Eco rose name summary q node. Umberto Eco - The name of the rose

Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose"

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Introduction…………………………………………………………...3

1. The composition and plot of the novel by Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose" ...... 5

2. Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose" as a historical novel .... 9

3. Notes on the margins of the “Name of the Rose” ……………………………21

Conclusion………………………………………………………….27

List of used literature……………………………29

Introduction

The name Umberto Eco is one of the most popular in contemporary culture Western Europe. Semiotician, esthetician, historian of medieval literature, critic and essayist, professor University of Bologna and honorary doctor of many universities in Europe and America, the author of dozens of books, the number of which he increases every year at a rate that boggles the imagination, Umberto Eco is one of the most seething volcano craters of modern Italian intellectual life. The fact that in 1980 he abruptly changed course and, instead of the usual appearance of an academic scientist, erudite and critic, appeared before the public as the author of a sensational novel that immediately gained international fame, crowned with literary prizes and which also served as the basis for a sensational adaptation, seemed unexpected to a number of critics.

Umberto Eco - Italian writer, author of the world famous novels"The Name of the Rose" (1980), "Foucault's Pendulum" (1988), "The Island of the Eve" (1995). Laureate of the Strega, Angiari, National Prize of Italy (1981). Honorary citizen of Monte Carlo (1981). Commander of the French Order of Merit in Literature (1985), the Order of Marshal MacLahan (UNESCO) (1985), the Order of the Legion of Honor (1993), the Greek Order of the Golden Star (1995), the Order Grand Cross Italian Republic (1996).

The film adaptation also contributed to the success of the work. The writer was awarded the prestigious Italian Strega Prize (1981) and the French Medici Prize (1982).

It turned out that the life of the inhabitants of the Benedictine monastery of the fourteenth century can be interesting to people XX century. And not only because the author started detective and love intrigues. But also because the effect of personal presence was created.

This novel has become the most striking proof of the correctness of historians French School"Annals", which invited to study history through details, in particular, life. Through sociology and psychology, and not politics, as it used to be. But the point is not even in this, but in the degree of reliability that, with this approach, allows you to feel the distant era of your own, and the Other - the Near One.

Unfortunately, the work of Umberto Eco, and in particular his novel The Name of the Rose, has not been sufficiently studied in Russia. With the exception of the article by Yu. Lotman, E. Kostyukovich, we were unable to find any works devoted to the study of the works of the contemporary Italian writer.

Therefore, in this work we will try to analyze Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose" from a historical point of view.

1. Composition and plot of Umberto Eco's novel "The Name of the Rose"

In his novel The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco paints a picture of the medieval world, describes with extreme precision historical events. For his novel, the author chose an interesting composition. In the so-called introduction, the author reports that he comes across an old manuscript of a monk named Adson, who tells about the events that happened to him in the XIV century. "Able nervous excitement”, the author “revels in the horrifying story of Adson” and translates it for the “modern reader”. The subsequent account of events is supposedly a translation of an old manuscript. The Adson manuscript itself is divided into seven chapters, according to the number of days, and each day into episodes dedicated to worship. Thus, the action in the novel takes place over seven days. The story begins with a prologue: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The writing of Adson refers us to the events of 1327, “when Emperor Louis entered Italy, he was preparing, according to the providence of the Most High, to shame the vile usurper, Christ-seller and heresiarch, who in Avilion covered with shame holy name apostle." Adson introduces the reader to the events that preceded it. At the beginning of the century, Pope Clement V moved the apostolic throne to Avignon, leaving Rome to be plundered by local sovereigns. “In 1314, five German sovereigns in Frankfurt elected Louis of Bavaria as supreme overlord of the empire. However, on the same day, on the opposite bank of the Main, the Palatine Count of the Rhine and the Archbishop of the city of Cologne elected Frederick of Austria for the same board. “In 1322, Louis of Bavaria defeated his rival Frederick. John (the new pope) excommunicated the winner, and he declared the pope a heretic. It was in this year that the chapter of the Franciscan brothers gathered in Perugia, and their general Michael of Cesene<...>proclaimed as the truth of faith the position of the poverty of Christ. Dad was unhappy<...>, in 1323 he rebelled against the doctrine of the Franciscans<...>Louis, apparently, at the same time discerned in the Franciscans, now hostile to the pope, powerful comrades-in-arms<...>Louis, having concluded an alliance with the defeated Frederick, entered Italy, took the crown in Milan, suppressed the discontent of the Visconti, and surrounded Pisa with an army<...> and quickly entered Rome.” These are the events of that time. I must say that Umberto Eco, as a true connoisseur of the Middle Ages, is extremely accurate in the events described. So, events unfold at the beginning of the 14th century. A young monk, Adson, on behalf of whom the story is being told, assigned to the learned Franciscan William of Baskerville, arrives at the monastery. Wilhelm, a former inquisitor, is assigned to investigate the unexpected death of the monk Adelm of Otrans. Wilhelm and his assistant begin an investigation. They are allowed to talk and walk everywhere except the library. But the investigation comes to a standstill, because all the roots of the crime lead to the library, which is the main value and treasury of the abbey, which contains a huge number of priceless books. Entrance to the library is prohibited even for monks, and books are not given to everyone and not all that are available in the library. In addition, the library is a labyrinth, with legends about "wandering fires" and "monsters" associated with it. Wilhelm and Adson visit the library under the cover of night, from which they hardly manage to get out. There they meet new mysteries. Wilhelm and Adson reveal the secret life of the abbey (meetings of monks with corrupt women, homosexuality, drug use). Adson himself succumbs to the temptation of a local peasant woman. At this time, new murders are committed in the abbey (Venantius is found in a barrel of blood, Berengar of Arundel in a bath of water, Severin of St. Emmeran in his room with herbs), connected with the same secret that leads to the library, namely to a certain book. Wilhelm and Adson manage to partially unravel the labyrinth of the library and find the African Limit cache, a walled-up room in which the treasured book is stored. Cardinal Bertrand Podzhetsky arrives at the abbey to solve the murders and immediately gets down to business. He apprehends Salvatore, a wretched freak who, wishing to attract the attention of a woman with the help of a black cat, a rooster and two eggs, was apprehended along with an unfortunate peasant woman. The woman (Adson recognized her as his friend) was accused of witchcraft and imprisoned. During interrogation, the cellar Remigius tells about the torments of Dolchin and Margarita, who were burned at the stake, and how he did not resist this, although he had a relationship with Margarita. In desperation, the cellar takes upon himself all the murders: Adelma from Ontanto, Venantius from Salvemek "for being too learned", Berengar of Arundel "out of hatred for the library", Severinus of St. Emmeran "for collecting herbs". But Adson and Wilhelm manage to unravel the mystery of the library. Jorge - a blind old man, the main keeper of the library, hides from everyone the "Limit of Africa", which contains the second book of Aristotle's "Poetics", which is of great interest, around which there are endless disputes in the abbey. So, for example, in the abbey it is forbidden to laugh. Jorge acts as some judge for everyone who laughs inappropriately or even draws funny pictures. In his opinion, Christ never laughed, and he forbids others to laugh. Everyone treats Jorge with respect. They are afraid of him. Ozhnako, Jorge for many years was the real ruler of the abbey, who knew and kept all his secrets from the rest, when he began to go blind, he allowed an ignorant monk to the library, and put a monk who obeyed him at the head of the abbey. When the situation got out of control, and many people wished to unravel the mystery of the "limit of Africa" and take possession of the book of Aristotle, Jorge steals poison from Severin's laboratory and impregnates the pages of the treasured book with it. The monks, turning over and wetting their fingers with saliva, gradually die, with the help of Malachy, Jorge kills Severin, locks the Abbot, who also dies. Wilhelm and his assistant unravel all this. Finally, Jorge gives them Aristotle's Poetics to read, which rebuts Jorge's ideas about the sinfulness of laughter. According to Aristotle, laughter has a cognitive value, he equates it with art. For Aristotle, laughter is “good, pure power.” Laughter is able to relieve fear, when a man laughs, he does not care about death. "However, the law can only be kept with the help of fear." Out of this idea a "Luciferian spark" could "fly out", from this book "a new, crushing desire could be born to destroy death by liberation from fear". That's what Jorge is so afraid of. All his life, Jorge did not laugh and forbade others to do this, this gloomy old man, hiding the truth from everyone, established a lie. As a result of Jorge's persecution, Adson drops the lantern and a fire breaks out in the library, which cannot be put out. In three days the whole abbey will burn to the ground. Only a few years later, Adson, traveling to those places, comes to the ashes, finds a few precious fragments, so that later, with one word or sentence, at least an insignificant list of lost books can be restored. Such is the entertaining plot of the novel. "The Name of the Rose" is a kind of detective story, the action of which takes place in a medieval monastery. Critic Cesare Zaccaria believes that the writer's appeal to the detective genre is due to the fact that "this genre was better than others able to express the insatiable charge of violence and fear inherent in the world in which we we live." Yes, undoubtedly, many particular situations of the novel and its main conflict are quite “readable” as an allegorical reflection of the situation of the present, twentieth century.

2. A novel by Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose" - historical novel

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Imri

Medieval Sherlock Holmes and the secret of one monastery.

The work is quite voluminous, but I don’t like tyagomotina so much. But after reading "The Name of the Rose" in my head was spinning

just one thought: Eco is a genius!

Firstly, the historical material is striking - it is simply wonderfully chosen. The atmosphere of a medieval monastery, the life of monks,

religious strife ... Well, isn't it beauty? The only minus (although for me it's not a minus, but rather a bold plus) is while reading

you need to look in the history textbook, well, or Wikipedia.

Secondly, this is still a detective story. Personally, while reading, 3 versions of what is happening arose, but they are out of the question

are not suitable for the denouement of the book.

Thirdly, the book contains a lot of philosophical reasoning. This contributes to the overall impression created by the book. We can understand the worldview

medieval person.

Of course, one cannot help saying that Eco is a semiotician. And this means that in the novel there are a huge number of symbols and signs, the meaning of which is far

not always clear (think at least about the name itself) ..

In the end, I want to say - this book is definitely not for everyone. Do you like detective stories? Are you interested in the Middle Ages? Are you ready to talk about religious and philosophical topics?

Useful review?

1 / 0

Art Cheps

Religious and philosophical historical detective story.

In this work, in the interweaving of historical and detective narratives, the author makes a successful attempt to comprehend the nature of religious experience as such and the nature of the emergence of religious movements in the Middle Ages in particular.

Certainly a non-trivial detective thread of the story, which deserves the closest thoughtful reading, keeps you in suspense until the end of the story, although, perhaps, the mind tempted by detective stories will find a clue at least by the end of the third quarter of the story. But, in any case, a person who is interested in history and philosophy will be very curious about this creation ... no, not just curious, but it can lead to cognitive ecstasy.

Useful review?

0 / 0

Anastasia

God, God, God!!! I'm hopelessly spoiled!!! Sherlock, Poirot, Marple, Fandorin and others are so dynamic, with elegant logic and a delightful image.... The work The Name of the Rose pales for me against their background. I want to give credit to the author and the book. A wonderful atmosphere has been created, immersion is 100 percent, the images are interesting, the language of presentation ... I have not received such pleasure for a long time. You can feel the mind, depth and talent of the author. However, this is a detective story, and I read books of this genre in order to experience intrigue, to follow the chain of events, the thoughts of the protagonist, to watch how gracefully he puts the "puzzle" piece by piece, I want to feel like a participant, not an observer. If you also love it, then reading this work, you will not be able to become a "behind-the-scenes partner". Many details are implied, but the author does not consider it necessary to tell the reader about this, so it remains only to rely on the skills of the protagonist and simply observe the development of the plot. To say that the denouement was unexpected?) Not at all, everything is according to the laws of the genre. The work is good, well written. But I missed my participation in the book a little))))))) and details about how the hero thought)))))))

Useful review?

From the translator

Before Umberto Eco published his first work of fiction, The Name of the Rose, in 1980, on the threshold of his fiftieth birthday, he was known in Italian academic circles and throughout scientific world as an authoritative specialist in the philosophy of the Middle Ages and in the field of semiotics - the science of signs. He developed, in particular, the problems of the relationship between the text and the audience, both on the material of avant-garde literature and on the heterogeneous material of mass culture. Undoubtedly, Umberto Eco also wrote the novel, helping himself with scientific observations, equipping his “postmodern” intellectual prose with the springs of fascination.

The "launch" (as they say in Italy) of the book was skillfully prepared by press advertising. The audience was also obviously attracted by the fact that Eco had been running a column in the Espresso magazine for many years, introducing the average subscriber to topical humanitarian problems. And yet the real success exceeds all expectations of publishers and literary critics.

Exotic coloring plus an exciting criminal intrigue provide interest in the novel to a mass audience. And a significant ideological charge, combined with irony, with the game literary associations attracts intellectuals. In addition, it is well known how popular the genre of the historical novel is in itself, both here and in the West. Eco took into account this factor. His book is a complete and accurate guide to the Middle Ages. Anthony Burgess writes in his review: “People read Arthur Hailey to find out how the airport lives. If you read this book, you will not have the slightest doubt about how the monastery functioned in the 14th century.”

For nine years, according to the results of national polls, the book has been in first place in the “hot twenty of the week” (the Italians respectfully place The Divine Comedy in last place in the same twenty). It is noted that thanks to widespread Eco books, the number of students enrolling in the department of the history of the Middle Ages is greatly increasing. Not bypassed the novel of readers of Turkey, Japan, of Eastern Europe; captured at pretty big period and the North American book market, which is very rare for a European writer.

One of the secrets of such overwhelming success is revealed to us in the theoretical work of Eco himself, where he discusses the need for "entertainment" in literature. The literary avant-garde of the 20th century was, as a rule, alienated from the stereotypes of mass consciousness. In the 70s in Western literature, however, the feeling has matured that the breaking of stereotypes and the language experiment in themselves do not provide the "joy of the text" in its entirety. It began to be felt that an integral element of literature is the pleasure of storytelling.

“I wanted the reader to have fun. At least as much as I had fun. The modern novel has tried to abandon plot entertainment in favor of other types of entertainment. As for me, sincerely believing in Aristotelian poetics, all my life I believed that a novel should also entertain with its plot. Or even primarily by the plot,” writes Eco in his essay on The Name of the Rose, included in this edition.

But The Name of the Rose is not only entertainment. Eco remains faithful to another principle of Aristotle: a literary work must contain a serious intellectual meaning.

The Brazilian priest, one of the main representatives of the "theology of liberation" Leonardo Boff writes about Eco's novel: "This is not only a Gothic story from the life of an Italian Benedictine monastery of the XIV century. Undoubtedly, the author uses all the cultural realities of the era (with an abundance of details and erudition), observing the greatest historical accuracy. But all this is for the sake of issues that remain of high importance today, as they were yesterday. There is a struggle between two projects of life, personal and social: one project stubbornly strives to preserve the existing, to preserve by all means, up to the destruction of other people and self-destruction; the second project strives for the permanent opening of the new, even at the cost of its own destruction.

Critic Cesare Zaccaria believes that the writer's appeal to the detective genre is caused, among other things, by the fact that "this genre was better than others in expressing the inexorable charge of violence and fear inherent in the world in which we live." Yes, undoubtedly, many particular situations of the novel and its main conflict are quite “read” as an allegorical reflection of the situations of the current, 20th century. So, many reviewers, and the author himself in one of the interviews, draw parallels between the plot of the novel and the murder of Aldo Moro. Comparing the novel "The Name of the Rose" with the book famous writer Leonardo Shashi "The Case of Moro", critic Leonardo Lattarulo writes: “They are based on an ethical question par excellence, exposing the insurmountable problematic nature of ethics. It's about about the problem of evil. This return to the detective, which seems to be carried out in the pure interests of literary play, is in fact frighteningly serious, for it is entirely inspired by the hopeless and hopeless seriousness of ethics.

Now the reader gets the opportunity to get acquainted with the sensational novelty of 1980 in full version.

Of course the manuscript

On August 16, 1968, I purchased a book entitled "Notes of Father Adson from Melk, translated into French according to the publication of Father J. Mabillon ”(Paris, printing house of Lasurs Abbey, 1842) . The author of the translation was a certain abbot Ballet. In a rather poor historical commentary, it was reported that the translator followed verbatim a 14th-century edition of a manuscript found in the library of the Melk monastery by the famous seventeenth-century scholar who did so much for the historiography of the Benedictine order. So the rarity found in Prague (it turns out, for the third time) saved me from melancholy in a foreign country, where I was waiting for the one who was dear to me. In a few days the poor town was busy Soviet troops. I succeeded in crossing the Austrian frontier in Linz; from there I easily reached Vienna, where at last I met that woman, and together we set out on a journey up the Danube.

In a state of nervous excitement, I reveled in Adson's terrifying story and was so taken with it that I did not notice myself how I began to translate, filling out wonderful large notebooks by the Joseph Gibert company, in which it is so pleasant to write, if, of course, the pen is soft enough. In the meantime, we ended up in the vicinity of Melk, where the repeatedly rebuilt Stift still rises on a cliff above a bend in the river. As the reader has probably already realized, no trace of Father Adson's manuscript was found in the monastery library.

Shortly before Salzburg, one accursed night in a small hotel on the banks of the Mondsee, our alliance collapsed, the journey was interrupted, and my companion disappeared; with it, Ballet's book also vanished, which certainly was not malicious intent, but was only a manifestation of the crazy unpredictability of our break. All that I was left with then was a pile of written notebooks and an absolute emptiness in my soul.

A few months later, in Paris, I returned to the search. In my extracts from the French original, among other things, a reference to the original source has been preserved, surprisingly accurate and detailed:

Vetera analecta, sive collectio veterum aliquot operum & opusculorum omnis generis, carminum, epistolarum, diplomaton, epitaphiorum, &, cum itinere germanico, adnotationibus aliquot disquisitionibus R. P. D. Joannis Mabillon, Presbiteri ac Monachi Ord. Sancti Benedicti e Congregatione S. Mauri. – Nova Editio cui accessere Mabilonii vita & aliquot opuscula, scilicet Dissertatio de Pane Eucharistico, Azimo et Fermentatio, ad Eminentiss. Cardinalem Bona. Subjungitur opusculum Eldefonsi Hispaniensis Episcopi de eodem argumento Et Eusebii Romani ad Theophilum Gallum epistola, De cultu sanctorum ignotorum, Parisiis, apud Levesque, ad Pontem S. Michaelis, MDCCXXI, cum privilegio Regis.

