قصة الكتاب :
The Name of the Rose is the debut novel of Italian author Umberto Eco. It was first published in Italian in 1980 and was translated into English by William Weaver in 1983. The book gained immense popularity and has sold 50 million copies worldwide. It has earned several awards and accolades such as the Strega Prize in 1981, the Prix Medicir Etranger in 1982 and has ranked 14th on the list of Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century. The novel has been described by reviewers as extremely powerful and has been credited by many as having the power to change the reader’s viewpoints once read.
\r\nThe story takes place in 1327 in an Italian monastery. A series of murders turn the visiting Brother William of Baskerville and his assistant Adso, the narrator, into a prior-day Sherlock and Watson. Through the course of their investigations into the crimes at the abbey and its secret heresy, the reader is provided with a taste of the diminishing Middle Ages in Europe. The notion that the Middle Ages were simple is dispelled by the author who presents a multi-layered picture of these times. The interplay between William and Adso is similar to that of the fictional Quixote and Paza and representative of the mindset that prevailed among many i.e. a mix of rationalism and superstition. The inquiry into the deaths itself leads to a string of questions that need definite answers. By employing this plot, Eco attempts to reveal to the reader that in detective work, as well as in matters pertaining to religion and life itself, one can be right for the wrong reasons and vice versa.
\r\nThe Name of the Rose is a complex narrative. It provides the reader with a murder mystery as well as a defense of semiotics i.e. the study of signs and sign-usage. Although on the surface it appears to be a whodunit, the book is also an examination of the manner in which knowledge is obtained and certified as ‘truth’. Eco sets the stage for this theme when he inserts a disclaimer in the prologue of his ‘terrible tale of Adso of Melk’ that it’s a hasty translation of a lost transmittal copy. He explains that he is uncertain about the worth of the text and hesitant to publish it. By stating thus, Eco does not permit the reader to suspend disbelief. In fact, that seems to be his very motive through this book: to examine the close relationship between belief and narrative. The Name of the Rose is considered to be a work in post-modernism. The dominant idea conveyed is that all books and texts refer to other books and texts and not to external reality. The tale ends in irony and in doing this, Eco seems to turn the modernist search for meaning and finality on its head. The book has inspired several adaptations over the years in the form of plays, films, music, games and more recently, a television series.\r\n