Influential books: The Name of the Rose

This is a book that was enormously influential, in a positive way, of the generation that read it (early 1980's)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Rose

Here is the author:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco

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Now, here's what you need to understand about why this book qualifies as a classic, capable of influencing a large part of a generation.

It did not have an agenda, other than the personal interests of the author, and so it has intellectual integrity. It described medieval times, monastic life, and linguistics without an attempt to slime the Catholic Church or embed alien anagrams in it. I wish I was joking but that's what authors and publishers have been doing throughout the 1990s and all of this decade thus far.

So it was an intellectual sensation when it came out in 1980, because it combined a murder mystery with a medieval setting in a Christian monastery AND had incredible linguistic and literary puzzles and allusions.

THAT book is the "father" of the modern glut of low quality and agenda driven books written by UFO believing depressives who push their delusions and bum everyone else out (plus undermine people's morality and faith) AND make lots of money doing it.

So if you want an example of how one can write an ethical and intellectual book of this nature, look back to the "original" and still the best.

And no, I did not watch the movie; some things really are not suited for the hands of script writers and celebrity stars, and really just should be read and savored.

(By the way, Eco went from militant Catholic to "not believing in God at all" while a doctoral student. Hey, all the more reason that I am showing you that such a quality book can be written without an obvious axe to grind. For example, Eco is still able to locate this classic book in a monestary and not demonize all the holy people in it just because he turned away from Catholicism and no longer believes in God. That's called being a grown up.)

I've not read any of his books since then and naturally, I have reason to suspect he has, how shall I put it, become more and more influenced by intellectuals who support his position of disbelief. So regretfully, I can't recommend any of his other books, but there is no reason not to explain to you how interesting and influential this great book of his was twenty eight years ago, since I've been on the subject of books that had integrity and were seminal to all or part of a generation at a critical moment in their development and self identity. The "children" and "grandchildren" of these books are another thing entirely, though............!

*sigh*