An Enthralling Mystery, a breathtaking rollercoaster ride through a world of ideas and aberrations, an adventure into the modern mind.
One Colonel Ardenti, who has unnaturally black, brilliantined hair, an Adolphe Menjou mustache, wears maroon socks, and once served in the Foreign Legion, starts it all. He tells three Milan editors that he has discovered a coded message about a Templar Plan, centuries old and involving Stonehenge, to tap a mystic source of power greater than atomic energy.
The editors (who have spent altogether too much time rewriting crackpot manuscripts on the occult by self-subsidizing poetasters and dilettantes) decide to have a little fun. They'll make a Plan of their own. But how?
Randomly they throw in manuscript pages on hermetic thought. The Masters of the World, who live beneath the earth. The Comte de Saint-Germain, who lives forever. The secrets of the solar system contained in the measurements …
English:
An Enthralling Mystery, a breathtaking rollercoaster ride through a world of ideas and aberrations, an adventure into the modern mind.
One Colonel Ardenti, who has unnaturally black, brilliantined hair, an Adolphe Menjou mustache, wears maroon socks, and once served in the Foreign Legion, starts it all. He tells three Milan editors that he has discovered a coded message about a Templar Plan, centuries old and involving Stonehenge, to tap a mystic source of power greater than atomic energy.
The editors (who have spent altogether too much time rewriting crackpot manuscripts on the occult by self-subsidizing poetasters and dilettantes) decide to have a little fun. They'll make a Plan of their own. But how?
Randomly they throw in manuscript pages on hermetic thought. The Masters of the World, who live beneath the earth. The Comte de Saint-Germain, who lives forever. The secrets of the solar system contained in the measurements of the Great Pyramid. The Satanic initiation rites of the Knights of the Temple, Assassins, Rosicrucians, Brazilian voodoo. They feed all of this into their computer, which is named Abulafia (Abu for short), after the medieval Jewish cabalist.
A terrific joke, they think - until people begin to disappear mysteriously, one by one, starting with Colonel Ardenti.
A superb entertainment by the celebrated author of The Name of the Rose.
A captivating and masterfully written book. I'm not sure if it's the main point of the book, but Eco's commentary on conspiracy theories, those who spin them, and those who believe them, feels incredibly relevant today. Googling the constant references to esoteric books and historical figures was fun and made me feel like I too was uncovering part of The Plan. If you read the book, keep a translating app open for the many quoted book passages and dialogue that has not be translated into English.
I feel like this book has had some bad luck by becoming increasingly true and relevant. Since conspiracy theories have proliferated this decade, we're all thoroughly familiar. Although this book was there first, if you've already had a read through everything on wikipedia and countless thinkpieces on the issue, this feels like more of the basics. What might have been obscure and exciting conspiracy theories, a mindblowing social milieu, and novel analysis when presented for the first time is just not so exciting anymore.
This is solidly a good book - its just that the other Eco novels are better. The ones set in the middle ages are more immersive, more imaginative, more vibrant. It also seems like Eco is taking this seriously instead of "just" having fun. There's an analytical and didactic feel at the heart of this novel, which I didn't like.
