The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

The Name of the Rose was one of those books that everyone in my circle seemed to be reading at the same time back in the '80s.  I can't remember the last time a book so caught the collective imagination of my friends and colleagues.  It was with fond recollections of an important time in my life that I decided to re-read the book.

What struck me most upon this time around was the wonderful translation by William Weaver.  Whatever the qualities of the original Italian version, Weaver has managed to produce English prose of the highest order, making the book a delight to read.

The tale itself  centres on a certain Benedictine abbey in Italy in 1327.  Brother William of Baskerville, accompanied by a novice monk named Adso, has come to the abbey on a mission from the Holy Roman Emperor.  William has a well-earned reputation as a learned man and an acute thinker, and he is asked by the abbot to investigate a murder that occurred in the abbey on the previous night.  It is vital for William to solve the mystery in order to preserve the good name of the abbey before an important papal delegation arrives.  If only it were that simple.

The Name of the Rose is part detective novel, part historical novel.  The investigation of the mystery is interspersed with (often lengthy) explanations of ecclesiastical life and church politics as it was in the early 14th century.  The mystery is ingenious; the historical details have the charm of being recounted through the words of the characters as though they were contemporary events - although, at times, the volume of details and the intricacies of the politics can be a little overwhelming.  Regardless of the exact truth of what we are being told - and I'm certainly not a medieval scholar - the reader does come away feeling they have a good idea of what it must have been like to live in that time and at that place, such is the sense of verisimilitude Eco is able to convey through his use of fluent and detailed descriptions and eloquent conversations between the characters.

I enjoyed this book even more the second time around.  Worth the effort.