I immediately ordered the Vetera Analecta from the library of Sainte-Genevieve, but to my great surprise, at least two discrepancies with Ballet's description were revealed on the title page. First, the name of the publisher looked different: here - Montalant, ad Ripam P. P. Augustianorum (prope Pontem S. Michaelis) . Secondly, the date of publication here was put down two years later. Needless to say, the collection did not contain any notes by Adson of Melk, nor any publications where the name Adson would appear. In general, this edition, as it is easy to see, consists of materials of medium or very small volume, while Balle's text occupies several hundred pages. I spoke to the most famous medievalists, in particular to Étienne Gilson, a wonderful, unforgettable scientist. But they all claimed that the only existing edition of Vetera Analecta was the one I used in Sainte-Genevieve. Having visited Lasource Abbey, located in the Passy district, and having talked with my friend Father Arne Laanestedt, I was absolutely sure that no Abbe of Balle had ever published books in the Lasource Abbey printing house; it seems that there never was a printing house at Lasource Abbey. The inaccuracy of French scholars with regard to bibliographic footnotes is well known. But this case exceeded the worst expectations. It became clear that I had a pure fake in my hands. In addition, Ballet's book was now out of reach (well, I didn't see a way to get it back). I had only my own notes, which inspire little confidence.

There are moments of extreme physical fatigue, combined with motor overexcitation, when the ghosts of people from the past appear to us ("en me retraçant ces details, j'en suis á me demander s'ils sont réels, ou bien si je les al rêvés"). Later I learned from the excellent work of the Abbé Bucoy that this is how the ghosts of unwritten books are.

If not for a new accident, I certainly would not have gotten off the ground. But, thank God, one day in 1970 in Buenos Aires, rummaging through the counter of a small second-hand bookseller on Corrientes Street, not far from the most famous of all the Patio del Tango, located on this extraordinary street, I came across a Spanish translation of Milo's brochure Temesvara “On the use of mirrors in chess”, which I already had the opportunity to refer to (albeit second-hand) in his book “Apocalyptics and Integrated”, analyzing a later book by the same author - “Sellers of the Apocalypse”. AT this case it was a translation from a lost original written in Georgian (first edition - Tbilisi, 1934). And in this pamphlet, I quite unexpectedly found extensive excerpts from the manuscript of Adson of Melk, although I must note that Temesvar indicated as a source not Abbe Balle and not Father Mabillon, but Father Atanasius Kircher (which book of his was not specified). One scholar (I do not see the need to give his name here) gave me a head on cutting off that in no work of his (and he quoted the content of all the works of Kircher from memory) the great Jesuit never mentions Adson of Melk. However, I myself held Temeswar's pamphlet in my hands and saw for myself that the episodes quoted there coincide textually with the episodes of the story translated by Balle (in particular, after comparing the two descriptions of the labyrinth, no doubts can remain). Whatever Beniamino Placido later wrote, Abbot Balle existed in the world - like, respectively, Adson from Melk.

I thought then how much the fate of Adson's notes is consonant with the nature of the story; how many unresolved mysteries are here, from authorship to setting; after all, Adson, with surprising obstinacy, does not indicate exactly where the abbey described by him was located, and the heterogeneous signs scattered in the text allow us to assume any point in the vast area from Pomposa to Conques; most likely, this is one of the heights of the Apennine ridge on the borders of Piedmont, Liguria and France (that is, somewhere between Lerici and Turbia). The year and month when the events described took place are named very accurately - the end of November 1327; but the date of writing remains uncertain. Based on the fact that the author was a novice in 1327, and at the time when the book was being written, he was already close to the end of his life, it can be assumed that work on the manuscript was carried out in the last ten or twenty years of the XIV century.

Not so much, it must be admitted, there were arguments in favor of publishing this Italian translation from a rather dubious French text, which in turn must be a transcription from a Latin edition of the seventeenth century, allegedly reproducing a manuscript created by a German monk at the end of the fourteenth.

How should the style issue be resolved? I did not succumb to the initial temptation to stylize the translation as the Italian language of the era: firstly, Adson did not write in Old Italian, but in Latin; secondly, it is felt that the whole culture he assimilated (that is, the culture of his abbey) is even more archaic. This is a sum of knowledge and stylistic skills that has evolved over many centuries, assimilated by the late medieval Latin tradition. Adson thinks and expresses himself like a monk, that is, in isolation from the developing folk literature, copying the style of books collected in the library he described, relying on patristic and scholastic examples. Therefore, his story (not counting, of course, the historical realities of the 14th century, which, by the way, Adson cites uncertainly and always by hearsay) in its language and set of quotations could belong to the 12th and 13th centuries.

In addition, there is no doubt that in creating his French translation in neo-Gothic style, Balle dealt with the original rather freely - and not only in terms of style. For example, the heroes talk about herbal medicine, apparently referring to the so-called "Book of Secrets of Albert the Great", the text of which, as you know, has been greatly transformed over the centuries. Adson can only quote lists that existed in the fourteenth century, and, meanwhile, some expressions suspiciously coincide with the formulations of Paracelsus or, say, with the text of the same Albertian herbalist, but in a much later version, in a Tudor edition. On the other hand, I was able to find out that in those years when Abbé Balle was copying (or was it?) the memoirs of Adson, those published in the 18th century were in circulation in Paris. "Big" and "Small" Albera, already with a completely distorted text. However, the possibility is not ruled out that in the lists available to Adson and other monks, there are options that were not included in the final corpus of the monument, lost among glosses, scholia and other appendices, but used by subsequent generations of scientists.

Finally, another problem: should we leave in Latin those fragments that Abbé Ballet did not translate into his French, perhaps hoping to preserve the flavor of the era? There was no reason for me to follow him: only for the sake of academic conscientiousness, in this case, one must think, inappropriate. I got rid of obvious platitudes, but still left some Latinisms, and now I'm afraid that it turned out like in the cheapest novels, where, if the hero is French, he is obliged to say "parbleu!" and "la femme, ah! la femme!

As a result, there is a complete lack of clarity. It is not even known what motivated my own bold step - an appeal to the reader to believe in the reality of Adson Melksky's notes. Most likely, the oddities of love. Or maybe an attempt to get rid of a number of obsessions.

By rewriting the story, I have no modern allusions in mind. In those years when fate gave me the book of Abbé Ballet, there was a belief that one could write only with an eye to modernity and with the intent to change the world. More than ten years have passed, and everyone calmed down, recognizing the writer's right to feel dignity and that you can write out of pure love for the process. This allows me to tell quite freely, just for the sake of telling the pleasure of telling, the story of Adson of Melk, and it is terribly pleasant and comforting to think how far it is from today's world, whence the vigil of the mind, thank God, drove out all the monsters that his dream once gave birth to. And how brilliantly absent here are any references to the present, any of our today's anxieties and aspirations.

This is a story about books, not about ill-fated everyday life; after reading it, one should probably repeat after the great imitator Kempian: “I searched for peace everywhere and found it in only one place - in the corner, with a book.”

January 5, 1980

Author's note

The manuscript of Adson is divided into seven chapters, according to the number of days, and every day - into episodes dedicated to worship. The subtitles in the third person, retelling the content of the chapters, were probably added by Mr. Balle. However, they are convenient for the reader, and since such a design of the text does not diverge from the Italian book tradition of that era, I thought it possible to keep the subtitles.

The breakdown of the day by liturgical hours adopted by Adson was a rather significant difficulty, firstly, because, as is known, it varies depending on the season and on the location of the monasteries, and secondly, because it has not been established whether in the 14th century, the prescriptions of St. Benedict ruled exactly as they do now.

However, in an effort to help the reader, I have deduced in part from the text, in part by comparing the rule of St. Benedict with the schedule of services taken from Eduard Schneider's Benedictine Hours, the following table of the ratio of canonical and astronomical hours:

Midnight Office(Adson also uses the more archaic term Vigil) - from 2.30 to 3 o'clock in the morning.

laudable (old name – Matins) - from 5 to 6 in the morning; should end when the dawn breaks.

hour one- about 7.30, shortly before dawn.

hour three– about 9 am.

Hour six- noon (in monasteries where the monks are not engaged in field work, in winter, this is also the lunch hour).

Hour nine- from 2 to 3 p.m.

Vespers- around 4.30, before sunset (according to the rule, dinner should be before dark).

compline- about 6. At about 7 the monks go to bed.

The calculation took into account that northern Italy at the end of November the sun rises around 7.30 and sets around 4.40 in the afternoon.

Prologue

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is what God had in the beginning, but it is a good thing to repeat day and night in psalmistic humility about that mysterious, indisputable manifestation through which the incorruptible truth speaks. However, today we see it only per speculum et in aenigmate, and this truth, before revealing its face before our face, is manifested in weak points(alas! how indistinguishable!) in the midst of common worldly fornication, and we trouble ourselves, recognizing its surest signs also where they are darkest and allegedly permeated with an alien will, wholly directed towards evil.

Nearing the sunset of a sinful existence, gray-haired, decrepit, like this earth, waiting for me to plunge into the abyss of divinity, where there is only silence and desert and where you will merge with the irrevocable rays of angelic consent, and until then, burdening with heavy sick flesh with a cell in my beloved Melk monastery, I am preparing to entrust to parchments the memory of the marvelous and terrifying deeds with which it fell to me to partake in the green summers. I narrate verbatim only about what I saw and heard for certain, without hope to penetrate the hidden meaning of events, and so that only those signs of signs, over which let them perform the prayer of interpretation, are preserved for those who come into the world (by God's grace, may they not be warned by the Antichrist).

The Lord of Heaven made me worthy to become a close witness of the affairs that took place in the abbey, whose name we will now keep silent for the sake of goodness and mercy, at the end of the year of the Lord 1327, when the emperor Louis in Italy was preparing, according to the providence of the Most High, to shame the vile usurper, Christ-seller and heresiarch, which is in Avignon covered with shame the holy name of the apostle (this is about the sinful soul of Jacob Kagorsky, the wicked worshiped him as John XXII).

In order to better understand what affairs I was in, we should remember what happened at the beginning of the century - and how I saw all this while living then, and how I see it now, having managed other knowledge - if, of course, memory can cope with the tangled threads from many balls.

In the very first years of the century, Pope Clement V moved the apostolic throne to Avignon, leaving Rome to be plundered by local sovereigns; gradually the holiest city in Christianity became like a circus or a lupanar; the victors tore it apart; It was called a republic, but it was not, betrayed to reproach, robbery and looting. Church officials, non-judgmental civil authority, commanded gangs of bandits, with a sword in their hands, committed atrocities and wickedly profited. And what to do? The capital of the world, naturally, became a welcome prey for those who were preparing to be crowned with the crown of the holy Roman Empire and to revive the highest worldly power, as was the case under the Caesars.

That is why in 1314 five German sovereigns in Frankfurt, Louis of Bavaria, were elected supreme overlord of the empire. However, on the same day, on the opposite bank of the Main, the Palatine Count of the Rhine and the Archbishop of the city of Cologne elected Frederick of Austria to the same board. There are two emperors for one crown and one pope for two thrones - here it is, the center of the worst strife in the world.

Two years later, in Avignon, a new pope, Jacob of Cahors, an old man of seventy-two, was elected and named John XXII, may heaven not allow even one more pontiff to take this vile name to good people. Frenchman and subject french king(and the people of that pernicious land always benefit for their own and are unable to understand that the world is our common spiritual fatherland), he supported Philip the Handsome against the knights of the templars, accused by the king (I believe, falsely) of the most shameful sins; all for the sake of their treasures, which the apostate pope and the king appropriated. Robert of Naples also intervened. In order to maintain his rule on the Italian peninsula, he persuaded the pope not to recognize either of the two Germans as emperor and himself remained the chief military leader of the ecclesiastical state.

