PLAYFUL:An Opening GambolWhile I first read this novel in 2009, I bought a second-hand copy in May, 2013 for $7, which I thought was a bargain price for the degree of pleasure it's given me.Only when I was half way through did I notice a sheet of white paper slipped into the last pages.It shows four hand-drawn circles, each of which contains the name of a city and a number. If the numbers represent years, they cover 21 years. If you add 2 and 1, you get the number 3. If you examine the gaps between the years, you get the numbers 11, 4 and 6. If you add these numbers, you get 21, which when added together, comes to 3. If you add 1, 1, 4 and 6, you get 12, which when added, comes to 3. If the numbers are not years and you add them together, you get 8,015. If you add these numbers, you get 14, and if you add 1 and 4, you get 5. If you add 3 and 5, you get 8, which is exactly twice the number of circles on the sheet.Here is a photo of the sheet:I've been back to the bookshop where I bought my copy, but the owner wasn't able to remember who she had bought the book from.I'm not sure how many of these cities get mentioned in the novel [all but Madrid, as it turns out, unless I'm mistaken]. However, I've since discovered the following facts with the assistance of Professor Googlewiki.Manchester is the home of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows in England, from which some Rosicrucian Orders derive their charter.Madrid is the home of Gran Logia AMORC, Jurisdicción de Lengua Española para Europa, Africa y Australasia.The Rosicrucian Order, Christian Order of the Hermetic Gold & Rose+Cross is based in Los Angeles.In Paris, the Temple was a medieval fortress, located in what is now the 3rd arrondissement. The Knights Templar originally constructed it as their European headquarters.If you have any ideas about the significance of this sheet of paper, please message me or post them in the comments below, with a spoiler warning. Alternatively, please send them with a stamped, addressed envelope containing US$20 processing fee [plus any gratuity you are happy with] to my home address.If you're the first to work out some sort of solution that convinces me of its authenticity, I'll post a photo of something that might absolutely amaze you.P.S. Brian's hypothesis has convinced me.How Foucault's Pendulum Works (Maybe)1. Imagine the Earth is a perfectly spherical hollow ball (it is, you know, or is it?).2. Imagine that a steel cable 6,371 kilometers long is attached to the bottom side of the North Pole. This is more or less the radius of the Earth.3. Imagine that a really bloody heavy lead bob is attached to the end of the cable.4. Let's imagine that the Earth isn't tilted off its axis.5. Let's say we're sitting underground on a couch somewhere north of the Equator, and we drag the cable and bob over to the inside of the sphere, then we let it go, so that it starts swinging through the centre of the Earth and over to the other side.6. Let's assume that the bob swings in the one plane, a constant relative to the space outside the sphere of the Earth, e.g., as measured relative to the stars.6. Let's try to do this very carefully, just in case it swings back to exactly where we're sitting on the couch.7. But it doesn't! (See steps 10 and 11.)8. Let's assume that the bob swings so quickly that it takes an hour to swing back to the side it started (i.e., a complete cycle).9. Let's assume that the Earth is rotating once every 24 hours (it is, you know, or is it?).10. Every hour, the earth moves 15 degrees around its own 360 cycle (360 degrees/24 hours = 15 degrees).11. By the time the bob returns to our side of the Earth, it touches the inside of the sphere 15 degrees away from our couch.12. Repeat another 23 times, and the bob comes full circle and smashes our couch.13. Fortunately it doesn't smash us as well, because by now we understand how Foucault's Pendulum works, and we got off the couch just in time.14. If we map the path of the bob, it will look something like this (except that there would be 24 repetitions instead of eight):15. If we mapped 24 repetitions, the map would look more like a rose. Hence, in mathematics, this type of map is referred to as a "rose" or "rhodonea curve", and each half of a repetition (from the circumference to the centre) is called a "petal".16. Hence, in "Foucault's Pendulum", Umberto Eco takes us from "The Name of the Rose" to "The Shape of the Rose".17. It is possible that everything I've said to you so far is false.SERIOUS:The Quest for Happiness"Foucault’s Pendulum" is at once a Post-Modernist and an Existentialist novel.Umberto Eco’s focus is not just Religion. It’s any form of ideology: Fascism, the Resistance, God, Socialism.For Eco, these ideologies or belief systems are “Fixed Points” that determine our relationship with the cosmos.While individual lives might be relatively chaotic, in constant motion, the belief systems are supposed to fix and secure our relationship with the universe. They create order.The vehicles through which the novel explores these issues are the Word, the Book, the Manifesto, the Strategy, the Plan, even the Five Year Plan.All of these things exist, because we don’t quite know what we need or want. We’re not yet happy, nor do we really know how to get happy. Each one is an apparatus which is offered to us to help in our quest for happiness.The Credulity of the Non-BelieverEco loosely quotes G.K. Chesterton as follows:"When men stop believing in God, it isn’t that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything."There is some uncertainty about the actual origin and wording of this quotation. I wondered whether it had simply been translated from English to Italian and then back to English, without checking the original. However, the more accurate version of it is:"When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything."Filling the VoidReligion maintains that God exists everywhere for us and that "the void