The Name of the Rose

How many readers that are introduced to languages other than Italian through the novel know how important an academician, medieval historian, philosopher, aesthetics, and semiotics expert Eco is? The author skilfully embroiders the conflicts between religious sects, the daily life in a monastery complex, the passion, ambition, and intrigue of the inhabitants of the monastery onto an extremely strong background with his deep knowledge of history and architectural history. Although it was his first novel, the technical aspect did not go beyond the literary aspect; despite its length, it is not repetitive, and the depictions of space are of a kind that would make an architect become very jealous. Eco has an approach that attaches great importance to details.

Eco, as an expert of the medieval period, reflected on the urbanization and emergence of the bourgeois class in the cities and the dilemmas of Christianity as a system. The events in The Name of the Rose take place in northern Italy, in a monastery at the end of 1327, on the ridges of the Apennine Mountains. The book entitled Memories was written in Latin by its owner Adso, recapping 14th-century events, and was then translated into neo-French by Vallet. Adso’s manuscript spans seven days.

There is great detail, excitement, immersion, history, architecture, art. What else can we possibly ask for? This must be read. If you read it once, read it once more. Stick to the details, enjoy the richness of expression.

Keywords: Architecture, Crime, Dilemmas of Christianity, Dominicans, Franciscans, History, Library, Memoirs, Monastery, Monastic system, Northern Italy, Octagonal structure, Pope V Clemens, Pope XXII, Principle of poverty, Secret staircase, Self-sufficient, The Aedificium, The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco.