Finally, I
have finished this one of the most confusing and intriguing books I’ve ever
come across: Foucault’s Pendulum!
This is my second Umberto Eco (after Baudolino), and I don’t think I would ever
come back to him again, ever. Not that his books are bad; on the contrary, they
are genius. But there’s my problem, they are too genius to me that I must often
open Wikipedia to consult almost everything from the stories. If you ask me,
what this book is about, I might answer, it’s about conspiracy theory, Foucault’s
Pendulum, semiotics, mystics, Kaballah, Knights Templar, telluric current, hermeticism,
Rosicrucians, Paulicians, Synarchists, and many other (seem to be) incoherent
topics. However, surprisingly, at the end of all those nonsense, you would find
a quite deep philosophy that makes you think about the value of life, and your
existence in the universe.
The story is
narrated by Casaubon, an Italian freelance researcher, who was hiding in
Parisian technical museum, from a secret society that had something to do with
Foucault’s Pendulum, located in the museum. Casaubon then related the whole
story in flashback. He was a student studying about Knights Templar’s history
in Milan, while he met Belbo, the editor of a publishing house. Together with Belbo’s
colleague, a cabalist called Diotallevi, they became involved in the story of
the Knights Templar. A writer came to the publishing house, he believed that,
although the Templar had been disbanded by French monarchy and the Church six centuries
ago, its followers have planned a secret conspiracy to take over the world as
their revenge. Although nobody knew the exact truth, our trio excitingly worked
on the conspiracy theory, as a fun game at first, maybe to challenge their active
minds. But soon they became obsessed with it, and so seriously they took The Plan (as they called it), that some
people believed The Plan did really exist, and suddenly, our trio’s game was not
fun anymore, but mortally dangerous!
During their
game, they met many people who believed in supernatural things (occultist), whom
they called the Diabolical. From them, and from their own knowledge and
unlimited sources from libraries, they built their own theory. Oh, and don’t
forget the valuable help from Abulafia (the nickname of Belbo’s computer), and the
index card system built by Casaubon. Reading this, I only imagined, how their
work would have been so much easier were they born on this century, with all
the search engines on the internet….
I did not
know whether all the theories (the connection of those hundreds of sects) in
this book were historically true, or at least there were people who wrote them,
not just Eco’s invention. If it was true, then Eco himself is a great
researcher, and to craft all those conspiracy theories into a thriller is great.
But if he invented some of those, then it is a geniusness.
But this
book is not all about conspiracy theory and semiotics, it is also about human’s
seek of existence. During their working together, Belbo told Casaubon his bitter
past. From his childhood he was never a brave boy. He often missed his chances
because he was always a doubter; a boy who could not make decision. Later he
grew as a loser; he lost better chances not because he failed but because he
thought about lost before even trying. So, with The Plan, Belbo was in quest of
his existence, more than a quest of the secret of Templar. But not only Belbo
who has been changed by The Plan; Casaubon too, finally saw that Wisdom is the
most important thing, not knowledge. Many people pursue knowledge, and when
they reach the highest level, only then that they realize it was vain. And when
the realization comes, it is perhaps already too late; you have been chasing
the unreal things while ignoring the most important ones.
While I was skeptical
during the whole thriller, I was amazed by the ending. I have learned that Eco
was a Roman Catholic, but when he was in college, he left Catholic Church and
his believe in God [source: wiki].
His cynical towards Catholic Church is obvious in this book, but I don’t think he completely stopped believing in God. The way he talked about the Supreme Wisdom
and the vanity of chasing knowledge is one signal that, on the contrary, he
believes in God, but perhaps, dislikes the religion. Whatever the truth is, I
think Umberto Eco is one of the biggest authors in our post-modernism literary
world.
Three and a
half stars for this extraordinary, although quite frustrating to read, piece of
work!
~~~~~~~~~
I read translated edition, by Bentang Pustaka
This book is counted
as:
7th book for 2014 TBR Pile Challenge
3rd book for Historical Fiction Challenge (for 2014)
73rd book for 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
