What is ‘The Name of the Rose’?

The Apostolic controversy and the suppression of Aristotle.

’Tis but thy name that is mine enemy:
What’s Montague? It is not hand nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet.

(Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare)

I

If you were asked to name any modern Italian author, most would struggle, but some no doubt would remember Umberto Eco, who in 1980 wrote, ‘Il Noma Della Rosa’ an International bestseller that was made into an unsuccessful film in 1986 starring Sean Connery and has recently been adapted in eight episodes for television and is being shown on the BBC right now.

It was his debut novel (the author is now deceased) and sold over 50 million copies. In 1999 it was placed 14th in Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century. Even given the nature of a geographical and linguistic bias in these lists that is still a significant achievement. I have no doubt it was also a result of Eco being an expert in semiology or more precisely, interpretative semiotics, which pervades the entire novel.