The two novels come together most closely in their recurrent concern with a number of philosophical and metaphysical topoi. Storytelling within a decidedly postmodern structure is where Eco, in his own words, uses the “varied debris of the encyclopedia to make the music of ideas.” 1 The third and highest level of reading is directed towards a sophisticated and educated readership: erudite readers, who can appreciate the nuances of the many intertextual references and rejoice in Eco’s allusions to philosophical themes as well as in their own ability to detect anachronisms, carefully planted within the dialogues.

For most readers, this re-visitation to the knowledge from history books can induce an impression of déjà-lu as they encounter familiar names, places and events from the past. With the second level, Eco disturbs the expectations that these structures encourage by superimposing extended digressions that illuminate historical events of the medieval world. In both narrations, the eclectic combination of literary, historical and philosophical elements builds a complex textual structure it can be compared to an arrangement similar to a musical score, where each part invites different readerships with different levels of possible reading – in this case, a ‘three-part harmony’.Īt the first level, the novels are based on conventional narrative frameworks – an apparent detective mystery and an adventure story –a promise of drama and entertainment that is attractive to many readers. Going beyond mainstream historical fictions with more levels of meaning through intertextual references and correspondences between medieval and modern times, both books are ‘novels of ideas’, where Eco elucidates philosophical subjects by embedding them in a fictional narrative. With The Name of the Rose and Baudolino, and their preoccupation with discursive enquiries into theories of truth, Umberto Eco continues the tradition of philosophical novels, a genre in which scientific concepts, logic and systems of knowledge form an essential part of the story. The conflict between universals and individuals Possibility and desire are part of the future The Library preserves and conceals knowledgeĬhapter Four: Conceptual Making of Truth and Imagining Possibilities What and where is paradise – How does one get there?Ĭhapter Three: Authority and Authenticity - Establishing and Controlling Truth-claims Subversive strategies: poverty debate, laughter and satireĪpocalypse: a new beginning or the end of everything? Secular and religious power based on forged letters

Vortex of interpretation versus dogmatic closureĬhapter Two: Political Power-Struggle over Truth-Claims – Cui bono ? Historical verisimilitude: chroniclers narrate Chapter One: Creating Textual Worlds – Historiographic Metafiction

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco