Murder in the Cathedral

LIKE THE WORK of P.D.Q. Bach, The Name of the Rose is supposedly the long lost manuscript of an unknown, in this case an unknown monk. Nor does the comparison end there: like its musical counterpart which combines serious composition with more popular and humorous melodies, this book presents accurate history, philosophy, and semiotics in the form of a good old mystery novel and one not entirely devoid of humor at that.

The Name of the Rose is fundamentally a detective story whose unlikely protagonists are a Franciscan monk and his young novice. Also, who records the events. The pair resembles Sherlock Holmes and the beloved if befuddled Dr. Watson and it is probably no accident that the elder monk is named William of Baskerville (recalling a canine adventure of the more contemporary sleuth). William also indulges in both the same stimulants and the irreverent cynicism favored by the later Holmes. The confines of a medieval monastery, with its many regulations, restrictions and mystical devotion, prove to be the ideal setting for a mystery. The very richness of the late medieval church culture--a tapestry of illuminated manuscripts, intricate architecture, relies, and feverish religious cults--would embellish any novel. But in the skillful hands of Umberto Eco, the monastery becomes the forum for discussing theological and philosophical problems, many of which remain strangely relevant in today's world.

Eco, a respected historian, successfully incorporates historical events, revitalizing the struggle between the Pope, the Emperor and the many orders of priciest in a way that is guaranteed to bring a smile of recognition to any medievalist or to provide a pleasant introduction to medievalist history for the uninitiated. In addition, since Professor Eco is an expert in semiotics, his first novel became an intriguing interplay of signs and symbols. The reader is free to choose at which level he wishes to enter the game and play along. The book can be read simply as a good mystery story, but a more inquiring mind (or pretentious intellect, as the case may be) can seek out the philosophical debates which lurk beneath the surface or track down the many parallels to modern life.

ONE OF ECO'S main points is the marked resemblance between the culture of the 14th century and our own. The terrifying apocalyptic visions of religions, the authoritarian role of the church and the threat which science presented to the medieval way of life, bring to mind our own over stimulating media and the destructive threat of modern science. Eco offers no dogmatic answers; he only advocates the sort of skeptical questioning which William of Baskerville uses to tackle the mysterious murders that plague the monastery.

The book offers endless points of departure for further speculation. It touches on the question of laughter, the lost second book of Aristotle's Poetics, the value of rationalism and the possibility of any universal order. If all this sounds like too much of an effort for the sultry month of July, then read for the story alone--the book is so well crafted that the rest will hit you in the fall.