bordering on the Dulcinian heresy. A number of the characters, such as the Inquisitor Bernard Gui and the Minorite Michael de Cesena, are historical figures.

Related Topics:
Spirituals - Dulcinian - Bernard Gui - Michael de Cesena

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As usual in Eco's novels, there is a display of erudition.

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The blind librarian Jorge from Burgos is a pun on Jorge Luis Borges. Borges wrote a short story, "The Library of Babel," which inspired the idea of the secret library in Eco's book. Throughout the book, there are Latin quotes, authentic and apocryphal. There are also discussions of the philosophy of Aristotle and of a variety of heresies, especially those associated with the fraticelli.

Related Topics:
Burgos - Jorge Luis Borges - The Library of Babel - Aristotle - Heresies - Fraticelli

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Eco, being a famous semiotician, is hailed by semiotics students who like to apply this movie to explain their relatively arcane discipline. Eco also spent some time at the University of Toronto while writing the book. The stairs in the monastery's library bear a striking resemblance to those in Robarts Library.

Related Topics:
Semiotician - University of Toronto - Robarts Library

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