Editing Umberto Eco (section)

=== ''The Name of the Rose'' and ''Foucault's Pendulum'' (1975–1988) ===
[[File:Boekenconferentie in Amsterdam; schrijver Umberto Eco.jpg|thumb|Eco in 1987]]

From 1977 to 1978 Eco was a visiting professor at [[Yale University]] and then at [[Columbia University]]. He returned to Yale from 1980 to 1981, and Columbia in 1984. During this time he completed ''The Role of the Reader'' (1979) and ''Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language'' (1984).

Eco drew on his background as a medievalist in his first novel ''[[The Name of the Rose]]'' (1980), a historical mystery set in a 14th-century monastery. Franciscan friar [[William of Baskerville]], aided by his assistant Adso, a [[Benedictine]] [[Catholic novitiate|novice]], investigates a series of murders at a monastery that is to host an important religious debate. The novel contains many direct or indirect [[metatextuality|metatextual]] references to other sources that require the detective work of the reader to "solve". The title is unexplained in the body of the book, but at the end, there is a Latin verse {{lang|la|{{ill|Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus|it||la|Nomina nuda tenemus|quote=y}}}} ({{translation|"the ancient rose remains in name; we hold [only] the bare names."}}). The rose serves as an example of the destiny of all remarkable things. There is a tribute to [[Jorge Luis Borges]], a major influence on Eco, in the character Jorge of Burgos: Borges, like the blind monk Jorge, lived a celibate life consecrated to his passion for books, and also went blind in later life. The labyrinthine library in ''The Name of the Rose'' also alludes to Borges's short story "[[The Library of Babel]]".  William of Baskerville is a logical-minded Englishman who is a friar and a detective. His name evokes both [[William of Ockham]] and [[Sherlock Holmes]] (by way of ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]''); several passages which describe him are strongly reminiscent of [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s descriptions of Holmes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eco|first=Umberto|url=https://archive.org/details/nameofrose00umbe/page/10|title=The Name of the Rose|publisher=Warner Books|year=1986|isbn=978-0-446-34410-4|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/nameofrose00umbe/page/10 10]|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Doyle|first=Arthur Conan|title=Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Vol 1|publisher=Bantam Books|year=2003|isbn=978-0-553-21241-9|location=New York|page=11}}</ref>

''The Name of the Rose'' was later made into [[The Name of the Rose (film)|a motion picture]], which follows the plot, though not the philosophical and historical themes of the novel and stars [[Sean Connery]], [[F. Murray Abraham]], [[Christian Slater]] and [[Ron Perlman]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Canby|first=Vincent|title=FILM: MEDIEVAL MYSTERY IN 'NAME OF THE ROSE'|work=The New York Times|date=24 September 1986|language=en|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/24/movies/film-medieval-mystery-in-name-of-the-rose.html|access-date=23 October 2018|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506170349/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/24/movies/film-medieval-mystery-in-name-of-the-rose.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and a [[The Name of the Rose (miniseries)|made-for-television mini-series]].

In ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'' (1988), three under-employed editors who work for a minor publishing house decide to amuse themselves by inventing a conspiracy theory. Their conspiracy, which they call "The Plan", is about an immense and intricate plot to take over the world by a secret order descended from the [[Knights Templar]]. As the game goes on, the three slowly become obsessed with the details of this plan. The game turns dangerous when outsiders learn of The Plan and believe that the men have really discovered the secret to regaining the lost treasure of the Templars.