In 1322, Louis of Bavaria defeated his rival Frederick. Frightened by the only emperor from now on even more than he was afraid of two, John excommunicated the winner, and in retaliation he declared the pope a heretic. You need to know that it was precisely in that year that the chapter of the Franciscan brothers gathered in Perugia, and their general Michael of Cesene, bowing his ear to the demands of “men of the spirit” - “spirituals” (I’ll tell you about the latter), proclaimed, as the truth of faith, the position of the poverty of Christ , who, with his apostles, if he owned anything, it was only usus facti. A most worthy statement, recognized as protecting virtue and the purity of brotherhood. The pope was dissatisfied, probably sensing a threat to his claims, for he was preparing, as the sole head of the church, to forbid the empire to elect bishops, while retaining the prerogative of crowning emperors. One way or another, in 1323 he rebelled against the doctrine of the Franciscans in his decretal Cum inter nonnullos.

Louis, apparently, then saw in the Franciscans, now hostile to the pope, powerful comrades-in-arms. Proclaiming the poverty of Christ, they strengthened the position of the imperial theologians - Marsilius of Padua and John of Yandun. And a few months before the events that will be described, Louis, having concluded an alliance with the defeated Frederick, entered Italy, took the crown in Milan, suppressed the discontent of the Visconti, overlaid Pisa with an army, appointed Castruccio, Duke of Lucca and Pistoia, as imperial governor (and in vain, I think , for I have not met more cruel man- except Uguccion of Fagiola), and quickly went to Rome, whither called Sharra Colonna, lord of that region.

Such was the time when, having accepted my obedience in the Benedictine monastery in Melk, I was taken from the monastic silence by the will of my father, who fought with Louis in the retinue and was not the last among his barons, who decided to take me with him in order to know the wonders of Italy and in the future observe the coronation of an emperor in Rome. But how they sat down near Pisa, led him to surrender to military care. I, prompted by this, and from leisure and for the benefit of new spectacles, examined the Tuscan cities. However, in the opinion of the father and mother, a life without classes and lessons was not suitable for a young man who was promised a contemplative ministry. It was then, on the advice of Marsilius, who fell in love with me, that I was appointed to the learned Franciscan William of Baskerville, who was going on an embassy to the most glorious cities and the largest abbeys in Italy. I became a scribe and student under him and never regretted, for I saw deeds worthy of perpetuation - for which I am working now - in the memory of those who will come after us.

I didn’t know then what Brother Wilhelm was looking for, to tell the truth, I don’t know now. I admit that he himself did not know, but was driven by the only passion - for the truth, and suffered from the only fear - relentless, as I saw - that the truth is not what it seems at the moment. However, he did not touch his most important occupations, entertained by the grave cares of the era. His commission was unknown to me until the end of the journey, that is, Wilhelm did not speak about it. It was only when I heard snatches of his conversations with the abbots of the monasteries that I guessed the nature of his tasks. But the true goals were revealed to me at the end of the journey, which I will talk about later. We moved north, but not in a direct way, but from monastery to monastery. We therefore swerved westward (although the goal lay in the east), and then went along the crest of the mountains stretching from Pisa to the pass of St. all the same, that the rulers there were loyal to the empire, and the local abbots of our order, having united, opposed the heretic and holy merchant pope. The whole journey took two weeks, and with such events in which I was able to get to know better (although still not enough) the new teacher.

From now on, I will not occupy these pages with a description of the appearance of people - except when a face or movement appears as signs of a silent, but eloquent language. For, according to Boethius, only a fleeting appearance. It fades and disappears like a meadow flower before autumn, and is it worth remembering that his reverend Abbot Abbon looked stern and pale in face, when he and all who lived with him are now dust, and the color of dust, the death color of their body. (Only the spirit, by the will of the Lord, shines in an eternally inextinguishable light.) Nevertheless, I will describe Wilhelm once and for all, since the most ordinary features of his appearance seemed to me wonderfully important. So always a young man who has become attached to an older and more wise man tends to admire not only his clever speeches and sharpness of thought, but also the appearance that is dear to us, like the appearance of a father. From him we adopt both habit and gait, we catch his smile. But no voluptuousness stains this, perhaps the only pure, kind of carnal love.

In my time, people were handsome and tall, but now they are dwarfs, children, and this is one of the signs that the unhappy world is decrepit. Young people do not look at their elders, science is in decline, the earth has been turned upside down, the blind lead the blind, pushing them into the abyss, the birds fall without taking off, the donkey plays the lyre, the buffaloes dance. Mary does not want a contemplative life, Martha does not want an active life, Leah is barren, Rachel is lustful, Cato wears a lupanary, Lucretius has become mad. Everyone has gone astray. And let countless praises be lifted up to the Lord for the fact that I managed to perceive from the teacher the thirst for knowledge and the concept of direct way, which always saves, even when the path ahead is winding.

In appearance, Brother Wilhelm could be remembered by the most absent-minded person. Taller than usual, he seemed even taller because of his thinness. The look is sharp, penetrating. A thin, slightly hooked nose conveyed to the face a wariness that disappeared in moments of stupefaction, of which I will speak later. The chin also showed a strong will, although the length of the face, strewn with freckles - there are many of them who are born between Hibernia and Northumbria - could also mean self-doubt, shyness. Over time, I became convinced that what seemed to be indecision in him was curiosity and only curiosity. However, at first I did not know how to appreciate this gift, considering it a manifestation of spiritual depravity. Whereas in the rational soul, I thought, there is no access to curiosity, and it feeds only on the truth, which, as I was convinced, is recognizable at first sight.

As a boy, I was immediately struck by the tufts of yellowish hair sticking out in his ears and thick blond eyebrows. He lived for fifty springs and, therefore, was very old. However, the body did not know how tired, moving with agility, not always available to me. During periods of revival, his cheerfulness was amazing. But at times something seemed to break in him, and lethargic, in complete prostration, he lay in bed in his cell, answering nothing or answering in monosyllables, not moving a single muscle of his face. His gaze became meaningless, empty, and one could suspect that he was in the grip of an intoxicating potion - if only the extreme abstinence of his whole life protected him from such suspicions. Still, I will not hide the fact that on the way he searched on the edges of the meadows, on the outskirts of the groves for some kind of grass (in my opinion, always the same), tore and chewed with concentration. I took it with me to chew in minutes higher voltage forces (a lot of them were waiting for us in the monastery!). I asked him what kind of grass, he laughed and replied that a good Christian sometimes learns from infidels. I wanted to try it, but he did not let me, saying that, just as paidikoi, ephebikoi, and gynaikoi are distinguished in speeches to the simple, so it is with herbs: what is good for an old Franciscan, worthless for a young Benedictine.

