The Prague Cemetery (Italian: Il cimitero di Praga) is a novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It was first published in October 2010; the English translation by Richard Dixon appeared a year later. Shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2012, it has been described as Eco's best novel since The Name of the Rose.
This book is a doozy--a labyrinthine journey through the maze of antisemitic conspiracy theories that culminated in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, told by despicable but thoroughly fascinating character who is probably the only fictional character in the book.
Highly recommend.
I found this book to largely be rather a poor excuse on Eco's part to write about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is clear that Eco had a profound understanding of fascism and the othering. He certainly felt obliged to share this understanding with the world. Yet, this work can hardly be characterized as anything but a failure. It is dull and requires too much concentrated work for too little of a reward.
Really fake news.
Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. Simone Simonini is called upon to help create a political conspiracy by forging a document known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Simone is an adventurer, forger and secret agent working for a powerful secret organisation or is he working for himself? Is he playing both sides against each other or will he end up being a scapegoat?
I love Umberto Eco; every time I read a book by him, I get a mind crush; how can one man have so much knowledge on Catholicism, Freemasons, the Knights Templar and even the Rosicrucians? First book I ever read of his was Foucault’s Pendulum and will always remain my favourite because I did not know what to expect. I was so surprised with his knowledge that when he started building the conspiracy behind this book I even …
Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres. Simone Simonini is called upon to help create a political conspiracy by forging a document known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Simone is an adventurer, forger and secret agent working for a powerful secret organisation or is he working for himself? Is he playing both sides against each other or will he end up being a scapegoat?
I love Umberto Eco; every time I read a book by him, I get a mind crush; how can one man have so much knowledge on Catholicism, Freemasons, the Knights Templar and even the Rosicrucians? First book I ever read of his was Foucault’s Pendulum and will always remain my favourite because I did not know what to expect. I was so surprised with his knowledge that when he started building the conspiracy behind this book I even started to feel convinced by it too. I had to remind myself that it was fiction and that they were trying to create a conspiracy theory that others would believe.
Umberto Eco is not the easiest author to read; he jams his books full of facts and in The Prague Cemetery it’s all about Nineteenth-century Europe and conspiracies both real and imagined. You certainly have to have an interest in history of secret societies to enjoy the mystery that Eco creates. Luckily for me, I have that interest and feel like Eco is just encouraging me to learn more about these Secret societies; I still have not worked out how to join the Illuminati yet.
The protagonist Simone Simonini is slimy, manipulative and almost an evil genius. This makes him perfect for the role he plays. While it is hard to keep up with all his thoughts and trying to think that many moves ahead, I just enjoyed where this novel took me.
They call Umberto Eco the Dan Brown for the intellects, and while I do try to be pretentious and act like an intellectual, I have a lot more to learn. I love this title for Eco because he takes the conspiracy thriller elements and certainly adds his knowledge of history to it, making a truly intelligent novel. There is so much to learn and so much to enjoy from a book like this. This is my third Eco novel (Foucault’s Pendulum & The Name of the Rose) and I’m already looking forward to my forth. While I will need a break from his brilliance, I would love to know which Eco book I should read next?
This is Umberto Eco playing with conspiracy again, only not as well as he did 20 years ago. The aim is much more evil than Foucault's Pendulum but the plot and characters are less interesting.
I guess I wish he'd written The Name of the Rose and then retired from fiction.
