TahoeT
journeyman
Reged: 10/20/03
Posts: 91
Loc: The Main Line
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Possibly one of the best books I have ever read! The way it described the times was excellent. It painted vivid pictures of the squalor and just how foul life was back then. Not to mention the power of The Church, the greed and hypocracy. Great read!
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Tim...
HB's B
http://www.timandvictor.com
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Mudpuppy
member
Reged: 10/17/03
Posts: 102
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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I'm plodding through it. It's a decidedly more challenging read than Dan Brown, so my brain is still adjusting to the change. It will probably be a while before I can come back and comment, but I will say this -- Eco loves details.
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Victor
newbie
Reged: 10/20/03
Posts: 47
Loc: Northeast US
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Quote:
I'm plodding through it. It's a decidedly more challenging read than Dan Brown, so my brain is still adjusting to the change. It will probably be a while before I can come back and comment, but I will say this -- Eco loves details.
I had a VERY difficult time with the Name of the Rose, but it's worth it. Rent the movie when you're finished. Sean Connery....need I say more?
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TahoeT
journeyman
Reged: 10/20/03
Posts: 91
Loc: The Main Line
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Quote:
I'm plodding through it. It's a decidedly more challenging read than Dan Brown, so my brain is still adjusting to the change. It will probably be a while before I can come back and comment, but I will say this -- Eco loves details.
I read it quite a few years ago and agree that it's a tough read - but the details are what made it for me...
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Tim...
HB's B
http://www.timandvictor.com
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Sephia
Supreme Goddess
Reged: 11/28/03
Posts: 876
Loc: MA, USA
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It is definitely tough..I just finished. William and Adso remind me of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. it was good, though I wish I understood Latin.
What does "stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus" mean?
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"Your life is yours alone, rise up and live it" ~Terry Goodkind
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TahoeT
journeyman
Reged: 10/20/03
Posts: 91
Loc: The Main Line
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Quote:
What does "stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus" mean?
My latin is more rusty than the rest of me (which is pretty rusty!) but I think it has something to do with the original name of the rose and that the name has been laid bare of what it represents.
(This is why translators make big bucks... words do not translate easily - there are dozens of meanings for everything, and one needs to try and create the context of each one...)
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Tim...
HB's B
http://www.timandvictor.com
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Zete
stranger
Reged: 12/21/03
Posts: 1
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It is correct.
The exact translation is:
"The essence of the rose is in its name, (but) we've got only the bare name"
i.e. the name of the rose includes in its meaning also the scent, but we can't smell it by the name only.
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Zete
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Sephia
Supreme Goddess
Reged: 11/28/03
Posts: 876
Loc: MA, USA
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O_o. cool. i was wondering. i read the book and every few minutes, i thought , "I wish I knew Latin". Oh,well. Thanks!
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"Your life is yours alone, rise up and live it" ~Terry Goodkind
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Honesty
newbie
Reged: 03/05/04
Posts: 39
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Quote:
by Mudpuppy...
It's a decidedly more challenging read than Dan Brown, so my brain is still adjusting to the change.
What you have to bear in mind is that Eco is a world reknowned intellectual and Dan Brown wishes he was and Joe Reader thinks he is.
Quote:
by TahoeT
I read it quite a few years ago and agree that it's a tough read - but the details are what made it for me...
Umbert Eco admitted that he made the first one hundred pages deliberately difficult so that the reader had to pay penance. After that stage the novel does become easier.
Quote:
by Sephia
William and Adso remind me of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. it was good, though I wish I understood Latin.
William and Adso are based upon Holmes and Watson. William of Baskerville is also a play on William of Ockham, an English Franciscan who lived during the novel's time period. Adso's name is a pun on Simplico from Galileo Galilei's Dialogue. The pun is: ad Simplico (to Simplico) and the name Adso comes from: ad Simplico.
Regarding 'understanding Latin' the best part of Eco's use of this language is that he uses well known quotes and phrases. You can usually find translations just by typing the phrase into Google. Alternatively, there is The Key to The Name of the Rose which I believe you can still purchase on Amazon.
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I'm Idaho.
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mike713
stranger
Reged: 12/11/04
Posts: 8
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I just started this book and other than the latin it's pretty good. 
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Dazzle
addict
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 484
Loc: UK
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What's wrong with the Latin?
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mike713
stranger
Reged: 12/11/04
Posts: 8
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Hello Dazzel  I had a somewhat hardtime with it but thank the gods for google! 
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Dazzle
addict
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 484
Loc: UK
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Although the book is full of Latin quotes I don't think you really need to understand them to enjoy the novel.
