Hi, y’all! I’m walking on metaphorical clouds right now, since I finished the first draft on my most recent novel this weekend. A lot of work remains to be done to get it from 120,000 words down to under 100,000, not to mention all the polishing and thematic tightening and continuity issues, and then of course comes the dreaded pitch and synopsis phase, and the fact that the beast doesn’t even have a title yet. But none of that matters right now. The draft is done.
Honestly, in this political climate, I’m astonished that I was able to get two sentences in a sequence that advances a plot and maintains rhythm and coherence. John Scalzi wrote about the peculiar paralysis that has made writing so hard in 2017, and Pat Rothfuss has been all over Twitter about it. Many other writers have referenced this brain-futzing that set in back in 2016 when the election ramped up. It seems like every writer I know is afflicted with the inability to focus. The ultimate luxury, I’ve learned, is the luxury to turn off politics and ignore the news of the day. These days it’s a luxury none of us can afford, so we have to learn how to work with it.
It wasn’t pretty, it was more like pushing boulders uphill than not, but the draft is done. And I’ve read a pile of fantasies lately that I’ll spend the next few weeks reviewing, but that’s not for tonight. Tonight I want to signal a change of pace coming soon. It’s temporary, but it’ll be fun. Ready? Here goes.
For an estimated ten weeks this summer, The Language of the Night will be taking a hiatus, and in it’s place, it’s a new run of the Daily Kos Book Club reading Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, helmed by yours truly.
The Name of the Rose was an unlikely best-seller when it was published in English in 1983. Written by medievalist and semiotician Umberto Eco, the novel is a giddy blend of medieval scholasticism, contemporary literary theory and delicious murder mystery. It offers something for everyone who loves books. Although it’s not a classic — it hasn’t been in print long enough — it’s a rich and complicated reading experience.
It’s also daunting. But fear not! Together we can do this. I’m giving you all this much advance notice so you can get your hot hands on copies of the book. We’ll start the reading on June 18, six weeks from now.
If you start reading early, you should know that the first fifty pages are tough — deliberately tough. Eco wrote that he considered the first section of the novel penance; if you’re willing to endure through it, rewards await. I am not one to contradict the author, although I suspect he was being sly when he called the first fifty penance. Instead, I see it more like boot camp. If you make it through, you’re prepared to read.
The Name of the Rose is not so much hard as it is complex. Each week I’ll provide brief background about the section, more a basic “the least that you need for this to make sense” treatment. We’ll cover theology, medieval scriptoria, political tensions among the Holy Orders, history and heresies, etc. — that’s all the medieval part. We’ll also do some stuff about semiotics and sign theory which, although it’s quite contemporary, enjoys surprisingly medieval parallels. The Name of the Rose operates as much on a modern level as it does a historic one, with literary resonances and references to contemporary authors and more than a few pranks and jokes. Eco is indeed a cornucopia of pleasures.
Oh, and it’s a murder mystery. Our protagonist, young novice Adso of Melk, is the sidekick of Brother William of Baskerville, and yes, it’s a classic cross-over. Forget Elementary or Sherlock, don’t you really want to see Holmes in a monk’s habit? Aren’t you at least a little curious about what Sherlock Holmes would have made of the Inquisition? Want to read about one of the greatest libraries in the world? Eco captures the essence of what it is to love books with a wholehearted, earnest love. What is the secret in the library, and why would someone kill to protect it?
Oh, and there’s the Latin. A lot of Latin. I’ll provide the translations in advance of the week’s reading, so you can breeze through the toughest bits. I promise you about ten weeks of adventure unlike one you’ve ever read before. And then, when we’re done, we’ll go back to fantasy.
So that’s what’s on tap. Next week, I want to discuss Nnedi Okorafor’s tremendous novel Who Fears Death and the phenomenon that is Afrofuturism, which if you haven't heard about it yet, you will. Meanwhile, for this evening, I am resting on my laurels. Edits commence tomorrow, but for tonight, this feels awfully good.