The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980/1983) is the groundbreaking historical mystery novel by Umberto Eco, first published in Italian in 1980 and later in English by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1983 (translated by William Weaver). Set in a 14th-century Benedictine monastery, the novel follows Brother William of Baskerville (a Franciscan sleuth inspired by Sherlock Holmes) and his novice Adso of Melk as they investigate a series of gruesome deaths linked to a forbidden Aristotelian manuscript. Eco blends semiotics, theology, and metafiction into a gripping whodunit, with layers of wordplay (the title itself is a symbolic riddle).
For similar readings:
- Foucault’s Pendulum (1988) – Eco’s next novel, another dense conspiracy thriller.
- The Club Dumas (1993) by Arturo Pérez-Reverte – A bookish mystery with occult overtones.
- The Shadow of the Wind (2001) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón – A gothic literary puzzle.