does not exist". However, its opponents acknowledge that there is a void, but argue that it should not exist:"A void had been created, and it has to be filled!"What is to be done?Somehow, the Book (whether or not it contains the "Holy Word") has become the vehicle with which to fill the void, create meaning, document beliefs and practices, and address the need to be happy.EsotericaMajor Religions have their own Holy Book. However, side by side with them are heretical, esoteric and occult works that cater to the same need.Many fraternities and orders have grown up around these books. [I wonder what proportion of the members are female?] Their members derive order from their order. In the case of the more military orders, the members also get their orders from their order.To the extent that these books and beliefs have been perceived as heretical or threatening by mainstream religious institutions, a culture of secrecy has grown up around them, hence the term "secret societies".The Mystery DanceThere is often a sense in which some level of mystery and imprecision needs to be preserved:"The Templars' mental confusion makes them indecipherable."Because heretical beliefs are erroneous in the eyes of the Church, Eco implies that error is almost a secondary issue within esoterica:"An error can be the unrecognised bearer of truth. True esotericism does not fear contradiction."What’s more important is the question and the mystery, as opposed to the answer and the certainty.A secret remains enchanting until it has been revealed, at which point it has been emptied of enchantment.Eco even speculates that the secret might be that there is no secret, as long as those outside the order believe those inside know something they don't know.Secrecy is more important than the substance of the secret. Perhaps what is most valuable is the bond between the members of the order.The secret might simply be the framework or glue that initially connects them. Once the order is in place, it can survive of its own accord.A Post-Modernist PrankThe Post-Modern aspects of the novel derive from the narrative in which its three protagonists (Casaubon, Belbo and Diotallevi) resolve to fabricate a work of esoterica, so that a specialist publisher for which they work can capitalize on a credulous market ("the Plan")."Foucault’s Pendulum" becomes a novel about the invention and construction of a work of non-fiction that is actually fictitious, perhaps one that even seeks to "arrive at the truth through the painstaking reconstruction of a false text.".The work needs to have words and facts and connections.Like the bond of a secret society, the power of words emerges from their connection:"Any fact becomes important when it’s connected to another. The connection changes the perspective; it leads you to think that every detail of the world, every voice, every word written or spoken has more than its literal meaning, that it tells us of a Secret. The rule is simple: Suspect, only suspect. You can read subtexts even in a traffic sign that says ‘No littering.’ ""Invent, Invent Wildly"The protagonists discover that their creative process follows certain apparently spontaneous rules.The foundation stone is:"Concepts are connected by analogy. There is no way to decide at once whether an analogy is good or bad, because to some degree everything is connected to everything else."That said, readers are more comfortable with the conventional, with what they have heard before, with facts with which they are already familiar:"The connections must not be original. They must have been made before, and the more often the better, by others. Only then do the crossings seem true, because they are obvious."The connections can be crazy, as long as the facts are recognised.The protagonists are urged to:"Invent, invent wildly, paying no attention to connections, till it becomes impossible to summarize.""Tout se tient" in the end. If "tout se tient" in the end, the connection works. So it’s right. It's right because it works.This concept and phrase is usually attributed to the semiotician Saussure. In language, every element connects to, supports and is supported by every other element.You can also see Eco's theories about how we read influencing not just his own novel, but the Book, the Plan that his protagonists are authoring. Protagonists and SpectatorsThe characters' level of participation and commitment to the project varies:"[Belbo] would never be a protagonist, he decided to become, instead, an intelligent spectator." He can’t write fiction, but he can fabricate non-fiction. He also maintains a diary in which he fictionalizes his past and present.Ironically, despite his lack of creative self-confidence, Belbo remains a major protagonist in Eco’s novel:"Fear forced him to be brave. Inventing, he had created the principle of reality."Existentialism, Doubt and ConfidenceBelbo's realism results from courage, which in turn strengthens Casaubon’s resolve.Casaubon learns the real source of Belbo’s lack of confidence, an event in his childhood when he had to fill in for a trumpeter in an impromptu public performance.Casaubon concludes that there are for all of us certain decisive moments when we have to confront the essence of our character and fate. How we deal with these moments determines the happiness in the rest of our lives.These moments don’t necessarily have anything to do with God, Fate or the supernatural. Nor do they depend on the execution of Plans. They do have to deal with self-doubt and our inner reserves, both of energy and of insight.These discoveries force Casaubon to question his adherence to the principles of the Enlightenment (including Cartesian Doubt)."I had always thought that doubting was a scientific duty, but now I came to distrust the very masters who had taught me to doubt..."I devoted myself to Renaissance philosophers and I discovered that the men of secular modernity, once they had emerged from the darkness of the Middle Ages, had found nothing better to do than devote themselves to cabala and magic."Eat a PeachCasaubon has his own existential "trumpet moment" at the end of the novel, when he must learn to play with the cards that Fate has dealt him:"...yet, like Belbo when he played the trumpet, when I bit into the peach, I understood the Kingdom and was one with it."Ultimately, it’s a moment that only the individual can handle. We have to figure it out for ourselves. There is no Plan, there is no Map."Kill me, then, but I won’t tell you there’s no Map. If you can’t figure it out for yourself, tough shit.""Foucault's Pendulum" takes us on this journey with consummate intelligence, traditional, esoteric and pop cultural allusiveness, literary skill and humour.The Hollow ObeliskAFFECTIONATE:Casaubon’s Last Letter to His Wife, LiaAnimula vagula blandula, Hospes comesque corporis *It hurts me to think I might not see you again. It was all my fault. I was seduced away from you, not by another woman, but by another Other, something I thought was beautiful, because I was helping to construct it."People are hungry for plans, for cosmic solutions," you said. "If you create one, they’ll descend on it like wolves. If you make one, they’ll believe it. It’s just make believe, Pow, it’s wrong."You always knew the book was superficial, that it was a fake, that there was no truth contained between its covers. But I made them all believe it had both truth and depth. Deep down, I knew they desired what this book had to offer: mystery, secrecy, answers, certainty. Even though once they had read it, the mystery would dissipate and they would be left satisfied, but empty, with nothing left, nothing new to strive for. Neither grail nor quest.My audience was weak, unlike you, who are strong. You don’t need answers from outside. You’ve found them within. In your own body."Oh, I almost forgot," you said. "I’m pregnant."I remember looking at you just before you told me. You were caressing your belly, your breasts, even your ear lobes. I was oblivious. I couldn’t understand these moves you were making. I had always thought of you as so slim and supple. Now I picture you as buxom, rosy-cheeked and healthy – I should have realised that you were pregnant. You were trying to solve my problem. I was single-minded about that. You spoke confidently. You radiated a serene wisdom. You were luminous. You illuminated both of us. I realise now it might have been your maternal instinct, a fledgling matriarchal authority, that there were three of us present - you, me and Guilio – and that you were speaking for all three.I know you will take good care of Guilio. Please let him know I will always love him.* Little soul, you charming little wanderer, my body's guest and partner - HadrianA Letter from Lia to Guilio on the Occasion of His Thirteenth BirthdayMy dearest son, Giulio, your father wasn’t born a wise man, but he died a wise man. He didn’t plan to be wise or to die when he did, but in many ways it was the result of a Plan, even if it wasn’t only his Plan.Your father died when he was ready. He died at peace. He died as soon as he had attained peace. He attained his peace when finally he understood his place in the world. He died when there was nothing left to learn and nothing left to understand. By the time he died, he had learned his place in the cosmos, on this earth, on this rock that is our home.Your father, Casaubon, was a philosophical man. In the end, the wisdom that he had finally learned gave him great certainty and comfort. You were a big part of it. You gave him certainty and comfort, he called you his philosopher’s stone, that’s how much you meant to him, but equally he hoped and knew that the wisdom he had gained would pass on to you.This is what he learned and what he wanted me to tell you on his behalf. Having learned, he wanted to teach you.There is no map. There is no plan. There is only life. There is only us. Your father has gone already. And one day, when I am gone, there will only be you left. But you will have your wife and your children, and each of them will be your philosophers’ stone. Life will pass through your father and me to you and then from you and your wife to your children. These are the connections between us.What your father learned is no secret, yet few get to know it in their lives. Too many people look without success for secrets, for profundity, for inspiration. Life is only as complicated as you make it. Happiness is an open secret, it’s within you, it’s in your soul, and all you have to do is open it.I know how happy you have become, how happy you are. I am so proud of you, and I know your father would be too. We are grateful to you, our son, for the happiness you have given us and those who surround you.SOUNDTRACK:Beth Orton - "Sweetest Decline"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjF6ak..."She weaves secrets in her hairThe whispers are not hers to share.She's deep as a well.She's deep as a well.What's the use in regretsThey're just things we haven't done yetWhat are regrets?They're just lessons we haven't learned yet."Beth Orton & M. Ward - "Buckets of Rain" (Bob Dylan cover)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJ2hc...John Cale - "I Keep A Close Watch"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UX_Py...This video is an hilarious juxtaposition of lyrics and imagery, just like the novel.dEUS - "Nothing Really Ends"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbmBUU..."The plan it wasn't much of a planI just started walkingI had enough of this old townAnd nothing else to doIt was one of those nightsYou wonder how nobody diedWe started talkingYou didn't come here to have funYou said: "well I just came for you""dEUS - "Nothing Really Ends" [Live]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO_SwO...READING NOTES:I transferred my reading notes and updates to My Writings here:https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...
