Wednesday 18 January 2012

Umberto Eco's Strange New Book: The Prague Cemetery

There are no library book discussions in January--it is January, after all, and there is no telling what weather will befall us in this climate--so in addition to reading Christmas gift books, I'm getting a jump on the books for February.

Last night I finished Umberto Eco's latest novel. Called The Prague Cemetery in English, its 550 pages cover most of 19th century French, Italian and Russian history, as it presents the thoroughly unpleasant people behind the grossly false Protocols of he Elders of Zion. Even though I put it on the library reading lists, I'm not sure at this momrnet if it is worth reading: having a month to reflect on it before I have to lead a discusison is probably a very good things.

In the meantime, here's a presentation he gave last fall in Toronto, which tells a bit about his aims in writing the book and how he researched it in conversation with Michael Enright.

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