The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

To sum up this unique book in one short sentence is nearly impossible; but if I must, I would say that this book is about everything and nothing. Confused? So will you be, if I have interested you, by this review, to read it. By everything, I meant that this book covers wide and various (read: complex) topics around 14th century. I'm not actually familiar with this era, and must grope throughout the book to try to understand the historical background. Italy during the Middle Age seemed to be full of power struggle between the state and the Church; disputes between various orders inside Catholic Church; heresy, mystics, and thirst of theological study.

Our protagonists are William of Baskerville—a Franciscan friar and an inquisitor, and Adso of Melk—a Benedictine novice who helps William as his secretary. They came as guests at a Benedictine monastery, where, in a week, a theological disputation between the Pope and Friars Minor who was suspected of heresy, was going to be held. Unfortunately, a monk has been mysteriously found dead, and the abbot asked William's help to investigate the case, which seemed to be related to the monastery's library—a magnificent one with ancient manuscripts, with a labyrinth inside, but was full of dark mysteries. Within the seven days of unfolding the mystery, five more monks were dead—murdered—and many layers, signs, and paths began unfolding but leading, apparently, to nowhere. With it, the book also speaks about many heavy topics which seemed unrelated, confusing, and finally ended nowhere. This was what I meant earlier by 'everything but nothing'.

The magnificent (probably the biggest in the whole country) monastery owns a large collection of manuscripts from scientists and theologians from around the world (let alone important relics and valuable treasures hidden inside their vault). It should have been the centre of the civilization; but it mysteriously guarded from anyone, restricted, even from the monks, by some complicated designs and a dangerous labyrinth. They were scholar-monks, but forbidden to access of certain books. **spoiler alert** - In the end, it was burned down by the villain—library and the whole monastery; nothing survived. Everything, then nothing. **spoiler ends**

In this book, too, there were debates around poverty in the Catholic Church—whether or not Jesus disciples and monks were allowed to have personal possessions, etc. (without final conclusion and not related to the murder). They were also debating whether or not monks were allowed to laugh or joke. The later finally led to Aristotle's missing second book: Poetics, which spoke about tragedies and comedies. This book seemed to be the main cause of the murders; however, just as William and Adso seemed to have solved the mystery and found the murderer, we found out that the suspect did not do the murders, and some of the cases were not really murders. Again, everything, but means nothing.

In short, this book contains some chaotic ideas—some are true but the rest are false, and Eco let us readers to have our own opinion and perspective, and finally make our own conclusion. I am personally interested in two aspects. First, that knowledge should be opened to the world. Instead of banning (dangerous) books, the authority (country, school, parents, etc.) should have given us freedom to read, but with proper education. That way we are trained to sort the good from the bad from our readings. Second, the correlation of the heresy issue with the cause of the murders. Both are so relevant to the modern terrorism which is mostly rooted from religious people. Piety and heresy are divided only by a very thin line; sometimes a pious man and a murderer both love God, but the one humbly seeks and follows God's will, while the other only focus on his own will (arrogantly thinks it correspond with God’s). After finishing this book, I remembered Pontius Pilate's 'what is truth’? This book answered it beautifully; that love needs humility in order to be true, without that, it can lead to evil, destruction, and death.

Final verdict: 4 to 5

Foucault’s Pendulum

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:

7^th book for 2014 TBR Pile Challenge

3^rd book for Historical Fiction Challenge (for 2014)

73^rd book for 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Baudolino

“Dalam suatu sejarah, kebenaran kecil-kecil bisa diubah sedemikian rupa sehingga muncul kebenaran yang lebih besar.”

Masih ingat Forrest Gump? Baudolino akan mengingatkan anda pada Forrest Gump. Bukan pada keluguan Gump, melainkan pada model cerita yang dipakai Winston Groom untuk menyisipkan tokoh Forrest Gump, yang notabene adalah tokoh fiksi, ke dalam berbagai peristiwa sejarah yang benar-benar terjadi. Umberto Eco dengan brilian juga merangkai kisah Baudolino dengan cara yang sama. Bedanya, Eco menyisipkan tokoh fiktif Baudolino ke dalam sejarah abad pertengahan, khususnya di sekitar abad ke 12.