This was my second attempt at Umberto Eco's novel, the first time I only got through about half of the book before giving it up in favor of, simply put- more "exciting" books. I picked it up again because I had to read a book about secret societies for the Summer Challenge on The Next Best Book Club and the only alternative was Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (and I'm not that keen on Dan Brown's writing style). In the end, once I tried to think everything through, the book proved to be amazing and completely worth my time and patience.i.I think that one of the things that drives people away from this book is the fact that they take it much to seriously, its charm lies in mockery and sarcasm. The fact that Eco mocks popular historical thrillers is undoubted and many readers pick up on that, or at least expect the book (written by an European scholar) to be like that, but what a lot of people don't see is that the mockery expands much beyond that. More than a book about secret societies, it's a book about books- writing books, editing books, publishing book, reading books. After a lifetime spent making the world a juster place through editing books, Belbo buys a personal computer and names it Abulafia not because he wants to play around with Kabbalah, but because he wants to write. They years haven't made him give up his teenage dream of becoming a writer. Diotallevi on the other hand is the editor. He loves his job because it allows him to pretend he's a Kabbalist, the same way the fact that he's an orphan allows him to he claim/pretend to be a Jew. Mr Garamond introduces us to the world of vanity publishers and you can't help but laugh at the things he says. Actually, I think you should laugh at all the characters because they all take themselves much too seriously -they're all intellectual independent middle aged men, yet they all behave like children. The first three hundred pages of the book where almost nothing happens are much easier to digest if you look at things in a lighthearted manner, instead of trying to find some complicated connections between Eco's novel and Foucault's philosophy (and by the way, he did say that the pun was not intended, but he's a very cunning author so I have my doubts).But, of course, Eco mocks you too, for being a reader of historical thrillers and for expecting his book to be an exciting read. I'm almost sure he feels a great deal of pleasure whenever somebody tells him the book is boring and that he should've gotten a better editor, the author doesn't feel the need to hold the reader's attention because he doesn't want to produce a "page turner", he wants to tease you. Although it was published before The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, I think we as witnesses of their phenomenal popularity can enjoy Eco's book all the more. Because in Foucault's Pendulum we encounter all kinds of people who blindly believe in all kinds of books. How many people do you know who believe that Dan Brown's novels hold some truth?ii.If you look at the book even deep you discover it's very ingenious and funny. I'm quite proud of my theory about Casaubon the narrator-character and judging by the book's complicated structure (memories are involuntary) also the author (and editor) of the text. The first thing that doesn't tie in with the plot is the book's structure itself. When did Casaubon have the time to write such a complicated long novel? He says he arrives at the the Canepas house/mannor at six in the evening and that as he's writing the last two chapter of the book it's already three a.m. But how is it possible to write a 600 pages novel in 9 hours? The answer is very simple- it's not. Let's assume for the sake of the argument that Casaubon only has to write 500 pages and the rest are Belbo's documents, let's also assume that each pages has on average 250 words and we'll reach the conclusion that the novel has 125 000 words. A good average handwriting speed is 20 wpm, thus 1200 words per hour, at which you could write 10 800 words in 9 hours. Casaubon couldn't finish the book in 9 hours even if he wrote ten times faster than that. Also odd are the numerous refrences to books and scientific papers, unless you're Funes you just can't remember Latin title of book if it has more than 20 words.I don't think that Umberto Eco can be that sloppy about his writings, I read his Six Walks in the Fictional Woods a few weeks ago and I simply can't imagine how somebody who understands how important time and temporal clues are in a story to completely ignore time in his. I've read that some people think Casaubon is so caught in the Plan and that he imagines/hallucinates all the events in the last part of the novel, but I prefer a more innocent theory. I think Casaubon really is an unreliable narrator, but in the sense that the whole story he tells is false. Obviously, we usually think that fiction is made up, but here the narrator is trying to trick us into believing that the story he tells is true at least in the context of the novel. Moreover, Foucault's Pendulum tells so much about people who thought books were true, when they were actually made up. Either way, I think Eco manages to make the reader a character in the novel beautifully because whether you believe Casaubon is telling the truth or that he's trying to trick you you've fallen under the books spell- either by believing everything you read, or by seeing conspiracies and theories everywhere. There are more than one way of reading a book, the first time I tried reading Foucault's Pendulum I read it as a "serious" book, but when I picked it up again I looked at everything with a more incredulous eyes and excepted sarcasm and jokes, I hope that in the future I'll read it again and find something else in it.
