We encourage you to buy and read the full version of Umberto Eco’s book! But if you can’t, due to the Corvid 19 emergency, here’s Chapter 5 of our ‘Riassunto facilitato per studenti di italiano L2, da Francesca Colombo’, which corresponds approximately to pp. 121-160 of the original Italian version.
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Guglielmo segue il consiglio di Bencio e si reca a cercare Berengario. Mentre passeggia con Adso, il ragazzo gli chiede: “Cos’è il ‘Finis Africae’?”
Guglielmo risponde pensieroso: “Chiaramente è il confine dell’Africa ma… non so a cosa si riferisca di preciso. Forse lo capirò una volta entrato in biblioteca”.
Poi vede l’aiuto bibliotecario e gli intima con voce decisa: “Berengario, so che sei stato l’ultimo a vedere Adelmo, devi raccontarmi ciò che stai nascondendo!”
Berengario fa un po’ di resistenza, ma Guglielmo sa farlo parlare: “So che avevi una relazione con lui, ti conviene raccontarmi ciò che sai”.
Allora Berengario crolla in un pianto disperato: “Quella notte, la notte in cui morì, io lo vidi. Si aggirava per il cimitero ma… era uno spettro pallidissimo. Adelmo, io credo, era già morto e quella che mi venne incontro era la sua anima. Lo spirito mi prese la mano e mi disse: ‘Mio bel maestro, sono dannato! Mi sono divertito con immagini mostruose, e ora sono dannato!’ Poi si allontanò di corsa. Non so altro, lo giuro!”
Guglielmo lo lascia andare. Adso chiede al maestro: “Dunque ha davvero visto lo spettro di Adelmo?”
Guglielmo scuote la testa ridendo: “Ma no… Questi monaci leggono troppo e si suggestionano facilmente! Credo che qualcuno abbia parlato con Adelmo, convincendolo di essere dannato a causa dei suoi disegni, che suscitano la risata. Perciò Adelmo vagava, bianco e in preda all’angoscia, per il cimitero. Proprio allora ha incontrato Berengario, anche se, come sappiamo grazie a Bencio e a Severino, i due si erano già incontrati prima perché avevano una relazione. Ma c’è un particolare interessante: Berengario e Adelmo avevano la stessa età, dunque perché Adelmo ha chiamato ‘mio bel maestro’ un suo coetaneo?”
Adso esita: “Non saprei…”
Guglielmo risponde spazientito alla propria domanda: “Evidentemente perché Berengario gli ha insegnato qualcosa che avrà letto in biblioteca. Ricordi? Poiché è aiuto bibliotecario, Berengario vi ha accesso. E probabilmente questo qualcosa ha a che fare con il ‘Finis Africae’, anche se ancora non so bene cosa sia. Sono quasi sicuro che Adelmo si sia suicidato, ma qualcuno lo ha indotto a farlo”.
Adso aggiunge: “Ora rimane da chiarire cosa unisce Adelmo a Venanzio”.
Alla ricerca di una pista, i due si recano presso la scrivania del secondo morto, Venanzio. Poco dopo, l’amanuense Bencio fa loro cenno di avvicinarsi: ha deciso di dare altre informazioni? O cerca di allontanarli dalla scrivania in modo che non trovino altri indizi?
Guglielmo e Adso lo ascoltano, ed egli conferma il racconto di Berengario: “La notte che morì Adelmo, io lo vidi entrare nella stanza da letto di Berengario. Ma poi ne corse fuori per recarsi da padre Jorge a confessarsi. Quella sera, non ero l’unico a spiarli, anche Venanzio li aveva visti”.
Guglielmo ha la conferma che Berengario aveva chiesto un favore sessuale ad Adelmo in cambio di qualche informazione reperibile nella biblioteca. Venanzio aveva visto tutto e voleva, a sua volta, ottenere la stessa informazione. Perciò entrambi erano morti…
“Dobbiamo entrare nella biblioteca proibita se vogliamo risolvere il mistero!” dice Guglielmo al giovane Adso.
Glossario
si reca: goes
ti conviene: you’d better
crolla: caves in
spettro: ghost
dannato: damned, condemned
si suggestionano: are impressed
spazientito: irritated
reperibile: reachable
Esercizio
Abbina ciascuno spezzone di frase con il suo completamento:
1. Forse lo capirò una
2. Devi raccontarmi ciò
3. So che avevi una
4. Quella che mi venne incontro
5. Berengario e Adelmo avevano
6. Io vidi che era
7. Berengario cerca di
8. Venanzio aveva visto tutto e
a. che stai nascondendo.
b. allontanarli dalla scrivania.
c. la stessa età.
d. era l’anima di Adelmo.
e. voleva ottenere la stessa informazione.
f. entrato nella stanza da letto.
g. volta entrato in biblioteca.
h. relazione con Adelmo.
