Foucault's Pendulum

umberto eco

Bored with their work, three Milanese editors cook up "the Plan," a hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with other occult groups from ancient to modern times. This produces a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault’s Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real, and when occult groups, including Satanists, get wind of the Plan, they go so far as to kill one of the editors in their quest to gain control of the earth. Orchestrating these and other diverse characters into his multilayered semiotic adventure, Eco has created a superb cerebral entertainment.

Genres fictionhistorical fictionmysteryliteratureclassicsitalian literaturethrillerphilosophyitalynovels

0 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4,1988

Literary awards

pen translation prize, premio bancarella, ars translationis,

Places

italy, milan lombardy,

This edition

Format: 0 pages, Hardcover
Published: November 1, 1995 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
ISBN: 9780151002153
ASIN: 0151002150
Language: English

Characters More characters

Jacopo Belbo

...
Diotallevi

...
Casaubon

...
Signor Casaubon

The narrator. He had been a student in 1970s Milan, working on a thesis on the history of the Knights Templar while taking in the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary activities of the students around him....
Belbo

An editor in a publishing house....
Dr. Diotallevi

A cabalist....

About the author

umberto eco

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.
Eco wrote prolifically throughout his life, with his output including children's books, translations from French and English, in addition to a twice-monthly newspaper column "La Bustina di Minerva" (Minerva's Matchbook) in the magazine L'Espresso beginning in 1985, with his last column (a critical appraisal of the Romantic paintings of Francesco Hayez) appearing 27 January 2016. At the time of his death, he was an Emeritus professor at the University of Bologna, where he taught for much of his life. In the 21st century, he has continued to gain recognition for his 1995 essay "Ur-Fascism", where Eco lists fourteen general properties he believes comprise fascist ideologies.