Along with his apprentice Adso of Melk (named after the Benedictine abbey Stift Melk), the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville journeys to an abbey where a murder has been committed.

As the plot unfolds, several other people mysteriously die. The protagonists explore a labyrinthine medieval library, the subversive power of laughter, and come face to face with the Inquisition. It is left primarily to William’s enormous powers of logic and deduction to solve the mysteries of the abbey.

On one level, the book is an excellent exposition of the scholastic method which was very popular in the 14th century. William demonstrates the power of deductive reasoning, especially syllogisms. He refuses to accept the diagnosis of simple demonic possession despite demonology being the traditional monastic explanation. Despite the abbey being under the misapprehension that they are experiencing the last days before the second coming of Christ (a topic closely examined in the book), William, through his empirical mindset, manages to show that the murders are, in fact, committed by a more corporeal instrument. By keeping an open mind, collecting facts and observations, following pure intuition and the dialectic method, he makes decisions as to what he should investigate, exactly as a scholastic would do. However, the simple use of reason does not suffice. The various signs and happenings only have meaning in their given contexts, and William must constantly be wary of which context he interprets the mystery. Indeed, the entire story challenges the narrator, William’s young apprentice Adso, and the reader to continually recognize the context he is using to interpret, bringing the whole text to various levels which can all have different hermeneutical meanings. The narrative ties in many varied plotlines which all consider interpretation and the source of meaning, highly volatile controversies in the medieval religious setting, all while spiraling towards what seems to be the key to understand and truly interpret the case. Though William’s final theories do not exactly match the actual events, they allow him to solve the abbey’s mystery.

Great stuff.

TPT- never read it. What’s it about?

Jeni – I’m glad to have taken you with me on the adventure.

OPito- yes. Kinda like that. But Ben & Moses were there. And so was Luke from San Jose, & an old dude that was pretty ticked whenever we were around disturbing his solitude & silence. Seeing the 3 of us hanging out, laughing (albeit a controlled laughing) was the opposite of what he was there for, or so he said.

Mr. Sheriff H – duly noted on the “I was here.” Sorry bout it.

Andy & Erica – no Friar Tuck’s of any kind. Just a Brother John & then some guys in white robes with purple sashes (like people wear at graduation) when they come out of the cloistered area.

Sheriff Laura – ditto to you – & thank you immensely for sharing the verse with me. It means a lot to have a friend. :)

Crackers to eat, huh? Which In-N-Out are you going to stop at on the way home – the one in Auburn or Sparks?