Editing Foucault's Pendulum

{{Short description|1988 Italian novel by Umberto Eco}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{About|the novel by Italian philosopher Umberto Eco|the physics experiment and implement|Foucault pendulum}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Foucault's Pendulum
| title_orig        = Il pendolo di Foucault
| translator        = [[William Weaver]]
| image             = File:FoucaultsPendulum.jpg
| caption           = First edition (Italian)
| author            = [[Umberto Eco]]
| country           = [[Italy]]
| language          = Italian
| genre             = {{Ubl
  |[[Speculative fiction]]
  |Secret history
}}
| publisher         = {{Ubl
  |[[Bompiani]]
  |{{Nowrap|[[Secker & Warburg]] (U.K.)}}
}}
| pub_date          = October 1988
| english_pub_date  = 16 October 1989
| media_type        = Print (Hardcover)
| pages             = {{Ubl
  |687 pp. (Italian)
  |641 pp. (English)
}}
| isbn              = 88-452-1591-1
| isbn_note         = (Italian paperback){{Efn|First edition was not assigned an ISBN. Bompiani's catalog number #178137 is printed on the dust jacket.}}<br />{{ISBNT|0-436-14096-9}} (U.K.)
| oclc              = 49337876
}}
'''''Foucault's Pendulum''''' (original title: ''Il pendolo di Foucault'' {{IPA|it|il ˈpɛndolo di fuˈko|}}) is a novel by Italian writer and philosopher [[Umberto Eco]]. It was first published in 1988, with an English translation by [[William Weaver]] being published a year later.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Barber |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/252528721 |title=The Trial of the Templars |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-24604-8 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge, UK |page=viii |oclc=252528721}}</ref>

The book is divided into segments represented by the ten [[Sephirot|Sefiroth]]. It is satirical, being full of esoteric references to [[Kabbalah]], [[alchemy]], and [[conspiracy theories]], to the point that critic and novelist [[Anthony Burgess]] suggested that it needed an index.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burgess |first=Anthony |date=October 15, 1989 |title=A Conspiracy to Rule the World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/15/books/a-conspiracy-to-rule-the-world.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The pendulum of the title refers to [[Foucault pendulum|an actual pendulum]] designed by French physicist [[Léon Foucault]] to demonstrate Earth's rotation, which has symbolic significance within the novel. Some believe that it refers to [[Michel Foucault]],{{Efn|The novel ends the day after Michel Foucault died (June 25, 1984).}} given the author's friendship with him,<ref>[[Daniel Defert]], "Chronologie", in M. Foucault, ''Dits et écrits'', Gallimard, Paris 1994 (2001), p. 41.</ref> but Eco "specifically rejects any intentional reference to Michel Foucault"<ref>"Umberto Eco & The Open Text" by [[Peter E. Bondanella]] p. 133</ref>—this being regarded as another subtle literary joke.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 23, 2009 |title=Eco, scherzo d' autore dedicato a James Joyce |url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/01/23/eco-scherzo-autore-dedicato-james-joyce.html |publisher=LaRepubblica |language=it}}</ref>

== Plot summary ==
[[File:Pendule de Foucault au musee des arts et metiers.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The eponymous [[Foucault pendulum]] at the [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]] in Paris.]]
The book opens with a man named Casaubon{{Efn|Casaubon's name refers to classical scholar [[Isaac Casaubon]] and also evokes a scholar character in [[George Eliot]]'s ''[[Middlemarch]]''.}} hiding in the [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]] after closing. He believes that a secret society has kidnapped his friend Jacopo Belbo and is now after him, and that they will soon convene in the museum. As he waits, Casaubon [[flashback (literary technique)|reflects on his life]], but it is implied that he is an [[unreliable narrator]] whose mind has been warped by conspiracy theories.

In the 1970s in [[Milan]], Casaubon, who as a student had participated in the [[1968 movement in Italy|1968 Italian uprisings]], is studying the [[Knights Templar]] when he meets Belbo and his colleague Diotallevi. The former works as an editor in a publishing house and invites Casaubon to review a manuscript about the Templars. The manuscript, by Colonel Ardenti, claims he discovered a secret plan of the Templars to take over the world. Ardenti mysteriously vanishes after meeting with Belbo and Casaubon; Casaubon then moves to Brazil to pursue a relationship with a woman named Amparo and meets Agliè, an elderly man who implies he is the mystical [[Count of St. Germain|Comte de Saint-Germain]]. Casaubon's relationship with Amparo falls apart after attending an [[Umbanda]] rite, and he returns to Milan, where he is hired by Belbo's employer, Mr.&nbsp;Garamond,{{Efn|The novel's character "Mr.&nbsp;Garamond" is a reference to French publisher [[Claude Garamond]].}} as a researcher. Casaubon learns that in addition to a respected publishing house, Garamond also owns Manutius, a [[vanity press|vanity publisher]] that charges incompetent authors large sums to print their work.{{Efn|The name of the fictional publishing house (''Manuzio'') is rendered ''Manutius'' in the English translation; it is a reference to the 15th&nbsp;century printer [[Aldus Manutius]].}} Garamond has the idea to begin two lines of occult books, one for serious publishing and the other to be published by Manutius to attract more vanity authors. Agliè, now also in Milan, becomes a consultant to Garamond. Belbo grows jealous of Agliè's ability to charm Belbo's former mistress Lorenza.

