The Hound of the Baskervilles
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| - | '''''The Name of the Rose''''', a novel by [[Umberto Eco]], is a [[murder mystery]] set in an Italian [[monastery]] in the year [[1327]]. First published in Italian in [[1980]] under the title '''''Il nome della rosa''''', it appeared in [[1983]] in an English translation. | ||
| - | == Allusions == | ||
| - | === To other works === | ||
| - | The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective [[Sherlock Holmes]] (compare ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'') and to [[William of Ockham]] (see the next section). The name of the narrator, his apprentice Adso, is among other things a pun on Simplicio from [[Galileo Galilei]]'s ''Dialogue''; '''Adso''' = '''ad''' '''S'''implici'''o''' ("to Simplicio"). It is also a play on Holmes's friend [[John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)|Dr. Watson]]. | ||
| - | As usual in Eco's novels, there is a display of [[erudition]]. The blind librarian Jorge from [[Burgos]] is a pun on [[Argentina|Argentinian]] writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]], a major influence on Eco. Borges was blind during his later years and was also director of [[Argentina's national library]]; his [[short story]] "[[The Library of Babel]]" was a clear inspiration for the secret library in Eco's book: "The Library is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite, number of [[hexagon]]al galleries, with enormous ventilation shafts in the middle, encircled by very low railings." Another one of Borges's stories, "[[The Secret Miracle]]" features a blind librarian. In addition, a number of other themes drawn from various of Borges's works are used throughout ''The Name of the Rose'': [[labyrinth]]s, mirrors, sects and obscure manuscripts and books. | + | '''''The Hound of the Baskervilles''''' is a [[Detective fiction|crime novel]] by Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] featuring the detective [[Sherlock Holmes]]. Originally [[serial (literature)|serialised]] in the ''[[Strand Magazine]]'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on [[Dartmoor]] in [[Devon]] in England's [[West Country]] and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound. |
| - | Eco spent some time at the [[University of Toronto]] while writing the book. The stairs in the monastery's library bear a striking resemblance to those in [[Robarts Library]]. Throughout the book, there are [[Latin]] quotes, authentic and apocryphal. There are also discussions of the philosophy of [[Aristotle]] and of a variety of [[Millenarism|millenarist]] heresies, especially those associated with the [[fraticelli]]. Numerous other philosophers are referenced throughout the book, often anachronistically, including [[Wittgenstein]]. The "poisoned page" theme is in a classic Chinese novel ''Jin Ping Mei'', usually translated into English as ''[[Golden Lotus|The Golden Lotus]]''. | + | ==See also== |
| + | * [[Dartmoor]] | ||
| + | * [[Baskerville effect]] | ||
| + | * [[Princetown]] | ||
| + | * [[Sherlock Holmes was Wrong]] | ||
| - | === To actual history, geography and current science === | ||
| - | William of Ockham, who lived during the time of the novel, first put forward the principle known as "[[Ockham's Razor]]": often summarised as the ''dictum'' that one should always accept as most-likely the simplest explanation that accounts for all the facts (a method used by William of Baskerville in the novel). | ||
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| - | The book describes monastic life in the [[14th century]]. The action takes place at a [[Benedictine]] abbey during the controversy surrounding the [[Apostolic poverty]] between branches of [[Franciscans]] and [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]]; ''see [[Franciscan#Renewed controversy on the question of poverty|Renewed controversy on the question of poverty]]''. The Spirituals abhor wealth, bordering on the [[Apostolics]] or [[Dulcinian]] [[heresy]]. The book highlights this tension that existed within [[Christianity]] during the medieval era: the Spirituals, one faction within the Franciscan order, demanded that the Church should abandon all wealth, and some heretical sects began killing the well-to-do, while the majority of the Franciscans and the clergy took to a broader interpretation of the gospel. | ||
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| - | A number of the characters, such as the [[Inquisitor]] [[Bernard Gui]] and the [[Minorite]] [[Michael of Cesena]], are historical figures, though the novel's characterization of them is not always historically accurate. However, Eco notes in a companion book that he had to site the monastery in mountains so it would experience early frosts, in order for that action to take place at a time when Bernard Gui could have been in the area. For the purposes of the plot, he needed a quantity of pig blood, but at that time pigs were not usually slaughtered until a frost had arrived. Later in the year Gui was known to have been away from Italy and could not have participated in the events at the monastery. | ||
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Revision as of 11:14, 6 August 2010
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The Hound of the Baskervilles is a crime novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in the Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound.
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The Hound of the Baskervilles" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
