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The Name of the Rose is a 1980 novel by Umberto Eco about a murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327.
The book was also made into a film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Sean Connery as the intrepid Franciscan monk, William of Baskerville. Along with his apprentice Adso of Melk (Christian Slater), William journeys to an abbey where a murder has been committed. As the plot unfolds, several other people mysteriously die. Our heroes explore a medieval library, the subversive power of laughter and come face to face with the Inquisition.
The narrator, his sidekick Adso's name is among other things a pun on Simplicio from Galileo Galilei's Dialogue; Adso = ad Simplicio ("to Simplicio"). It is also a play on Holmes' friend Dr. Watson. William of Baskerville on the other alludes both to Sherlock Holmes and William of Ockham
On one level the book is an excellent exposition of the scientific method. William demonstrates the power of deductive reasoning. He refuses to accept the diagnosis of simple demonic possession despite the fact that at that time demonology was the ruling scientific paradigm. He keeps an open mind, collecting facts and observations, following even pure intuition as to what he should investigate. It also demonstrates the crucial importance of chance in any investigative endeavour. Nevertheless, he could not have solved the cases if he had not prepared properly a framework of facts and interconnections, which the chance discovery then made meaningful.
The book describes monachal life at the time. The action takes place at a Benedictine abbey during the controversy between branches of Franciscans. The spirituales abhor richesses, bordering on the Dulcinian heresy.
As usual in Eco's novels, there is a display of erudition. The blind librarian George from Burgos is a pun on Jorge Luis Borges. Throughout the book, there are Latin quotes, authentic and apocryphal. There are also discussions of the philosophy of Aristotle.