Belbo, Diotallevi, and Casaubon become submerged in occult manuscripts that draw flimsy connections between historical events, and soon have the idea to develop their own as a game. Using Belbo's personal computer "[[Abraham Abulafia|Abulafia]]" and Ardenti's manuscript as a foundation, the three create what they call "The Plan" using a program that rearranges text at random. The Plan eventually becomes an intricate web of conspiracy theories about the Templars and their goal to reshape the world using "[[telluric current]]s", which are focused at the [[Foucault pendulum]]. In addition to numerous other historical organizations apparently involved in The Plan, the three invent a fictional secret society, the Tres (''Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici'', [[Latin]] for "the Risen again Synarchic Knights of the Temple").

As time passes, the three become increasingly obsessed with The Plan and wonder if it could be true. Diotallevi is diagnosed with cancer and attributes it to divine retribution for his role in The Plan. Belbo, overcome by jealousy over Lorenza, discusses The Plan with Agliè and claims to be in possession of a Templar map of the telluric currents; Agliè demands to see it and is refused. Agliè, Garamond, Ardenti, and many of the manuscript authors convince themselves they are the Tres, and that Agliè is their leader; the latter then forces Belbo to accompany him to Paris. Casaubon visits Belbo's apartment and reads his personal files, then goes to Paris and Foucault's Pendulum to see Agliè and his associates.

In the present, a group led by Agliè gathers around the pendulum for an arcane ritual. Casaubon sees several [[Ectoplasm (paranormal)|ectoplasmic]] forms appear, one of which claims to be the real Comte de Saint-Germain and denounces Agliè in front of his followers. Belbo is questioned but refuses to reveal what he knows, inciting a riot during which he is hanged from Foucault's Pendulum. Casaubon escapes the museum and flees to the countryside villa where Belbo grew up, soon learning that Diotallevi succumbed to his cancer at midnight on St.&nbsp;John's Eve, coincidentally the same time Belbo died.

Casaubon [[meditating|meditates]] on events and resigns to being captured by the Tres, where he plans to follow Belbo's lead and tell them nothing. While waiting in the villa, Casaubon finds an old manuscript by Belbo that relates a mystical experience he had when he was twelve, in which he perceived ultimate meaning beyond signs and semiotics. He realizes that much of Belbo's behavior, and possibly his creation of the Plan and even his death, was inspired by Belbo's desire to recapture that lost meaning.<ref>{{cite book |author=Bondanella |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfmdDpZNm30C&dq=Belbo+trumpet&pg=PA150 |title=Umberto Eco and the Open Text |page=150}}</ref>{{full citation|date=November 2022}}{{Efn|The mystical experience involved playing the trumpet. In 2008, Eco told an interviewer that he plays the trumpet every day, to recapture the feelings of his lost childhood.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Zanganeh, Lila Azam |date=Summer 2008 |title=Umberto Eco, the art of fiction no.&nbsp;197 |url=http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/5856 |magazine=[[The Paris Review]] |issue=185}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Rorty, R. |author-link=Richard Rorty |title=The Pragmatist's Progress |date=July 2000 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-084769061-9 |edition=annotated |page=90}}</ref>}}

== Major themes ==
Most books written in this fiction genre seem to focus on the mysterious, and aim to provide their own version of the conspiracy theory. Eco avoids this pitfall without holding back on the historical mystery surrounding the Knights Templar. In fact, the novel may be viewed as a critique, spoof, or [[deconstruction]] of the grand overarching conspiracies often found in [[postmodern literature]],<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hutcheon, Linda |author-link=Linda Hutcheon |date=Spring 1992 |title=Eco's echoes: Ironizing the (post) modern' |journal=[[Diacritics (journal)|Diacritics]] |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=2–16 |doi=10.2307/465234 |jstor=465234 |hdl-access=free |hdl=1807/19215}}</ref> and indeed its very title may well allude to one of postmodernism's key exponents, [[Michel Foucault]]. Although the main plot does detail a conspiratorial "Plan", the book focuses on the development of the characters, and their slow transition from skeptical editors, mocking the Manutius manuscripts to credulous Diabolicals themselves. In this way, the conspiracy theory provided is a plot device, rather than an earnest proposition.