Baudolino adalah putra Gagliaudo yang tinggal di Frascheta, Italia. Dari kecil ia mampu berbicara bahasa asing hanya dengan mendengar beberapa kata dalam suatu bahasa. Namun bakat Baudolino yang paling “hebat” adalah berbohong. Kedua kemampuannya itu berguna saat ia bertemu dengan seorang Jerman bernama Frederick dalam sebuah penyerbuan Jerman ke Terdona. Belakangan terungkap bahwa Frederick ini adalah Frederick “Barbarossa”, sang Raja Jerman pada tahun 1152 yang kelak diangkat menjadi Kaisar Roma oleh Paus pada 1155. Karena kecerdasannya (separuhnya adalah hasil bualan tentu saja!), maka Frederick lalu mengangkat Baudolino menjadi anaknya.

Selanjutnya Baudolino meninggalkan ayahnya dan mengikuti Kaisar Frederick I ini kemana pun ia pergi, sementara Frederick mengajarinya baca-tulis. Saat itu Frederick baru saja mengalahkan Terdona, dan sedang kembali ke Jerman. Itulah awal kisah Baudolino yang lalu ia ceritakan kepada seseorang bernama Niketas.

Dalam sejarah, Niketas Choniates adalah seorang sejarawan Yunani yang pernah menjadi kanselir dari Basileus (Raja) Byzantium. Pertemuan Baudolino dan Niketas terjadi ketika pecah Perang Salib yang ke-4 di Konstantinopel pada tahun 1204 yang meruntuhkan kerajaan Byzantium. Dalam keadaan kritis, Baudolino menyelamatkan Niketas dari pembunuhan oleh para Saracen (istilah yang mengacu pada bangsa Arab). Maka dalam proses menyelamatkan diri dari perang, Baudolino pun menceritakan seluruh kisahnya pada Niketas dari semenjak ia tinggal di istana Frederick I, agar Niketas kelak dapat menulisnya sebagai sejarah.

ilustrasi saat hancurnya Konstantinopel

Lalu kisah petualangan Baudolino pun mengalir mengikuti alur sejarah, di mana Baudolino tampaknya selalu “tak sengaja” hadir dan terseret dalam peristiwa-peristiwa besar yang tercatat dalam sejarah. Menjadi saksi perebutan Terdona oleh Frederick dan terlibat dalam Perang Salib 2, hanyalah dua di antara banyak petualangan serunya. Lebih unik lagi, Baudolino seolah turut mengubah jalannya sejarah, bukan dengan tindakan heroisme melainkan justru dengan kebohongannya.

Ketika ia dititipkan pada Kardinal Otto von Preising untuk belajar, Baudolino terlibat dalam penyusunan sebuah dokumen kuno. Saat itu Otto sedang melanjutkan menulis chronica sive historia de duabus civitatibus, dokumen yang mengisahkan sejarah dua kota: Yerusalem dan Babel. Malangnya chronica itu tiba-tiba menghilang sehingga Otto harus menulis ulang. Frederich lalu menyuruh Otto memasukkan pujian terhadap Frederich ke chronic yang baru itu, agar Frederich dikenang sepanjang masa, yang akhirnya dikenal sebagai Gesta Friderici Imperatoris (Kebaikan-Kebaikan Kaisar Frederick).

Tanpa diduga, ternyata Baudolino lah biang keladi chronica yang hilang itu. Ia ingin sekali belajar menulis namun tak memiliki perkamen kosong. Maka ia mengambil sembarang perkamen (yang ternyata adalah chronica itu!), mengerik tulisannya sehingga ia punya perkamen kosong untuk ia tulisi. Bayangkan! Perkamen itu kelak dihilangkan Baudolino, karena itulah kini ia harus menceritakan kisahnya pada Niketas berdasarkan ingatannya belaka. Ingatan seorang pembohong yang penuh kebohongan dan tak dapat dipercaya.

Sebelum Otto meninggal, ia mengamanatkan Baudolino untuk mencari seorang raja atau imam yang hingga saat itu tak diketahui keberadaannya, dan hanya dikenal sebagai Prester John atau Presbyter John. Dalam kenyataannya, Presbyter John dipercaya sebagai Yohanes dari Patmos, penulis Kitab Wahyu dalam Alkitab Perjanjian Baru. Sementara ada juga yang mengatakan bahwa Yohanes dari Patmos dan Yohanes sang rasul Yesus adalah satu orang yang sama. Belum diketahui pasti hingga sekarang teori mana yang benar.

