Anyone here read Umberto Eco's fiction?

[waryan]

I have actually only read non-fiction works of his, mainly "On Literature" and "On Beauty"- the latter I absolutely recommend.

Anyway I know he has written some very popular works, particularly Name of the Rose which I heard a few comparisons of the Da Vinci Code a few years back, appropriate or not.

Is Eco's fiction worth looking into?

thanks!

[Bitterfly]

Yes, it's worth it. Namely The Name of the Rose, but The Island of the day before (not sure about the title) is probably my favourite. Baudolino bored me. Loved Foucault's Pendulum. He's consistently erudite.

[pgwodehousefan]

I have only read Name Of The Rose but I loved it. William reminds me of an older and kindlier version of Poe's Dupin.
Dan Brown isn't fit even to dust its cover.

[JBI]

I read Baudolino, The Name of the Rose, and Foucault's Pendulum. They varry in difficulty, I would think Baudolino being the most difficult, being that the content requires a lot of background knowledge of the reader, in mostly untranslated medieval manuscripts.

In fact, all three books have double elements - one that is meant to appeal to average readers (by average I mean the standard literary novel reader) and one element that is meant to really only be understood by specialists in the area covered by the book. That is why there are so many references to obscure things - those are real things, and Eco is, I would say, laughing at us by throwing in old references and things.

So for instance, in Baudolino, all the characters are real, so when Eco has Baudolino write the poems of the Arch Poet, he is actually playing with real texts, or when he talks about the letter to Prestor John, he is talking about a real letter. Those however, are just basic references, the texts are labyrinths of jokes that only few can laugh at.

[PeterL]

I have The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Baudolino, The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, and The Island of the Day Before. All were worth reading. Foucault's Pendulum and The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana are excellent. Eco wrote some of his novels in parallel with his non-fiction writing, and the parallels are interesting.

[Niamh]

I have only read The Name of the Rose and its amazing!

[Kevets]

I very much enjoyed the Name of the Rose. For any Sherlock Holme's fan, it's a fun description of a progenitor.

But I couldn't make it through The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. I like the premise - a book collector loses his memory of his actual life, but remembers everything literary and artistic. But it ends up being rather show-offy and references so much Italian culture that I am unfamiliar with.

Eco is like Milan Kundera to me - they both make me feel like an uneducated idiot!

[waryan]

thanks all- this was a great help!

[Dark Muse]

He may be on his way to becoming one of my favorite authors. I really enjoyed The Name of the Rose. I thought it was a quite interesting and provoking book, and I loved the mix of dark mystery and the tehological debates.

I am currently reading Foucault's Pendulum and I find it completely fascinating. Thus far I am liking it even more then The Name of the Rose. I also own a few of his other books of which I have not yet had the chance to read.

[amalia1985]

I've read the majority of his books, both fiction and non-fiction. My favourite is The Name of the Rose, but the one that really stayed with me is Foucault's Pendulum. Baudolino was fascinating!!!

[manolia]

I have only read "the name of the rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum". I liked both very much but the pendulum is the one i liked the most.

[Janine]

"The Name of the Rose" was a monthly book discussion read, about a year ago, I think. You may be able to still find the thread. It was a great book and a good discussion.

[waryan]

Fantastic, I plan to check out Name of the Rose then with plenty of haste

[tractatus]

"Foucault's Pendulum" highly worths to read. Add your list if you like Eco.

[Pecksie]

I read "The Name of the Rose"... and I loved the way he winks at the reader every now and then... for example, the way he pays (ambiguous) homage to Borges through the character of the creepy librarian, Jorge de Burgos...

[crystalmoonshin]

The first Eco book I read was "Foucault's Pendulum". Then a friend lent "The Name of the Rose" to me where I had a lot of difficulty interpreting the Latin sentences coz at that time, I haven't taken any Latin class. Then, "Baudolino" and "Serendipities". I love the last two books I read. Baudolino fascinated me, "Serendipities" made me appreciate a bit of history.

One can never go wrong with Eco's works.

[Basil Valentine]

I read 'Foucault's Pendulum' first (some years ago), then 'The Name of the Rose' a few months later. I really liked FP a great deal, though I remember there were some annoyingly pretentious passages interspersed in the text, which I could have done without. I found 'Rose' less engrossing, though it was still a very worthwhile read. As someone whose main literary interest outside of fiction is alchemy (hence the username), I felt I could really appreciate the irony of FP's ending.

It's interesting reading the (mainly) positive comments on this thread about Eco's later works - I had avoided buying them as they seemed to get mainly indifferent-to-negative reviews when released. Perhaps I should think again...

[Guinivere]

I read "The name of the rose" and I loved it. It's the main reason I'm learning Latin at the moment. I wasn't able to understand all the theological debate throughout the book, so maybe in a few years I'll pay it another visit.