Belbo's writings are a recurrent theme throughout the book. The entire book is narrated in the first person by Casaubon, with brief interludes from the files on Abulafia. These passages are often eccentrically written, and deal in most part with Belbo's childhood, his constant sense of failure, and his obsession with Lorenza. The interludes from his childhood serve as a stark contrast to the mythical world of cults and conspiracies. Belbo is extremely careful to not try to create (literature), because he deems himself unworthy, although it becomes somewhat obvious that writing is his passion. This attitude of constant subconscious self-abasement fits in with the overall irony focused on in the book, considering that Belbo is eventually consumed by (re)creation of the Plan; one excerpt meant for the unattainable Lorenza reads, "I could not possess you, but I can blow up history."

Casaubon is a scholar: While Belbo seeks inner peace, Casaubon's quest is of knowledge. The uncertainty of scientific knowledge and human experience is explored in his character, as he participates in various extra-natural events. His narratives abandon his strict realism and become increasingly inclined towards the supernatural as the novel progresses, despite periodic reality checks from his partner Lia.

Mr. Garamond, whose primary business is selling dreams (through his [[vanity press]] outlet), comes to believe the fantasy world his authors weave. It is possible, though, that he had always been a "Diabolical", and founded his publishing business to fish for information.

Eco shows that if one stops discriminating between whether propositions are right or wrong, it is possible to link any fact or idea with any other, but that this creates a dangerous tendency towards conspiracy theories. As Diotallevi approaches death, he remarks: "I'm dying because I convinced myself that there was no order, that you could do whatever you liked with any text".

As Belbo approaches death, Casaubon remarks of him that: "... he refused to bow to nonmeaning. He somehow knew that fragile as our existence may be, however ineffectual our interrogation of the world, there is nevertheless something that has more meaning than the rest".

As Casaubon awaits death at the hands of those who incorrectly believe that he is withholding some occult information from them, he reflects that: "It makes no difference whether I write or not. They will look for other meanings, even in my silence".

Eco reinforces this theme by quoting [[Karl Popper]] at the heading of chapter 118:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Popper |first=Karl R. |author-link=Karl Popper |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/881026340 |title=Conjectures and Refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge |date=May 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-97137-3 |oclc=881026340}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|"The conspiracy theory of society ... comes from abandoning God and then asking: 'Who is in his place?{{' "}}.}}

=== Societies in the novel ===
{{sister project
|project=wiktionary
|text=[[Wiktionary]], the free dictionary, has a [[concordance (publishing)|concordance]] of the 'difficult' [[wikt: Appendix:Foucault's Pendulum|words from Foucault's Pendulum]]
}}
A wide variety of organizations are listed in ''Foucault's Pendulum'', including the [[Order of Assassins|Assassins of Alamut]], the [[Bavarian Illuminati]], the [[Bogomils]], the [[Candomblé]], the [[Cathars]], the fictional [[Cthulhu]] cult,<ref>{{cite web |last=Aquino |first=Michael |date=4 September 1993 |title=RE: Re: Wewelsberg |url=http://bbs.bapho.net/bbs/l-drive/topicx/files/set/text/1993/set93252.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719064619/http://bbs.bapho.net/bbs/l-drive/topicx/files/set/text/1993/set93252.txt |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |access-date=June 4, 2006 |website=Baphonet}}</ref> the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (which in the novel Mr.&nbsp;Garamond includes in his list of "occult" organizations to contact about book ideas), the [[Elders of Zion]], the [[Freemasons]], the [[Gnostics]], [[Gurdjieff]]ians, the [[Jesuits]], the [[Knights Templar]], [[Opus Dei]], [[Ordo Templi Orientis]], Panta Rei, and the [[Rosicrucians]].

== Comparison with other writings ==
''Foucault's Pendulum'' (1988) has been called "the thinking man's ''[[The Da Vinci Code|Da Vinci Code]]''".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Jane |date=December 24, 2004 |title=Religious conspiracy? Do me a fervour |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/23/1103391886435.html |access-date=April 4, 2006 |work=The Age}}</ref> The parchment that sparks the Plan plays a role which is similar to the parchments in the [[Rennes-le-Château]] story in Brown's novel and in ''[[The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail]]'' (1982), from which Brown drew inspiration. Eco's novel predated the ''Da Vinci'' phenomenon by more than a decade, but both novels are concerned with the Knights Templar, complex conspiracies, secret codes, and even a chase around the monuments of Paris. Eco does so, however, from a much more critical perspective; ''Foucault'' is more a satire on the futility of conspiracy theories and those who believe them, rather than an attempt to proliferate such beliefs.

Eco was asked whether he had read the Brown novel; he replied:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Solomon |first=Deborah | author-link = Deborah Solomon |date=November 25, 2007 |title=Questions for Umberto Eco |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/magazine/25wwln-Q4-t.html}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|I was obliged to read it because everybody was asking me about it. My answer is that Dan Brown is one of the characters in my novel ''Foucault's Pendulum'', which is about people who start believing in occult stuff. ... ''But you yourself seem interested in the kabbalah, alchemy, and other occult practices explored in the novel.'' ... No. In ''Foucault's Pendulum'' I wrote the grotesque representation of these kind of people. So Dan Brown is one of my creatures.}}

Eco was indebted to [[Danilo Kiš]]'s story "The Book of Kings and Fools" in ''[[The Encyclopedia of the Dead]]'' (1983) for the portrayal of [[Sergei Nilus]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hagemeister |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hagemeister |year=2008 |title=The ''Protocols of the Elders of Zioin'': Between History and fiction |journal=[[New German Critique]] |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=83–95 |doi=10.1215/0094033X-2007-020}}</ref> ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' claimed that "one can trace a lineage from [[Robert Anton Wilson]]'s ''[[The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'' to Umberto Eco's ''Foucault's Pendulum''".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Damon |date=March 2, 2001 |title='The business' an unsuccessful venture |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8642737.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025201353/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8642737.html |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |work=The Boston Globe}}</ref> ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy'' was written 13 years before ''Foucault's Pendulum''. [[George Johnson (writer)|George Johnson]] wrote on the similarity of the two books that "both works were written tongue in cheek, with a high sense of irony."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=George |year=2007 |title=On the Trail of the Illuminati: A Journalist's Search for the "Conspiracy That Rules the World" |url=http://sciwrite.org/glj/Illuminati.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229105632/http://sciwrite.org/glj/Illuminati.pdf |archive-date=December 29, 2009 |website=Secrets of Angels and Demon}}</ref> Both books are divided into ten segments represented by the ten Sefiroth.

''Foucault's Pendulum'' also bears a number of similarities to Eco's own experiences and writing. The character of Belbo was brought up in the region of [[Piedmont]] in Northern Italy. Eco refers to his own visit to a Candomblé ceremony in Brazil in an article compiled in ''[[Faith in Fakes]]'', reminiscent of the episode in the novel. He also describes French [[ethnologist]] [[Roger Bastide]] who bears a resemblance to the character of Agliè.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eco |first=Umberto |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18036417 |title=Travels in hyperreality : essays |date=1987 |publisher=Pan Books in association with Secker & Warburg |isbn=0-330-29667-1 |location=London |oclc=18036417}}</ref> Eco's novel was also a direct inspiration on [[Charles Cecil]] during the development of [[Revolution Software]]'s highly successful [[point and click]] [[adventure game]] ''[[Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars]]'', in which an American tourist and a French journalist must thwart a conspiracy by a shadowy cabal who model themselves on the [[Knights Templar]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parkin |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Parkin |date=August 9, 2015 |title=Broken Sword and 25 years of Revolution |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-08-09-broken-sword-and-25-years-of-revolution |website=eurogamer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Revolution Software's Kickstarter page for Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse |url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/165500047/broken-sword-the-serpents-curse-adventure/posts}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[El Club Dumas]]''

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|Foucault's Pendulum}}
{{Wiktionary|Appendix:Foucault's Pendulum}}
* [http://eco.ids-mannheim.de/wiki/Foucault%27s_Pendulum Annotations at Umberto Eco Wiki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222143003/http://eco.ids-mannheim.de/wiki/Foucault%27s_Pendulum |date=December 22, 2019 }} – A wiki guide to the novel.
* [http://www.thenewcanon.com/foucaultspendulum.html ''Foucault's Pendulum'', reviewed by Ted Gioia] (The New Canon)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040718074854/http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_works_fiction.html List of Eco's fiction with short introductions]

{{Umberto Eco}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1988 Italian novels]]
[[Category:1988 speculative fiction novels]]
[[Category:Bompiani books]]
[[Category:Italian satirical novels]]
[[Category:Italian speculative fiction novels]]
[[Category:Metafictional novels]]
[[Category:Metaphysical fiction novels]]
[[Category:Novels about secret societies]]
[[Category:Novels by Umberto Eco]]
[[Category:Novels set in Italy]]
[[Category:Philosophical novels]]
[[Category:Postmodern novels]]
[[Category:Secret histories]]
[[Category:Novels about the Illuminati]]