What do You think about Foucault's Pendulum (2007)?
I read a lot, and the people around me are used to seeing a new book in my hand every day or couple of days. Naturally, they ask me what I'm reading, usually in a way that implies I should divulge more than just the title and the author, which are plainly visible on the cover. How do I respond when I'm reading something so sublime and transcendental as Foucault's Pendulum? It defies ordinary description of plot, because Umberto Eco has again unified his narrative with his themes and characters to create a complex masterpiece. Even the hook on the back of my paperback edition doesn't do it justice.At its core, Foucault's Pendulum is a fable about conspiracies. It is a cautionary tale that demonstrates what happens when people begin to believe in conspiracy theories; lending credence lends life, which can have unfortunate consequences for everyone involved. The main characters begin as sceptics, working for a publishing house that's allied with a vanity press, who begin constructing a fictitious Plan by connecting seemingly-disparate historical facts. When organizations and individuals begin showing up seeming to be acting in accordance with this Plan, however, our protagonists realize that if you make up a Plan, even a false one, someone might try to execute it.This book is not about conspiracy theories though. It has been compared to The Da Vinci Code, and of course there are similarities; both books deal with Templar mythology, for instance. Foucault's Pendulum is so much more though. It isn't a mystery about a conspiracy theory; it's a mystery that looks into the effects of conspiracy theories on otherwise rational, scholarly people. The narrative parallels the characters' journey in its own structure, beginning with a strong foundation in logical principles and eventually transforming into a very spiritual, emotional text.We have so many books based on the premise that such and such conspiracy theory is actually valid. Here, the theories are all fictitious; it begins as a harmless game among three people determined to mock conspiracy theories and the obsession with finding hidden meaning through occultism. The theory only becomes real because people begin believing in it; they begin seeing meaning where before there was nothing, no relationship. Characters emerge, ones we're familiar with from prior in the book, who appear to have a part in this Plan and think it has been in operation for centuries. These characters are in some ways created by their fellow characters (our protagonists); Foucault's Pendulum is very meta-authorial in that respect, much like Sophie's World.Eco gives us an unreliable narrator so that we're forced to think critically about the story we're given and wonder how much is true and how much may be the feverish imaginings of an unbalanced, misguided mind. The narrator is named Casaubon, and I'm very glad I read Middlemarch before reading this book. Casaubon is sort of like his namesake from Middlemarch, who devotes his life to the syncretic task of unifying human myths. In Foucault's Pendulum, Casaubon and his friends Belbo and Diotallevi sift through the slush of conspiracy lunatics ("Diabolicals") to compile a master theory, a Plan, spun around the framework of the dissolution of the Knights Templar. As they come to believe in the reality of their own Plan, the world around them changes, becomes darker and more sinister. All conflicts in this book, even the external ones, are ultimately internal, created from our characters' own imaginations. The fact that some of these internal conflicts manifest externally, through the antagonism of rivals like Colonel Ardenti or Agliè, gives the story plenty of variety. In between, we get glimpses of Belbo's childhood in rural Italy, and Eco mentions both historical and contemporary Italian politics. As an outsider, I found this part of the book fascinating, since I'm totally unfamiliar with Italian history or even how its citizens were affected by the rise of fascism and their time under Mussolini. That's what I like so much about Eco: he reminds me that I'm steeped in my own ignorance, but he doesn't condescend me for it. Instead, he forces me to meet him on his intellectual level.One thing that makes Foucault's Pendulum so transcendental is the fact that it's rife with allusions to medieval and Enlightenment history and philosophy, arcane rituals and religions, and other esoteric and occult phenomena. You'd practically need a degree in these areas (like Eco has) to understand it all without a reference book; I don't, and I admit I got lost at times. Almost every page is filled with this historical references, particularly when Casaubon, Belbo, and Diotallevi are thick in their discussions of the Plan. Consider that for a moment: I got lost in the historical detail of the book, yet I'm still giving it five stars. That's how good it is; even its flaws are strengths.Still, the tendency of this text toward tones academic will turn some people off the book. It may not be for everyone. If you find yourself reading my review and thinking, "Hmm, this sounds like it is right for me," however, don't wait. Go out and get this book now. Read it, and then read it again--I will, some day, because Foucault's Pendulum is one of those books where you need to read it through several times to grasp its complexity. And every reading will be its own reward, as reading should be.
