Baudolino | Baudolino

At a glance:

Author: Umberto Eco
First Published: 2000
Type of Work: Novel
Time of Work: 1142-1204
Setting: Italy, Paris, and Constantinople
Principal Characters: Baudolino, Frederick Barbarossa, Niketas Choniates, Beatrice of Burgundy, Prester John, Zosimos of Chalcedon, Colandrina, Ardzrouni, Gavagi, Deacon Johannes, Hypatia
Genres: Long fiction
Subjects: Traveling or travelers, France or French people, Paris, Christianity, Truthfulness and falsehood, Catholics or Catholic Church, Italy or Italians, Middle Ages, Thirteenth century, Turkey or Turkish people, Atonement, Relics or sacred objects, Crusades, Twelfth century, Holy Grail or Grail quest, Holy Roman Empire
Locales: Paris, France, Italy, Constantinople

It is rare that a university academic becomes a popular novelist, but Umberto Eco’s first novel, Il nome della rosa (1980; The Name of the Rose, 1983), was an international best-seller as well as a popular motion picture. The novel, a detective story set in the Middle Ages, was more challenging than the movie, and Eco’s second novel, Il pendolo di Foucault (1988; Foucault’s Pendulum, 1989), was even more difficult, but it, too, achieved best-seller status. Baudolino, Eco’s fourth novel, is his most accessible fictional work for the general...

Baudolino | Baudolino

At a glance:

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