Probably Bank's best science fiction novel and one of his best works generally. Cheradinine Zakalwe, Diziet Sma and Skaffen Amiskaw are, together, hisProbably Bank's best science fiction novel and one of his best works generally. Cheradinine Zakalwe, Diziet Sma and Skaffen Amiskaw are, together, his most interesting group of characters.
The structure of this novel makes it worthy of note on its own. Written in interwoven chapters, it is made up of two alternating narrative streams - one indicated by Arabic numerals and the other by Roman ones. One moves forward chronologically, while the other moves in the opposite direction; yet both are about the central, tragic character, Cheradinine Zakalwe.
Despite being the third of Banks' "Culture" science fiction novels to be published, he wrote a much more complex version of this story in 1974, before any of his books saw print. He later said it was so complex it "was impossible to comprehend without thinking in six dimensions". He credits fellow Scottish author Ken McLeod with getting him to sort this baroque novel into a publishable form.
Zakalwe is a rogue, a military genius, an assassin, a sad case and an utterly sympathetic character all at the same time. A mercenary shaped by his experiences as the perfect soldier, he's taken, refined and utilised by the supposedly benign and pacific Culture for their nastier dirty tricks operations. The moral ambiguity and ethical contradictions of this are not lost on Zakalwe himself or on his Culture handler, the "Special Circumstances" operative Diziet Sma.
Gloriously grostesque, sharply observed, bleakly satrical and written with Baink's unique ability to make the most vile aspects of war and violence lyrically beautiful and richly ironic at the same time, this is the great Scottish master at his finest.
A book to loan to anyone who thinks science fiction is "dumb". ...more
If I had to spend a year on a desert island and was only allowed to take one book, this would be it.
At the time of its publication, one reviewer descIf I had to spend a year on a desert island and was only allowed to take one book, this would be it.
At the time of its publication, one reviewer described `The Name of the Rose' as "a book about everything". At first glance, it may seem to be a book largely about obscure Fourteenth Century religious controversies, heresies and sects, with a murder mystery mixed in. But this is a book that rewards repeat readings (I've just finished it for the seventh time), and the heart of the novel is in its exposition of semiotics - the world as a blizzard of signs and life and thought as their constant interpretation. Just as Brother William of Baskerville guides the na茂ve Adso through the world of the monastery and the wider world of knowledge and reason, so Eco guides the reader through a story where few things are what they seem and everything can be read several ways.
Even the `obscure Fourteenth Century sects', which many readers find bewildering, dull or both, represent far more than they seem at first glance. The long controversy over the poverty of Christ and its application in the medieval Church forms the focus for a wide-ranging analysis of how ideals can motivate and inspire different people in different ways. In this novel we find skeptics (like William), mystical non-conformists (like Umbertino de Casale), terrorists and revolutionaries (like the Dolcinite heretics) and rigid fundamentalists (like Jorge and Bernard Gui). At the time of its first publication, the parallels between the book's religious politics and modern manifestations of the same ways of thinking, including Cold War political expediency and terrorists like the Red Brigades, would have been obvious to Italian readers. These days, in the wake of 9/11 and the Iraq War, Eco's analysis has not lost any of its resonance.
Some warnings for new readers - if you think (the truly appalling) `The Da Vinci Code' was "masterful writing", you probably want to save yourself time and effort and read something else. It's not as daunting as many make out, but "Rose" is far from a light read. Eco also deliberately made the first 100 pages a difficult read, but stick with it. All those obscure politics and odd names do make some sense after a while.
Secondly, many reviewers have complained about the untranslated Latin passages. Despite what some of them have said, these are rarely more than a line or two and usually short lines at that. Medievalists will recognise most of them anyway (they are quotes from the Vulgate, Occam and Aquinas and so on, and usually famous ones), but non-specialists will usually get the essence of them from their contexts. In almost all cases they are roughly translated or paraphrased in the dialogue that precedes or follows them anyway, so they aren't actually `untranslated' at all - they just look that way.
Thirdly, people who approach this novel merely as a medieval whodunit a la the Brother Caedfel mysteries are likely to find `Rose' a strain. While the mystery story forms the basis of the plot, there is a lot more to this novel than plot. Some have said they found the mystery clich茅d and derivative of other mysteries. Ummm ... yes - Eco is a postmodernist. It's *meant* to be derivative.
The real joy of this novel is its layers of meaning, which is why it's one that can be read and re-read with new discoveries every time. It's a delight to read and great exercise for the mind and spirit, as well as a counter to those who think the Middle Ages was simply a period of superstition and ignorance. Far from being an anachronism or a prefigurement of more `enlightened' times, William of Baskerville represents the medieval voices of reason, innovation and logic that are ignored by most popular representations of this badly misunderstood period.
A must read - but with your brain well and truly in high gear. ...more
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