Soluzioni | Back to Italian Literature page
Daniel says
I’ve finished the book (don’t panic, I started earlier than you did) and am now reading the ‘Postille’, a sort of P.S. from the author, which is actually a lot more interesting than I’d expected. On p.520 of my paperback copy he writes the following (the bolding, and any spelling mistakes, are mine):
Dopo aver letto il manoscritto, gli amici della casa editrice mi suggerirono di accorciare le prime cento pagine, che trovavano molto impegnative e faticose. Non ebbi dubbi, rifiutai, perché, sostenevo, se qualcuno voleva entrare nell’abbazia e viverci sette giorni, doveva accettarne il ritmo. Se non ci riusciva, non sarebbe mai riuscito a leggere tutto il libro. Quindi, funzione penitenziale, iniziatoria, delle prime cento pagine, e a chi non piace peggio per lui, rimane alle falde della collina.
So, if you’ve been sweating over the text up to this point, know that it was intended that you should. You’ve made it up the hill to the abbey and paid your entrance ticket – now enjoy the ride for another six days!
N.b. Later in the same section, entitled ‘Il respiro’, Eco writes about the ‘pace’ of novels (that is to say, the rate at which they ‘breathe):
Ci sono romanzi che respiranno come gazzelle e altri che respirano come balene, o elefanti. L’armonia on sta nella lunghezza del fiato, ma nella regolarità con cui si tira…
Which to me means that the alternating parts of (easier) dialogue and (harder) description/explanation are entirely deliberate, much as the monks’ days are made up of work punctuated by religious meditations (Eco’s example, not mine).
You could, as I previously suggested, skip the boring bits. I didn’t, but I probably would have done if I was reading the book for fun, rather than as part of this book club.
But having made it up to the top of the hill, paid your dues, so to speak, perhaps at this point you might consider that, for the story to ‘breathe’, the sometimes rather turgid parts are a necessary part of the experience.
Up to you, though!
Buona lettura, buon proseguimento.
Margaret Burtt says
I am reading the book and did find it tough going at first so your comments are really helpful and encouraging! Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel says
Prego, Margaret. There are slow parts all the say through – for the ‘breathing’ – but you get used to them.
A presto!
Douglas Dean says
Don’t get the following :
Perciò Adelmo vagava bianco e in preda all’angoscia per il cimitero..
How does one ‘vagare bianco’ ?
thanks,
Daniel says
Ciao Douglas!
Thanks for the feedback. Commas now added, so it reads:
“…vagava, bianco e in preda all’angoscia, per il cimitero..”
Hope that helps!
Isabel says
Hi Douglas,
Poetic ? Wandered (comma , ) white (with fear? ) gripped with agony? Possibly something like that?
Sergey says
Ciao Douglas!
Cerco di spiegarti le parole “vagava bianco”.
Berengario ha detto che Adelmo, quando lo ha incotro sul cimitero, aveva il volto molto pallido. Guglielme ha chiesto Berengario: “… dimmi piuttosto, come hai visto il suo volto pallido se era notte fonda?…” Berengario ha detto che Adelmo “… portava un lume, forse ho visto il suo volto alla luce della fiamma…” (Un lume è una specie di candela)
“Come poteva portare una luce se pioveva e nevicava?” ha chiesto Guglielmo. Berengario ha risposto che a guel momento “… non nevicava ancora, ha cominciato dopo.”
Spero di aver risposto alla tua domanda, Douglas. Ma dimmi per favore una cosa. Nel riassunto, per raccontarci sul episodio quando Berengarrio ha incontrato Adelmo, è scritto: “… Si aggirava per il cimitero ma… era uno spettro pallidissimo.”
Nel libro che leggo io (una .pdf versione del romanzo ho scaricato dal sito “academia”) la scena è descritta così: “… “No, no, lo vidi qui nel cimitero, procedeva tra le tombe, larva tra le larve. Lo incontrai e subito mi accorsi che non avevo di fronte a me un vivo, il suo volto era quello di un cadavere, …”
Ma dove hai letto le parole “vagava bianco e in preda all’angoscia per il cimitero..”? Che versione del romanzo leggi tu?
Ciao!
Daniel says
That sentence is from our ‘riassunti’, Sergey, in fact on this page (where your comment is published!)
As has been pointed out, it wasn’t very well written.
Sergey says
Ooops! I’ve missed that!
