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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
This book is a work of art. Questions the notion of truth in a time when someone questioning truth was considered heretical. Twists in real historical events in a fictitious murder mystery, but really what it is all about is understanding the importance of truth, pursuit of knowledge and the importance of BOOKS. Absolutely amazing.
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Un libro no fácil de leer, pero con una excelente novela policiaca... o monasteril... como lo quieras leer. De los libros que se deben leer 1 vez en la vida!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had no idea what I was getting into when I was sent this book. However, I now know where this book belongs in my heart, and in history.
This is the quintessential text on the language of postmodernism - post-structuralism. William, whom just so happens to be a teacher in Paris (the home to the post-structuralist movement), so beautiful and effortlessly teaches adso the methods of critique, Deweyian inquiry, and a reject of modernist doctrine (what a fascinating tale to situate within debates on religion).
So many times throughout the book, William employs Derridian deconstruction, sausserian semiotics, and the foucauldian intersection of power, knowledge, and performativity. A masterpiece in these areas.
William teaches adso the dangers of ascribing universal laws of motion to things like heresy, reformers, the simple, sin, righteousness, piety, and women. Nuance and the pursuit of truth are lost in a world where everything is knowable and only existing knowledge, not inquiry, can teach you of the essence of worldly phenomena.
“A single body can be cold or hot, sweet or bitter, wet or dry, in one place-and not in another place. How can I discover the universal bond that orders all things if I cannot lift a finger without creating an infinity of new entities? For with such a movement all the relations of position between my finger and all other objects change. The relations are the ways in which my mind perceives the connections between single entities, but what is the guarantee that this is universal and stable?" I mean good fucking lord this book is incredible.
The basic tenant of post structuralism that’s heavily featured in this book is that words are not signs with fixed meaning. This point becomes over emphasized in the conclusion when William discovers the unknown book he so fervently chased after:
“We will show how the ridiculousness of actions is born from the likening of the best to the worst and vice versa, from arousing surprise through deceit, from the impossible, from violation of the laws of nature, from the irrelevant and the inconsequent, from the debasing of the charac-ters, from the use of comical and vulgar pantomime, from disharmony, from the choice of the least worthy things. We will then show how the ridiculousness of speech is born from the misunderstandings of similar words for different things and different words for similar things, from garrulity and repetition, from play on words, from diminutives, from errors of pronunciation, and from barbarisms.”
Additionally, William misunderstands the other monks by misattributing signs to the the things they say, and missing key clues to the mystery:
“Alinardo was raving about a mysterious enemy who had been sent to seek books in Silos (my curiosity peaked when he said this enemy had returned prematurely to darkness: at first it might have seemed the man he was speaking of had died young, but he was referring to your blindness)”
In similar display of this theme, William falsely attributed the deaths at the abbey to following the same patterns laid out in scripture. But this only takes him further from the truth. Reinforcing the postmodernist notion that to asblcribe actually existing phenomenon to metaphysical patterns observed in essentialist theories of the world will only lead to dead ends. Wow. Magical.
If you or your friend don’t understand postmodernism (that’s okay no one does) just give this book a read!
This is the quintessential text on the language of postmodernism - post-structuralism. William, whom just so happens to be a teacher in Paris (the home to the post-structuralist movement), so beautiful and effortlessly teaches adso the methods of critique, Deweyian inquiry, and a reject of modernist doctrine (what a fascinating tale to situate within debates on religion).
So many times throughout the book, William employs Derridian deconstruction, sausserian semiotics, and the foucauldian intersection of power, knowledge, and performativity. A masterpiece in these areas.
William teaches adso the dangers of ascribing universal laws of motion to things like heresy, reformers, the simple, sin, righteousness, piety, and women. Nuance and the pursuit of truth are lost in a world where everything is knowable and only existing knowledge, not inquiry, can teach you of the essence of worldly phenomena.
“A single body can be cold or hot, sweet or bitter, wet or dry, in one place-and not in another place. How can I discover the universal bond that orders all things if I cannot lift a finger without creating an infinity of new entities? For with such a movement all the relations of position between my finger and all other objects change. The relations are the ways in which my mind perceives the connections between single entities, but what is the guarantee that this is universal and stable?" I mean good fucking lord this book is incredible.
The basic tenant of post structuralism that’s heavily featured in this book is that words are not signs with fixed meaning. This point becomes over emphasized in the conclusion when William discovers the unknown book he so fervently chased after:
“We will show how the ridiculousness of actions is born from the likening of the best to the worst and vice versa, from arousing surprise through deceit, from the impossible, from violation of the laws of nature, from the irrelevant and the inconsequent, from the debasing of the charac-ters, from the use of comical and vulgar pantomime, from disharmony, from the choice of the least worthy things. We will then show how the ridiculousness of speech is born from the misunderstandings of similar words for different things and different words for similar things, from garrulity and repetition, from play on words, from diminutives, from errors of pronunciation, and from barbarisms.”
Additionally, William misunderstands the other monks by misattributing signs to the the things they say, and missing key clues to the mystery:
“Alinardo was raving about a mysterious enemy who had been sent to seek books in Silos (my curiosity peaked when he said this enemy had returned prematurely to darkness: at first it might have seemed the man he was speaking of had died young, but he was referring to your blindness)”
In similar display of this theme, William falsely attributed the deaths at the abbey to following the same patterns laid out in scripture. But this only takes him further from the truth. Reinforcing the postmodernist notion that to asblcribe actually existing phenomenon to metaphysical patterns observed in essentialist theories of the world will only lead to dead ends. Wow. Magical.
If you or your friend don’t understand postmodernism (that’s okay no one does) just give this book a read!
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This took longer to read than I had expected. There is a good story but a lot of details about the 14th century factions and schisms in the Catholic church, which was slow going. The story is set over one week as a former Inquisitor, tries to get to the bottom of a series of mysterious deaths at an Abbey, where the library holds the clues and a deadly labyrinth.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense