Foucault's Pendulum
A Playful Metafictional Mystery About the Act of Reading
1st Edition
Published on 29. August 2014
656 pages
978-1-4481-8198-8 (ISBN)
Description
Three editors invent a conspiracy. The world decides it is real.
Casaubon, Belbo and Diotallevi work in a Milan publishing house surrounded by manuscripts on the occult and the Knights Templar. Amused by the pattern-seeking of amateur historians and secret-society enthusiasts, they decide to construct their own grand theory.
What begins as a game becomes 'The Plan', an elaborate network of invented connections linking Templars, Rosicrucians, secret codes, and hidden knowledge. The more intricate the fabrication, the more persuasive it feels.
Soon others take it seriously. What was meant as satire begins to attract believers willing to act on the fiction. As coincidence is mistaken for design, Eco exposes how easily the desire for meaning can become a trap.
Casaubon, Belbo and Diotallevi work in a Milan publishing house surrounded by manuscripts on the occult and the Knights Templar. Amused by the pattern-seeking of amateur historians and secret-society enthusiasts, they decide to construct their own grand theory.
What begins as a game becomes 'The Plan', an elaborate network of invented connections linking Templars, Rosicrucians, secret codes, and hidden knowledge. The more intricate the fabrication, the more persuasive it feels.
Soon others take it seriously. What was meant as satire begins to attract believers willing to act on the fiction. As coincidence is mistaken for design, Eco exposes how easily the desire for meaning can become a trap.
Reviews / Votes
Brilliant, funny, encompassing everything you ever wanted to know about practically everything (including numerology, James Bond's foes, and the construction of sewers), this book is both extraordinarily learned and well plotted. * Sunday Times * Endlessly diverting... Even more intricate and absorbing than his international bestseller The Name of the Rose. * Time * Brilliant... A novel that is deeper and richer than The Name of the Rose. * New York Times * An intellectual adventure story, as sensational, thrilling, and packed with arcana as Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Count of Monte Cristo. * The Washington Post * Umberto Eco is literature's great magician... He offers us many passages of brilliance, and treats us to a Shakespearean alternation of paroxysm and intimacy, madness and wisdom. There is something here for everyone. His genius affords his readers a selection of delights that will make their heads spin. * Le Monde *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
File size
2,58 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4481-8198-8 (9781448181988)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Umberto Eco (1932-2016) wrote fiction, literary criticism and philosophy. His first novel, The Name of the Rose, was a major international bestseller. His other works include Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, The Prague Cemetery and Numero Zero along with many brilliant collections of essays.