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Sephia
Supreme Goddess
Reged: 11/28/03
Posts: 876
Loc: MA, USA
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the problem with the Latin is that if you don't know it it is very annoying... its like--"What are yopu saying?????"
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"Your life is yours alone, rise up and live it" ~Terry Goodkind
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Cary
newbie
Reged: 12/25/04
Posts: 29
Loc: New York City
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Hey!
I thought "The Name Of The Rose" was teriffic -- but not my favorite: that honor goes to "The Pillars Of The Earth" by Ken Follet -- and the movie was a delight!
But "Focault's Pendulum"?
An unreadable mess...
Happy New Year!
-CaryMG
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"codeHound v2.0"
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Dazzle
addict
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 484
Loc: UK
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Unreadable? I don't think so. Postmodern, yes. Full of esoterica, yes. Unreadable, no.
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Veritas
stranger
Reged: 02/14/05
Posts: 2
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Quote:
TahoeT said:
It painted vivid pictures of the squalor and just how foul life was back then. Not to mention the power of The Church, the greed and hypocracy. Great read!
It's definitely a great read - one of the best books of the Twentieth Century. But I thought its picture of the Middle Ages was well rounded. It was no more 'squalid' than any other pre-modern period (contrary to popular belief). There was also no more 'greed and hypocrisy' then than now or any other time. And Eco's image of the medieval Church was also well rounded - showing both its good and bad sides.
The book was more an image of our own times anyway, though a lot of readers don't notice this.
As for the Latin phrases, I don't understand why people find them so bothersome. Eco always gives a translation, either direct or indirect, either before or after every Latin phrase his character uses. The puzzling reference to the 'name of the rose' at the end is one of the few he (deliberately) leaves untranslated.
A great book.
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The Da Vinci Code: Fact and Fiction
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kitbee
stranger
Reged: 07/13/05
Posts: 3
Loc: indiana, us
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it was required reading for me in college. my professor gave the choice--the book or the movie but if we chose to partake of both--extra credit. i chose the extra credit! what a movie but WHAT A BOOK!!! even with "plodding through" it...what valuable information was given! i didn't realize how much i had learned (and retained!) until i read the dan brown books, and watched the movie--"national treasure." it all came back! sherlock holmes could not have done better than sean connery's character could have in uncovering the plot behind those ancient murders...and by the way--what is the name of the rose?
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"i love paris in the springtime, i love paris in the fall...."
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kitbee
stranger
Reged: 07/13/05
Posts: 3
Loc: indiana, us
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i really mean it! with all the understanding of "the name of the rose" i still do not know what the name of the rose is? mary magdalene? i do not know! 
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"i love paris in the springtime, i love paris in the fall...."
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Dazzle
addict
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 484
Loc: UK
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Begin with stat rose pristina nomine, nomina nude tenemus - the essence of the rose is in its name but we've only got the bare name.
Think not of a literal name. The name can be a number of things.
To Adso, the name of the Rose is that which he'll never know - the literal title by which the girl went by.
In a more abstract sense the rose can mean God. The book begins with a quote from John's Gospel (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God) and it's possible that the Word is the Rose. Relgious people try to understand God and attribute all things to His wisdom but the only thing that people have with God is His name; there is no understanding his Being, his essence.
Then there's the meaning to Eco - he's a semiotician; a reader of signs. What does the rose mean to him? He'll see the rose as a sign and what does the rose signify? It can represent love and is used as an emblem of love....but why? All the love it represents is there within the name of the rose, an evocation brought about by the sign - but we've only got the name rose - we can't truly understand why it comes to mean something for us.
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Sephia
Supreme Goddess
Reged: 11/28/03
Posts: 876
Loc: MA, USA
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I think I need to reread that book, now. Thanks!
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"Your life is yours alone, rise up and live it" ~Terry Goodkind
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ozelot
stranger
Reged: 11/20/05
Posts: 2
Loc: Barcelona, Spain.
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I haven't read the book but I liked the film a lot.
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SUMB44
stranger
Reged: 09/15/06
Posts: 6
Loc: Washington, DC
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Has anyone ever read Baudolino?
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poia
The Modeleter
Reged: 01/25/04
Posts: 168
Loc: NJ
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Loved it!
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"OK, so what's the speed of dark?"S.W.
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Dazzle
addict
Reged: 04/02/04
Posts: 484
Loc: UK
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Quote:
SUMB44 said:
Has anyone ever read Baudolino?
Yes. Critics. Editors. etc.
I've read it too. Of the five Eco novels, I rank it third.
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Berzelmayr
stranger
Reged: 12/10/06
Posts: 6
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Quote:
SUMB44 said:
Has anyone ever read Baudolino?
I wanted to, but I didn't like it at all, when I started reading.
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