Foucault's Pendulum

It goes without saying that this book is incredible and impossible to concisely describe. The fact that it begins with a diagram of the Tree of Life then an epigraph in untranslated Hebrew should go some way to illustrate its eccentricities, but there are many more subtle things that make me love it so much. As enjoyable as the nerdy occult name-dropping and fun playing-with-ideas history lessons are, the characters and descriptive style make even the strangest things engaging and sensical. This multiplicity is I think my favorite part, it is at once a history lesson, a moral about conspiratorial thinking, an insight into publishing culture, and a psychological autopsy of a troubled man. While I may say something like “The real story is the similarities and differences of the psychologies of the three main characters and their descents into madness”, you have to also enjoy the madness in and of itself, because that makes up the majority of the text, just as you can’t enjoy all the many things The Name of the Rose has to offer if you can’t first of all enjoy page after page of fascinating 14th-century Catholic politics. In a way, this is the most immersive treatment of conspiracy theories and those who believe in them, not just because of how full of real information it is but because it turns you into one. Every time you hear the word "Temple", "Plan", or see a pendulum swinging, you are going to think of the elaborate historical narrative you were immersed in during this book, and even though you know its not true, just like Belbo, Diotallevi, and Casaubon, you are too deep to let go completely.

Par l'auteur du célèbre Nom de la Rose, voici un roman d'aventures passionnant.

Umberto Eco aborde avec sa grande érudition les sociétés secrètes, l'occultisme et l'ésotérisme, et en arrive presque à faire croire au lecteur l'existence de ce complot mondial qui traverse l'Histoire. Se déroule une aventure fascinante, façon thriller, qui n'est pas sans rappeler le Da Vinci Code qu'il précéda et probablement inspira.

On le lira avec d'autant plus de profit qu'on porte un intérêt à ces thèmes et que l'on possède des connaissances historiques, car les références sont nombreuses, à la limite de l'étalage voire de la pédanterie si l'on n'est pas versé dans ces sujets.

Pour ma part j'ai beaucoup aimé et cela fait partie des livres qui m'ont le plus marqués. Et finalement, vu ce qu'il se passe aujourd'hui dans notre monde, si tout cela était vrai...?

Finishing this long-winded opus felt like an accomplishment, and I never would have done it, had it not been picked out by my book discussion group. It's not the longest book I've ever read, but it's a tough read, full of esoteric conversations and not much action. However, I did find the characters interesting and mostly likeable. For instance, Belbo's family stories and his fictional writings are intriguing, as are Casaubon's conversations with Amparo and Lia. The ending is something to think about, too.

This novel is something to be experienced, and I'm glad that I did. Don't go reading it for the plot!