Che vergogna! Come pagamento per la mia disattenzione, vorrei condividere con voi una sfumatura divertente, vale a dire: come Guglielmo ha costretto Berengario di raccontare tutto ciò che egli sapeva delle circostanze della morte di Adelmo? Dapprima, abbiamo letto, il povero monaco non voleva confessare che sappia più degli altri suoi confratelli e che sia stato l’ultimo a vedere Adelmo vivo, ha detto: “Come potete dire questo, io l’ho visto prima di andare a riposare come tutti gli altri!” Ma Guglielmo decise “di non dargli respiro: “No, tu l’hai visto ancora e sai più cose di quanto non voglia far credere. Ma qui sono in gioco ormai due morti e non puoi più tacere. Sai benissimo che vi sono molti modi per far parlare una persona!”
L’ultima frase assume una connotazione speciale se sapere che in passato frate Guglielmo era un inquisitore, hehe! A quei tempi, nessuno voleva mettere su se stesso alla prova i “modi” con cui l’Inquisizione ottenneva la sincerità dagli interrogati. Allora, Berengario ha subito cambiato il tono di voce e ha risposto sinceramente a tutte le domande di Guglielmo.
Beh, quasi a tutte…
Rosalind says
Ah, well, that’s good news. We can now perhaps pat ourselves on the back. Certo non vogliamo rimanere alle falde della collina. (new expression to me but it’s great!).
Daniel says
I’m fairly sure, Rosalind, that’s it a metaphor, rather than a fixed expression. Eco’s referring to not making it up the hill to the abbey (i.e. not finishing the first 100 pages). ‘Falde’ was a new word to me, too, though. Google tells me there’s a TV program called ‘Le falde del Kilimangiaro’.
Rosalind says
Yes, that’s how I understood it. We’ve overcome the (first) obstacle.
Judith says
Thank you for the continued encouragement! I am a fair bit behind, but starting to make progress at last. I have only myself to blame really! Started with more time in the dictionary then the book😞. Really struggled to put the dictionary down! But have finally freed myself. Thank you to all those suggested reading aloud, it’s worked for me, I’m so busy reading aloud I don’t think about the dictionary and somehow the story flows so much more easily. Not sure my poor husband is quite such a fan though🤔. Arriverò alla cima della collina!!! I’m even listening to Italian audio books whilst gardening 😎, thanks for all the advice!
Orlaith says
Ancora sto leggendo ma troppo lentamente..e stato un po difficile a causa della lingua le frase piu complessa e discriptivi usata del Umberto ecetera.Allora ho riagiunto pg 24 da primo giorno sesta e pensavo che il libro non svilupato ma adesso che Daniel ha detto che Umberto vuole che sarebbe difficile da prima e poi si posso gestire ,leggero il resto pui facilmente.
Isabel says
Ciao Daniel,
And now i’ve Got a great new excuse for whenever I can’t remember or work something out in Italian
“Sto vagando in mente” – might get a laugh from my Italian teacher:) if it’s actually something one would say….
Helen says
I’m reading on a kindle so really don’t know what page I’m up to. However my kindle tells me I’ve read 13’/, so I guess I’ve got another 7’/, to go until it gets easier!
Thanks to Daniels encouraging words I won’t give up, even though I’ve only just realised that Guglielmo is English. 🙄. At least I hope he is and that I haven’t got that wrong. 🤞
Minou Alexander says
Helen — I arrived at the same realization vis a vis Guglielmo being English. I’d been wondering why an Italian friar would have an English appellation. Then felt a bit daft once it was pointedly stated that indeed he was English. I seem to be doing this frequently – Daniel warned about missing the forest for the trees (= the dictionary)! Nonetheless, it was good to chuckle w/ a fellow struggler! 🙄 Thanx.
Charles V Vitale says
Ciao Daniel,
It so happens that I had just finished reading “Il nome della rosa”, in it’s English translation by William Weaver, the week before you announced that this project would begin. I am delighted to jump into the Italian text with you, and please have you know that your work, for me, is a joy and great good fun. It’s taken me a long time to mature to the point of accepting the challenge of reading Umberto Ecco, and now to find the opportunity to read his work in the Italian vernacular is such a pleasure. Perhaps some day I will find an affordable Italian copy of the book, and I will be happy to read it as you advise, but for now this is just great fun. Thank you for keeping us working at this language learning stuff.
Colleen says
Still reading slowly but surely- I LOVE the audiolibro and that is keeping me interested enough to plough through the book.. I have always preferred listening. I now see the joy of being able to read Italian,. My goal has been to understand the spoken word and perhaps be able to speak it. I am getting better at reading with this book club, so I may enlarge my goals for Italian to include better reading skills and perhaps actually writing in Italian-at least brief comments… Thank you again for this book club!!