—Ben Babcock
إن قضيتنا هي سر بداخل سر , سر شئ سيبقى محجوبًا , وسر يمكن لسر آخر فقط كشفه , إنه سر عن سر يحجب سر هناك بعض الأعمال الأدبية التي تشعر أمامها أنها غير مكتوبة , بل تشعر أنها منحوتة , منحوتة بواسطة فنان جبار ظل يضرب فى صخر صلد لينتجه , فأتى العمر قوي كالحجر , عنيف كضربات صانعه , صادم كمواجهة حقيقة مرّة.أيها السادة : هل تثقون فيما تتبعون من أديان وعقائد ؟ ماذا عن أتبع عقيدة أخرى تنتمي إلى دينكم الرئيس ولكن تختلف في غموض عبادتها وطقوسها المريبة , هل هي ما تعبدون أنتم الآخرون , أم هي مجرد خزعبلات قوم ارتأوا فيها وتوهموا فيها طريق الصواب .يالله : أي شيطان تقمص هذا الكاتب , بل أي جن زاره في أسوأ أحلامه وجعله يكتب هذا العمل , أم هو طيف صالح زاره و أشار إليه إلى الطريق السليم ؟ولكن لننظر نظرة على درجة ما من التمحص والتدقيق إلى هذا العمل المعقد :في البداية : هذا العمل عن العبادات السرية , عن طوائف شريعتك أيًا كانت هذه الشريعة , هى واجهة الأديان الحقيقية , التى لا نسمع عنها ولا نعرفها , وإن عرفناها لم نصدقها , وإن صدقناها يتم اتهامنا بالجنون , ولكن الأكيد : أن كل المعتقدات قريبة فى جذورها بشكل محير , محير جدا .هل فعلا : يوجد فى هذا الكون ما يسمى (صدفة) أم أن كل شئ يتم بمعيار محدد ساهم فى تكوينه طائفة بشرية ما بحثًا عن حقيقة ما , وهل يوجد مصدر قوة لانهائي لا يعرف سرها إلا جماعة على قدر عظيم من السرية أقسموا على حمايته ,اللعنة عليك يا أمبرتو , ماذا فعلت بعقلي , وماذا جنيت على نفسي لأقرأ كتابك هذا .ولكن كما سبق وقلنا لنكن على قدر من التمهل : فى البدء كانت كلمته ولقد خلق الله العلم وهو يتكلم , لم يرسل برقية وتتابعت رسله لتوصيل كلمته (عز وجل ) وتوطدت سلطة الديانات عبر عصور مختلفة ولكن ما هو سر المعرفة وكيف انتقلت تلك المعرفة من شعب لآخر ؟ولماذا ارتبطت الجهاد من أجل الرب بحمل السلاح ؟ كيف يمكن أن يكون المرء راهب وحاملًا للسيف , ينزع الأحشاء ثم يتلو صلاة (السلام عليك) للعذراء ؟ وما سر التشابه بين طوائف انتمت لأديان مختلفة وحضارات مختلفة ؟ما الذي يجعل طائفة مثل فرسان المعبد : تتشابه مع طائفة مثل الحشاشين : وما هو أوجه الشبه بين الماسونية :وبين حضارة قديمة كبناة الأهرامات مثلا : بل إن الهرم هو الرمز الماسوني الأشهر .وفي النهاية ما هي تلك القوة الرهيبة التى تحتويها طائفة القبالا اليهودية وتشابها مع كل ما سبق : من نحن ؟ و لأي عقيدة ننتمي ؟ وهل هؤلاء يشبهوننا فعلا , أم أن الموضوع مجرد هوس قديم بنظرية المؤامرة ؟ لا أعلم فقط , فقط لا أعلم .وما مصيرك يا مسكين إذا في مرّة من المرات ندمت على اختيار ما و هل تعرف أنه يمكنك أن تعيش فريسة للندم عمرك كله ليس لأنك اخترت الشئ الخاطئ , فيمكنك أن تندم على ذلك , ولكن لأنك لم تحظ قط بالفرصة لتثبت لنفسك أنه كان بإمكانك القيام بالاختيار الصائب ... ولكن ما معنى اختيار المناسبة الخاطئة لاقناع أنفسنا بأنه كان فى الامكان الاختيار الصائب إذا كان لدينا الفرصة الحقيقية ؟المهم : أننا أمام عمل كامل , فيه من العبر والدلالات ما يضعك فى حيرة عميقة , عمل قدّم لك الكثير من الأشياء : فهو كتاب تاريخ , فقد قدّم لنا الكاتب عرض مميز لصراع الهوية الذى حدث فى ستينيات القرن الماضي , فمثلًا يقول الكاتب على لسان أحد قدامى المناضلين وهو يخاطب شاب : تنازلتم في كل الجبهات , رفضنا نحن. على الرغم من رحلاتنا للحج في المغارات السفلية أن نخترع شعارًا للكوكا كولا لنزعتنا ضد الفاشية , وقبلنا أن نعمل مقابل القليل لأن الكتاب في متناول كل الطبقات. ماذا تفعلون أنتم لتنتقموا من البرجوازيين الذين لم تنجحوا في شنقهم ؟ تبيعون لهم شرائط الفيديو والكتب للحصول على نسخة من أفكار ماو وبهذه النقود ذهبتم لابتياع الألعاب النارية احتفالًا بالإبداع الجديد . بلا خجل . ونحن الذين قضينا حياتنا كلها فريسة الشعور بالخجل . خدعتمونا , لم تكونوا تمثلون أي نقاء , لم يكن سوى حب الشباب . جعلتمونا نشعر و كأننا الديدان , لأنه لم تكن لدينا الشجاعة أن نواجه قوات الشرطة , ثم أطلقتم أيضًا الرصاص على ظهور البائسين الذين كانوا يعبرون الشارع في ذلك الوقت . منذ عشر سنوات كذبنا لنخرجكم من السجن , وكذبتم أنتم لترسلوا أصدقاءكم إلى السجن ليقدم لنا تحليل مميز عن صراع الأجيال فى كل زمان ومكان .ولم يكتف الكاتب بذلك , بل قدم لنا كتاب علم من الطراز الرفيع , ولكن من وجهة نظره فهو فالكاتب يرى : لابد من تحويل العلم إلى دراما مع الاحترام التام للحقيقة الكتاب ملئ بالمعلومات والممارسات الدينية الغامضة على العامة , المعقدة العصيىة على الفهم فمثلا يذكر الكاتب طقس فى أحد الفقرات يقول فيه : لتكن ثيابك بيضاء كالثلج .. وإذا حل الليل , أشعل كثيرًا من النيران ليضئ كل شئ ... و الآن ابدأ في تركيب الحروف , البعض منها أو الكثير , أنقلهم وركبهم حتى يصل الدفء إلى قلبك , انتبه إلى حركات الحروف ومما يمكنك أن تكون منها . وعندما يشعر قلبك بالدفء , عندما ترى أنه من خلال تركيب الحروف استطعت ان تصل إلى أشياء لم يكن في الإمكان الوصول إليها بمفردك أو حتى بمساعدة التقاليد, عندما تكون مستعدًا لأن تستقبل تأثير القوى المقدسة التي تدخل في قلبك , استخدم عندئذ كل أعماق فكرك لتتخيل في قلبك اسم أعلى ملائكته , وكأنهم يقفون بجوارك ولم يخلُ الأمر من بعض من الرومناسية الحالمة فيقول على لسان أحد شخصياته : ألم تكوني أنت التي بحثت عنها من البداية ؟ ربما انا هنا , مازلت في انتظارك . في كل مرة فقدتك لأنني لم أكن أعرفك , في كل مرة فقدتك لأنني عرفتك ولم أجرؤ , في كل مرة فقدتك لأنني عرفتك , كنت أعرف أنه لابد لي أن أفقدك . وكعادة الكتب التي تناقش المؤامرات على مر التاريخ تبرز لنا اسماء مهيبة اهتم بها الدارسون على مر التاريخ , وفي بعض فصول هذا الكتاب يبرز لنا اسم فرانسيس بيكون الذي نجد بعض المبالغات فى ابراز قيمته ودوره فى التاريخ وفي ثنايا العمل يبرز لنا عمق أدبي ونفسي جلي , تبرز لنا واجهة حقيقية للحياة , تجعلنا نعتقد أن الرواية ليست مجرد رواية , حتى وإن لم تظهر لنا منها مغزى فمن قال إن الحكايات لابد وأن يكون لها مغزى ؟ ولكن بإمعان النظر , ربما يعني هذا أنه غالبًا ما يتطلب الأمر أن يضحي المرء بحياته في سبيل إثبات شئ ما وعندما أراد الكابت أن يقدم لنا الحياة قال : الحياة تُمثل أفضل بواسطة موسيقى سيئة أكثر من موسيقى سيمفونية رائعة إن الفن العظيم يسخر منا ويطمئنا , يجعلنا نرى الحياة كما كان يراها الفنانون ولكن تبقى السرية والغموض هو أجمل ما في الرواية فإن الأسرار عند الكشف عنها جهرًا تفقد رونقها وتفقد قيمتها إذ تدنست وعندما يريد اكاتب أن يبث شئ من الراحة في نفس القارئ فإنه يقدم نصيحة ثمينة يقول فيها : إذا كان الإيمان شيئًا ضروريًا ليكن إذن من خلال ديانة لا تدفع المرء على الشعور بالذنب . ديانة بلا روابط , مشتعلة , أسفل الأرض وبلا نهاية , ديانة مثل الرواية بعيدة عن اللاهوتية وفي النهاية أيها السادة : نحن أمام درس تاريخ , ولكن ليس كأي درس ولا يناقش أي تاريخ , إنه يناقش حياة العقائد السرية بكل قبحها وطهرها , يناقش الأفعال الإنسانية التي تسربلت برداء دين ما لتحمي عقيدة أو لتحمي طائفة أو لتحمي الأهم وهى أن تحمي ثروة , أيا كان نوع هذه الثروة (مادية كانت أو معنوية) ولكن في النهاية هي شئ جدير بالتضحية بالنفس من أجله .