The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

“Books are not made to be believed but to be subjected to inquiry.”

This book was a treat. A pleasure. A read that challenged me, made me re-read portions, google translate latin, & look up the Hibernian monks. This is exactly what a murder mystery should be: an erudite investigator, relatable narrator, mythology, and beautiful setting. Something is afoot in the monastery…

I loved William of Baskerville. How else could a man of science and reason live life in this time? Only a monk could have this freedom, to reason and travel and think. So much of this book went over my head but at the same time, i felt moved by it. There was no mastermind or evil villain. There was one corrupted old man, one jar of poison, and thirsty men, lusting for knowledge, sex, and power. What’s new? This is the real world, one of an inspector that’s too late and a library that burns.

And despite that, Adso moves on, living a banal-ish life. Is that not what will happen to the most of us? Every day the horrors happen around us, Alexandria is burned, our civil rights are chipped into non-existence and, for most of us, we go to work. We call our moms. We volunteer. We are witnesses to the world, like Adso of Melk, but not always participants in the grander events. There are heresies and battles for power and violence and hate that happen (Fra Dolminica) and some poor souls participate (willfully or not). Like Adso, sometimes all I want is a warm glass of milk and battered cheese and a romance novel and some sleep to get through it.

My favorite quotes:

In that face, deformed by hatred of philosophy, I saw for the first time the portrait of the Antichrist, who does not come from the tribe of Judas, as his heralds have it, or from a far country. The Antichrist can be born from piety itself, from excessive love of God or of the truth, as the heretic is born from the saint and the possessed from the seer. Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them. Jorge did a diabolical thing because he loved his truth so lewdly that he dared anything in order to destroy falsehood.

…What difference is there, then, between God and primigenial chaos? Isn’t affirming God’s absolute omnipotence and His absolute freedom with regard to His own choices tantamount to demonstrating that God does not exist?" William looked at me without betraying any feeling in his features, and he said, “How could a learned man go on communicating his learning if he answered yes to your question?”

Books are not made to be believed but to be subjected to inquiry.

Side note: I liked Eco’s listing. He listed and listed and listen and it painted such a vivid picture of the creatures and setting and mystery of the theological world. I’m getting in into listing too, if you actually read my recent reviews. I liked Eco’s Adso’s train of thoughts, the reflections that occasionally come from his current self but also the feelings and reactions of the past self. In the post-script, the author mentioned how writing this kept a wall between him & the writing. I think that’s interesting! Maybe one day I’ll have the courage to write a book.

I could say so much more, how I loved the vivid descriptions of the doors, how the illumination felt tangible, how the design of the labyrinth was ingenious. But I’d probably just recommend you read it yourself.

I literally listened to Sederunt principes (The Hilliard Ensemble on Spotify is fire) because this book was so good.