Mary says
How interesting to try and make we intrepid readers experience the rhythm of life in the monastery through the varying degrees of difficulty in the text.
Another thing.,, Is it just me or does Umberto Eco get in a few digs at the Italian establishment as well along the way? I am referring to the end of “Secondo giorno – Prima” when Guglielmo talks about the “popolazioni italiane” whose only reason for not committing a sin is because they worship images of certain saints and fear their retribution. (I think I got the picture of how to keep somewhere clean!) Section begins with “Dipende da cosa tu intendi per peccare, Adso……” and is the penultimate page on my Kindle before “Secondo giorno/Terza”
Daniel says
Who knows, Mary? I guess that could be true for any population. And for the monks themselves, for that matter.
Here in Bologna we’re currently being VERY GOOD, and for the general good. How long that will last is anyone’s guess…
Simeon Underwood says
Ciao Daniel ! I had picked up on the same passage as Mary, and it put two thoughts into my mind.
Firstly, ‘Il nome della rosa’ was published in 1980. Let’s assume that it took Eco two or three years to write. So are there overtones or references which can set the book in relation to political/social/religious events in Italy in the second half of the 1970s ? Or was Eco just writing an extremely elaborate historical novel just for the fun of it ?! I’d guess that it is the former; but I don’t enough about the contemporary context in which the book was written o be able to identify parallels.
Secondly, Adso’s observations about the Italians are sparked off by the encounter with Berengario, who is Berengario da Arundel, i.e English.. So at the end of the paragraph to which Mary refers Adso says “Ma Berengario non e italiano’ (p.144 in my edition). Gugliemo says that that doesn’t matter; and Adso is left sounding a bit naive. But only five pages later, another monk who is talking about the problems of the Abbey, and especially the Library, says “siamo controllati da un gruppo di stranieri”, i.e. people from outside Italy: to which Gugliemo has to reply “Ma l’Abate e italiano’: so this time round national identity does matter, It is striking that the monks at the Abbey are drawn from a wide range of countries, all of them (so far) European, and this is constantly brought to our attention by the place names. The Babel theme again ? Globalisation ? The Abbey as an allegory of the EU ?!
Daniel says
Ciao Simeon,
From the vantage point of having finished the story and read the author’s ‘Postille’, it seems to me that the nationality thing doesn’t really enter into it – Gugliemo is an outsider (in terms of his thinking) and an investigator (like Sherlock), so English, simple as that. As you point out, the nationality of individual monks IS relevant to the story (and becomes more so), but I didn’t detect stereotypes or connections with the political situation at the time of writing. Plenty of politics, of course, but all of it of the era – emperors, popes, etc. In the ‘Postille’ Eco goes on a lot about trends in literature, and explains why he choose to set his story in the middle ages, but doesn’t mention politics at all.
Sergey says
Hi Mary!
This piece of the text hooked me up too. But mostly not Guglielmo’s thoughts about italians intrigued me (here I’m agree with Daniel), I was stuck with his last phrase: “Perché vi sia specchio del mondo occorre che il mondo abbia una forma.” I would translate it into English like that: “Due to existence of the mirror of the world, it turns out that the world has the form”. I was thinking a lot about it, but I have had no idea what did he mean. E poi, non ho capito come questa frase si riferisce al parlare precedente. L’unica cosa, forse, un po’ ardita, mi è venuta in mente: Guglielmo l’ha detto semplicemente per far Adso stare zitto. Questo scopo è stato raggiunto. 🙂
Ciao!
Daniel says
Google suggests “For there to be a mirror of the world, the world must have a shape”, Sergey. I can’t find the passage you’re referring to now (and I’m too lazy to search for it), but if I remember correctly (possibly not) it would have been about the monks in the monastry being an international bunch that were therefore a mirror of the outside world, something like that?
In the ‘Postille’ there’s a section about how the writer has to create a world for his/her characters and how that can be done in different ways, which might be relevant. Also the modern notion that political representatives, company board members, film directors and so on should in some way mirror the population rather than being the usual bunch of middle-aged white men. A seemingly obvious proposition that conceals many difficulties.
Minou Alexander says
Thank you Daniel for your motivating texts and continuing info, and thank you fellow readers for your thoughts. I am slogging along now; for me the reading is getting a little thick. Therefore i’m glad to have hope of the cima di collina. See you on the other side!
Daniel says
You have my permission to skip the ‘thick’ parts, Minou. Or if you prefer to wade through them, take it one page at a time. Sooner or later, you’ll get on to something more fast-moving!
