This novel is a fascinating treatise about truth, tradition, faith, fraud, and failure set in a 14th century monastery in Italy. While the ideas are hidden in a Sherlock Holmes-esque mystery in which multiple corpses die in what seems to be an apocolyptic judgment (this is an elaborate red herring), the reader is forced to endure the pace, suspicions, fears, superstitions, and monotony of the life of a religious community as narrated by an adolescent Benedictine novice - the Watson to the Franciscan Sherlock. So, what benefit does a very long and sometimes tedious novel hold for business people in the 21st century? Hopefully this one engenders a humility of thought and a willingness to listen deeply to the people we encounter before attempting to superimpose on them our interpretations and conclusions. Perhaps one conclusion will be that our labyrinthan mental maps will be enhanced when the hidden things are shared with people whose opinions and ideas will likely challenge them. Or perhaps, otherwise, could our ideas be laced with a poison that we are prepared to serve the ones who probe more deeply out of their own intellectual or spiritual curiosity, passion, or desperate search? Or, are we so wedded to the idea of being right that we are prepared to sacrifice relationship with any who question us? Surely there is a truth that only can be revealed when it is vitally intertwined with love....
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, c. 1984 Harcourt Inc. (translated from the Italian)
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I really enjoyed this book as well. It does have its slow moments -- some parts you have to trudge through the painstaking details -- but still a good read, though scholarly at times (which I liked). Eco is detailed and accurate to the medieval period.
Steven
http://steventill.com
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