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.