إذا قرأت هذا العمل كنوع من التسلية , ستجد نفسك أمام مغامرة بديعة وأحداث تنقطع فيها أنفاسك , وإذا أردت أن تقرأها كدرس فى التاريخ فإنك ستستفيد إفادة عظيمة , ولكن يا صديق تذكر ألا تصدق كل ما تقرأ .ولا يسعنا إلا أن ننبهر بالقدرة الروائية المذهلة وكم المعلومات الرهيبة التى يقدمها لنا الساحر : أمبرتو إيكو , والتي يقف امامه دان براون كتلميذ فى بداية مراحله الدراسية أمام عالم رفيع المستوى , ويبدو أثر غيكو مذهل في مسار الرواية العالمية ككل (حتى لقد وصل إلى التأثير على الرواية العربية وعزازيل ليست ببعيدة عنا) , ومهووسي نظريات المؤامرة سيجدون في هذا العمل مبتغاهم , وعشاق الأدب الرفيع سينبهرون به .وفي النهاية : هو عمل عظيم , مرهق للنفس متعب لها .
—Ahmed
Eco once said that author Dan Brown (Angels & Demons, DaVinci Code, etc) might have very well been one of the characters he created in Focault's Pendulum. Eco uses Focault's pendulum to showcase the absurdity in over analyzing ancient legends or secret societies and in the process creates an intellectual and dizzying tale that stands in direct contrast to the Dan Brown's of the world writing for the pop culture masses.The work is a discourse in secret societies (Templar Knights, Freemasons, Jesuits, Rosicrucia s, etc), religions, political revolutions, and the basic tensions of confronting and conquering one's fear.But unlike most conspiracy works, we are let in on the secret from the beginning....that namely, the main characters do not believe the story they are creating-and they are essentially creating this story to mock those who have tried to dedicate their lives to the concepts of world domination through the occult.Specific plot details are difficult to relay since there are really 2 stories one encounters when reading this. The 1st story is those of the men in the book and their interactions and personal growth, and the second is the actual "plan" those characters create in massive and at times very perplexing detail.The "plan" itself is simply a fictional plan for world domination which will explain most of the secret societies throughout history and their efforts to control the earth. It's created by the main protagonists in the story to mock others who so easily believe such things and to make profits off the sale of the "plan" in book form.But nothing about the "plan" remains simple-for the reader we get a massive-and I mean massive amount of information from the mythology and reality of all cultures...and for the characters creating the "plan" becomes an obsession which threatens their existence.This is one book that I don't mind re-reading or researching specific facts or people further....because it only lends to the incredible depth of the work.When Eco writes he expects you to put a little effort into your reading....and if you do, you'll find it well well worth it (even if you do miss a reference here and there.)
—40 Forte