While we were together, the daily routine could not be fulfilled. Even in the monastery we were vigilant at night, and during the day we collapsed from fatigue and appeared irregularly at the departures of the service of God. On the road he rarely stayed awake after Compline. In habits he was moderate. In the monastery he spent days in the garden, examining herbs, as one considers chrysoprase and emeralds. And in the crypt, in the treasury, he looked like a casket strewn with emeralds and chrysoprase, as if at a wild shawl-grass in a field. For days on end he leafed through the manuscripts in the large hall of the library - one might think, only for pleasure (and around at that time the corpses of brutally murdered monks were multiplying). I found him walking in the garden without any visible target as if he were not obliged to give an account to the Lord in all actions. In the brotherhood they were taught to spend time differently, which I told him about. He answered that the beauty of the cosmos is not only in the unity of diversity, but also in the diversity of unity. I took this answer as impolite and full of empiricism. Only later did I realize that the people of his land liked to describe the most important things as if they did not know the enlightening power of orderly reasoning.

Le manuscrit de Dom Adson de Melk, traduit en français d'après l'édition de Dom J. Mabillon. Paris, Aux Presses de l'Abbaye de la Source, 1842. (Author's note.)

Ancient anthology, or Collection of ancient writings and writings of any kind, such as: letters, notes, epitaphs, with a German-language commentary, notes and research by the venerable father, doctor of theology Jean Mabillon, presbyter of the monastic order of St. Benedict and the congregation of St. Maurus. New edition, including the life of Mabillon and his writings, namely the note "On the Bread of the Sacrament, unleavened and leavened" to His Reverend Cardinal Bona. With the appendix of the writings of Ildefonsus, Bishop of Spain, on the same subject, and of Eusebius Romansky to Theophilus Gallus, the epistle "On the veneration of unknown saints"; Paris, printing house Leveque, at the bridge of St. Michael, 1721, with the permission of the king (lat.).

Pontifex (lat.) - in Ancient Rome member of the college of priests; in the Christian church - bishop, prelate, later - pope ( honorary title bishop); pope.

Michael of Cesene (from Cesena, c. 1270–1342) was a Franciscan leader who played a major role in the history of the order. Initially, he belonged to the orthodox wing of Franciscanism - the Conventuals, as a result of which he had a negative attitude towards the teachings and activities of spiritualists. The conventions that carried out in early XIV in. leadership of the order, nominated Michael to the post of general minister. At the same time, the new pope John XXII opened up a struggle against liberal currents among the Franciscans and issued the bulls Ad condilorem canonum (Dec. 8, 1322) and Cum inter nonnullos (November 12, 1323), insisting that the Franciscans also have the right to property; this undermined the very foundations of the order. William of Ockham, followed by Michael of Cesene and Bonagration of Bergamo, defended the traditional doctrine. Thus Michael became the head of the dogmatic opposition to the pope. In 1327 he was called by the pope to Avignon and an investigation was appointed over him. Without waiting for the verdict, Michael fled to the court of Louis of Bavaria, from where he continued to fight with the pope. In 1329 he was convicted in absentia and defrocked. By the end of his life, Michael was betrayed by Louis. Subsequent popes easily managed to persuade the Franciscan order to obey the curia and to abandon their former beliefs.

Decretals (epistles, decretal epistles) - letters or messages from the pope in response to a question addressed to him on a private matter, but the resolution of which can serve as a general rule.

Marsilius of Padua (1275-1343) - a political thinker who argued in the treatise "Defender of the World" the idea of a social contract, who opposed the pope's claims to secular power. In 1327 he was excommunicated from the church.

Benedictine order - the richest and most illustrious monastic order middle ages. Founded by St. Benedict of Pursia in 529 in Montecassino. According to the charter (“Rule”), the Benedictines were charged with labor, both physical (agriculture) and, first of all, mental: the education of youth (novices), the translation, interpretation and production of books, the collection of libraries. Within the order there were several powerful branches (Cluniacs, Cistercians, etc.). In total in the XII-XIV centuries. There were over 15,000 Benedictine monasteries. It is thanks to the Benedictines that the masterpieces of ancient Greek, Roman and medieval literature have survived to this day.

From the translator

Before Umberto Eco published his first work of fiction, The Name of the Rose, in 1980, on the threshold of his fiftieth birthday, he was known in the academic circles of Italy and the entire scientific world as an authoritative specialist in the philosophy of the Middle Ages and in the field of semiotics - the science of signs. He developed, in particular, the problems of the relationship between the text and the audience, both on the material of avant-garde literature and on the heterogeneous material of mass culture. Undoubtedly, Umberto Eco also wrote the novel, helping himself with scientific observations, equipping his “postmodern” intellectual prose with the springs of fascination.

Exotic coloring plus an exciting criminal intrigue provide interest in the novel to a mass audience. And a significant ideological charge, combined with irony, with a play of literary associations, attracts intellectuals. In addition, it is well known how popular the genre of the historical novel is in itself, both here and in the West. Eco took into account this factor. His book is a complete and accurate guide to the Middle Ages. Anthony Burgess writes in his review: “People read Arthur Hailey to find out how the airport lives. If you read this book, you will not have the slightest doubt about how the monastery functioned in the 14th century.”

For nine years, according to the results of national polls, the book has been in first place in the “hot twenty of the week” (the Italians respectfully place The Divine Comedy in last place in the same twenty). It is noted that, due to the wide distribution of Eco's book, the number of students enrolling in the department of the history of the Middle Ages is greatly increasing. The novel was not bypassed by readers of Turkey, Japan, Eastern Europe; captured for a fairly long period and the North American book market, which is very rare for a European writer.

One of the secrets of such overwhelming success is revealed to us in the theoretical work of Eco himself, where he discusses the need for "entertainment" in literature. The literary avant-garde of the 20th century was, as a rule, alienated from the stereotypes of mass consciousness. In the 1970s, however, a feeling arose in Western literature that breaking stereotypes and experimenting with language did not, in and of themselves, ensure the "joy of the text" in its entirety. It began to be felt that an integral element of literature is the pleasure of storytelling.

“I wanted the reader to have fun. At least as much as I had fun. The modern novel has tried to abandon plot entertainment in favor of other types of entertainment. As for me, sincerely believing in Aristotelian poetics, all my life I believed that a novel should also entertain with its plot. Or even primarily the plot,” writes Eco in his essay on “The Name of the Rose”, which is included in this edition.

But "The Name of the Rose" is not only entertainment. Eco remains faithful to another principle of Aristotle: a literary work must contain a serious intellectual meaning.

The writing

The novel "The Name of the Rose" (1980) was the first and extremely successful attempt at writing by the writer, who has not lost his popularity to this day, and he was highly appreciated by both picky literary critics as well as the general reader. When starting to analyze the novel, one should pay attention to its genre originality (in these and many other issues that relate to the poetics of the novel, the teacher should turn to an attempt at auto-interpretation called “A remark in the margins of the “Name of the Rose”, with which Eco accompanies his novel). The work is actually based on the story of the investigation of a series of mysterious murders that occurred in November 1327 in one of the Italian monasteries (six murders in seven days, along which the action unfolds in the novel). The task of investigating the murder is entrusted to the former inquisitor, philosopher and intellectual, the Franciscan monk William of Baskerville, who is accompanied by his young student Adson, who simultaneously acts in the work and as a narrator, through whose eyes the reader sees everything depicted in the novel.

Wilhelm and his student are conscientiously trying to unravel the criminal tangle declared in the work, and they almost succeed, but from the very first pages the author, not for a moment losing sight of the detective interest of the plot, subtly ironically over such genre specificity.

The names of the main characters William of Baskerville and Adson (i.e. almost Watson) must inevitably evoke in the reader associations with Conan Doyle's detective couple, and for the sake of greater certainty the author immediately demonstrates the non-overlapping deductive abilities of his hero Wilhelm (the scene of the reconstruction of circumstances, appearance and even name of the disappeared horse at the beginning of the novel), reinforcing them both with sincere surprise and Adson's confusion (the situation accurately recreates the typical Doyle "moment of truth"). A lot of deductive habits Wilhelm further certifies, as the plot unfolds, in addition, he actively demonstrates his outstanding knowledge of various sciences, which again ironically points to the figure of Holmes. At the same time, Eco does not bring his irony to that critical limit, beyond which it develops into a parody, and his Wilhelm and Adson retain all the attributes of more or less qualified detectives until the end of the work.

The novel really has signs of not only a detective, but also a historical and philosophical work, since it rather scrupulously recreates the historical atmosphere of the era and poses a number of serious philosophical questions to the reader. Genre "uncertainty" largely motivates the unusual title of the novel. Eco wanted to remove such certainty from the title of his work, which is why he came up with the title “The Name of the Rose”, which in semantic relation is completely neutral, more precisely, uncertain, because, according to the author, the number of symbols associated with the image of a rose is inexhaustible, and therefore unique.

Already the genre uncertainty of the novel can serve, in the thought of Eco himself, as a sign of the postmodernist orientation of his work. Eco motivates his arguments with his own (also presented in Marginal Notes) concept of postmodernism, which he contrasts with modernism. If the latter avoided action-packed plots (this is a sign of adventurous, i.e. “frivolous” literature), abused descriptions, fragmentation of the composition, and often the elementary requirements of the logic and semantic connectedness of the depicted, then postmodernism, according to Eco, outgrows this openly declared principle of destruction (destruction) of the norms of classical poetics and the guidelines of new poetics are looking for in attempts to combine the traditional, which comes from the classics, and the anti-traditional, introduced into literature by modernism. Postmodernism does not seek to lock itself within the confines of elitist tastes, but strives for mass (in better understanding) does not repel the reader, but, on the contrary, conquers him. Hence, in the novel there are elements of entertainment and a detective story, but this is not ordinary entertainment: speaking about the differences between the detective model of his own work, Eco insisted that he was not interested in his own “criminal” basis, but in the very plot type of works that model the process of learning the truth. In this understanding

Eco argues that the metaphysical and philosophical type of plot is a detective plot. Modernism, according to Eco, discards what has already been said (i.e., the literary tradition), while postmodernism enters into a complex game with it, ironically rethinking it (hence, in particular, allusions to Conan Doyle, Borges with his image of the Library of Light and his own persona, ironically beaten in the image of Jorge, etc.). The unconventionality of the poetics of the novel is emphasized by Eco himself in the title of those works of his predecessors, which he singles out as associative sources of his inspiration (Joyce, T. Mann, critically rethought works of theorists of modernism - R. Bart, L. Fiedler, etc.). We also find modernistic features of the work in the way of presentation, which is realized in the plot in the form of a kind of game of variability of points of view: the author does not present everything depicted in the work directly, but as a translation and interpretation of the manuscript of a medieval monk “found” by him. The events are directly described by Adson when he reached old age, but in the form of their perception through the eyes of a young and naive disciple of William of Baskerville, who at the time of those events was Adson.

Who represents these points of view in the novel and how does he argue them? One of them is represented by the overseer of the library funds, Jorge, who believes that the truth was given to a person to feel immediately with the first biblical texts and their interpretations, and that it is impossible to deepen it, and any attempt to do so leads either to profanity Holy Scripture or puts knowledge into the hands of those who use it to the detriment of truth. For this reason, Jorge selectively gives the monks books to read, deciding at his own discretion what is harmful and what is not. On the contrary, Wilhelm believes that the main purpose of the library is not to preserve (actually hiding) books, but to orient the reader through them to a further, in-depth search for truth, since the process of cognition, as he believes, is endless.

Separately, one should turn to the analysis of one of the key images novel - the image of the library of the labyrinth, which, obviously, symbolizes the complexity of cognition and at the same time correlates Eco's novel with similar images of libraries of labyrinths in Borges ("Garden of Forking Paths", "Babylonian Library"), and through it with a comparison of a library, book, which is quite common among modernists - with life (the world is a book created by God, which practically implements the patterns of our existence encoded in another book - the Bible).