Prester John sendiri merupakan legenda yang merujuk pada sebuah kerajaan di daratan Asia (mungkin di India atau Ethiopia), di mana umat Kristiani hidup tanpa cacat sesuai perintah Allah. Ada yang mengatakan Prester John adalah keturunan dari orang Majus (tiga orang asing yang mengikuti bintang Daud sehingga menemukan tempat Yesus lahir di Betlehem). Legenda yang simpang siur ini menjadi sasaran empuk Umberto Eco untuk menempatkan Baudolino.

Sesuai amanat Otto, Baudolino harus menemukan Presbyter John untuk dipertemukan dengan Frederick agar Perang Salib tidak berkelanjutan. Namun karena Baudolino pun tak mampu menemukan Presbyter John, maka sesuai karakternya ia pun mulai "menciptakan" si Presbyter John ini. Ia mulai dengan "merancang" istana yang sesuai untuk Presbyter John, lalu mengarang surat dari Presbyter John untuk Frederick. Bahkan ia “menciptakan” Grasal (Holy Grail) yaitu cawan yang konon dipakai Yesus saat Perjamuan terakhir, yang menjadi legenda namun “dihidupkan” oleh Baudolino. Konyol juga mengikuti petualangan Baudolino ini, dan dengan membaca buku ini anda akan dibuat benar-benar kehilangan arah antara kenyataan dan bualan.

Lewat kisah konyol Baudolino, sebenarnya kita juga diajak untuk belajar sejarah. Lihat saja ketika Baudolino mengisahkan tentang Frederick I pada Niketas, secara tak langsung kita akan mengetahui bagaimana Frederick I yang orang Jerman bisa dinobatkan menjadi Kaisar Roma oleh Paus. Bagaimana proses kelahiran kota Alessandria dan kanonisasi (proses menjadikan seseorang santo) Charlemagne. Selain itu kita juga diajak melihat bagaimana keserakahan dan kesombongan para penguasa abad itu, baik negara maupun gereja. Bagaimana Frederick berusaha menjadi yang paling berkuasa, hingga menghalalkan segala cara. Dari peperangan, pembunuhan, hingga kebohongan.

Pada akhirnya kurasa Umberto Eco ingin mengingatkan kita bahwa di dunia ini segalanya berlaku terbalik. Kebohongan dan hal-hal fana menjadi sesuatu yang dipercayai manusia. Sementara kebenaran yang sesungguhnya justru dianggap absurd. Hal yang sama terjadi pada Baudolino, dalam petualangannya, tiap kali ia menciptakan kebohongan, kebohongan itu akan membawa kesuksesan. Sebaliknya tiap kali mengatakan kebenaran (yang jumlahnya dapat dihitung jari), ia mengalami kesialan, seperti yang ia katakan di hlm 745 buku ini: “Kau lihat sendiri. Pertama kali dalam hidupku aku mengatakan yang benar dan hanya kebenaran, mereka melempariku dengan batu.”

Dan inilah jawaban Niketas kepadanya: “Itu juga terjadi dengan para rasul.” Dan memang itulah tantangan bagi kita yang ingin melakukan kebenaran, kita takkan pernah diterima oleh dunia karena dunia memang lebih suka pada kebohongan.

Baudolino adalah sebuah kisah yang lengkap. Anda akan menemukan sejarah, kekonyolan, mitos dan legenda, sekaligus misteri dalam sebuah buku setebal 750 hlm ini. Sayang penerjemahannya kurang bagus, tapi mungkin itu disebabkan kalimat dan paragraf-paragraf yang terlalu panjang. Di bagian akhir cerita jadi agak membosankan dan tak masuk akal, namun Umberto Eco berhasil menutup kisah ini dengan sesuatu yang bermakna. Tetap saja, dengan semua kekurangan itu, tiga bintang kuberikan untuk Baudolino!

Judul: Baudolino

Penulis: Umberto Eco

Penerbit: Bentang Pustaka

Terbit: Juni 2006

Tebal: 750 hlm