http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/books/review/the-prague-cemetery-by-umberto-eco-book-review.html?ref=bookreviews&_r=0
I chose The Prague Cemetery as last month’s read for my local book club as Umberto Eco is one of my favourite authors. The sheer genius of his work and intricacies of his plots are simply astounding. I have re-read The Name of the Rose on several occasions, and always find it thrilling, even with knowing the ending.
I eagerly anticipated reading this selection with fellow bibliophiles. What I was not aware of prior to commencing this book, was that a basic understanding of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is referenced again and again throughout the plotline, would be fundamentally required in order to keep up with the narrator. In addition, Eco has made it clear that with the exception of the narrator, every person mentioned in the book was a true historical figure. I kept a long list with me for Googling as I read, wishing that I was better versed in French and Italian history and 19th century European politics. These two challenges may prohibit the average reader from completing and/or enjoying this work.
With the aid of the every helpful Wikipedia, I made it through the novel, riveted by the last third of the book. Allow me to give an overview without spoiling the conclusion:
Written as a series of journal entries, we meet our protagonist, a man of dubious character and circumstances: one Simone Simonini, who by today’s standards would be a social pariah for his racist and misogynistic attitudes. Simonini was raised by a grandfather who sheltered Jesuits and laid all conspiracies at the door of the Knights Templar and Jews. Over the course of his young life, Simonini is tutored by Jesuits, attends law school and begins learning and practising forgery under an unscrupulous lawyer. After making an art of forging legal documents, Simonini comes to the attention of the government and is sent to spy on Garibaldi in Palermo. Ordered to destroy sensitive documents, Simonini is banished to Paris after organizing the explosion of a ship and death of its crew.
Finally, we arrive in Paris, 1861 and the main events of the story unfold. For the hapless reader, the book has probably been set aside somewhere between Simonini learning to forge wills and testaments, and his activities in Palermo. I know that was where I struggled to focus.
The journal entries are made by Simonini as well as Abbé Dalla Piccola in 1897. Having previously met Freud, and discussed memory issues and talking cures, Simonini writes in the diary each day to try to recall the events of his life. Where Simonini cannot or will not truthfully recall events, Piccola will add details following Simonini’s entries. Simonini himself cannot account for another person within his household, and tries desperately to determine if he and Piccola are the same person...which goes against his own recollection of killing one Abbé Dalla Piccola years before.
Embroiled in subterfuge under the command of the French Secret Service in order to keep him and fine food and stockpile money for a comfortable pension, Simonini finds himself at the heart of events pertaining to the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair and counterespionage with the Russian Secret Service. His lifelong passion, however, is to build upon a letter written by his grandfather decades before, which becomes the basis for The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a tract which illustrates that the Jews are plotting world domination in many nefarious ways. The letter, his research, and liberal regurgitation of other anti-Semitic tracts will one day be sold to the highest bidder in The Protocols and ensure his financial prosperity. In his search for other tracts to include or edit into his work, Simonini becomes involved in Palladism, devil worship and aids the great hoax, Léo Taxil.
Struggling to meet his own ends without being uncovered as a spy, murderer and forger, Simonini also attempts to recall his own history and character.
When the book concludes, and you are still confused, Eco provides a handy timeline and bibliography. Things become much clearer. I was interested and also appalled to learn that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a favourite read for Adolf Hitler. Needless to say, The Prague Cemetery is not light-reading to help you wind down right before bed.
Love it, hate it, and certainly try to finish it. Eco’s still worth the read.