Minou says
great idea: one page at a time. i’ll give it a go. thankyou —
Helen D says
Hi Daniel, well I will admit right up front that I am well behind your cracking pace however, I am persisting at my own pace and I will get through it.
I read along with an Audible narration as the RAI link geo-blocked me!!
I love listening to the rhythm of the reading whilst following the text in the book (although sometimes it jumps a little then I scramble to find where the narrator has landed!) – it gives another dimension to the story.
However, I do have a question/observation: it seems as though the punctuation is largely ignored, no pausing for commas or periods but just straight through and into the next sentence or phrase, then maybe a pause in what appears to the the middle of the next sentence.
Is this normal or have I just lumbered myself with a poor reader/narrator?
Merely curious.
Thanks for your continuing encouragement.
Daniel says
“it seems as though the punctuation is largely ignored, no pausing for commas or periods but just straight through and into the next sentence or phrase, then maybe a pause in what appears to the the middle of the next sentence.
Is this normal or have I just lumbered myself with a poor reader/narrator?”
I don’t use Audible, Helen, in part because it’s Amazon, in part because I prefer live media such as radio. However, I know that these days audio tracks can be generated automatically from text, so no actual reader, just an algorithm. People are much more expensive and a pain to manage… So perhaps the problem is that the computer isn’t so familar with Italian punctuation?
Chris says
An interesting concept to make the readers work hard on some text in th book to reflect the life of a monk.
Out of interest I looked at the English version and can understand why I am finding a lot of it rather tough going.
Daniel, your encouragement and other readers comments are motivating to keep going. I think I will download the BBC series after we finish. Grazie a tutti 🙂
Daniel says
Reading a book in a foreign language tends to be ‘tough-going’, unsurprisingly.
Until one day, suddenly it isn’t!
I think most people will always find it easier to read in their native tongue. But that doesn’t mean that reading in a foreign language isn’t worth doing. And if you do it enough, at some point you forget that it’s hard.
Chris says
Daniel,
Ma certo.. I was trying to say that the English version isn’t an easy read therefore it’s no wonder some of the Italian is tough 🙂
Penny says
I’m hanging in there and just about keeping up. I find the Rai audio tremendously helpful but periodically I get blocked, presumably because I’m not in Italy and I certainly haven’t got the IT savvy to be able to get round that..
I am beginning to speed up a little so hopefully will reach the cima along with all you others. Reading about the monastic life has certainly made me reflect on living in a single sex community, which I did briefly in my long past youth in a boarding school. It is scary that the majority of our British politicians spent their formative years in a similar environment………just a thought!
Well done Daniel for setting us this challenge and for your encouragement and wise advice. No one understands everything they read on first reading whether in a foreign or first language, particularly if the subject matter is relatively new to them, . Teachers like to be the all wise, so really enjoy pointing out what we don’t know rather than giving us the confidence to gradually move forward from what we do know. I reckon after reading this most of us will be able to tackle a libro giallo with no trouble at all
Daniel says
No one understands everything they read on first reading whether in a foreign or first language, particularly if the subject matter is relatively new to them, . Teachers like to be the all wise, so really enjoy pointing out what we don’t know rather than giving us the confidence to gradually move forward from what we do know
That’s very true, Penny! I work with Italian native speakers who bring stuff to me to sign (contracts, tax forms, etc.) I always ask them if they’ve read it, and they look sheepish and admit they haven’t. When I ask why not, they tell me that it’s too difficult, that they know they won’t understand it (these people have university degrees.) So I sigh and tell them that I suppose I will have to read it if they refuse to – sometimes they’ll reluctantly give it a go. Other times I really do have to read it myself! Confidence, and knowing what to look for counts a lot. Ignoring all the parts that aren’t relevant (privacy terms and conditions, for example) speeds the whole process up a lot. And yet some people never learned to read that way. Who knows whether it was their teachers’ fault, but I dare say the education system often didn’t help as it should have done…
Annalinda says
Plowing through…just the “riassunto “. Capitolo 5 e` un puo dificile per me. Ma anche oggi ho visto Commissario Vivaldi sul Amazon Prime. Divertenti.
Rob Lee says
Gripping stuff. I’m using every spare minute to read. If there is any positives in this coronavirus period it is that there is time to read when normally I would only have a few minutes here and there. Having said that I’d prefer less reading time and no virus. There’s a sense of another leap forward about to happen. With this book I’m ready for anything now.
Daniel says
Prepare yourself, Rob… as I recall there’s a really hard, slow part in the book (third quarter out of four? just guessing…) But the ending is really great!