Looking at concepts of truth and lies through fictional worlds. Umberto Eco’s novels "Baudolino" and "The Name of the Rose"

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Chapter One: Creating Textual Worlds – Historiographic Metafiction.
• Encyclopaedia of knowledge
• Microcosm and heterocosm
• Intertextuality and anachronism
• Historical and fictional characters.
• Historical verisimilitude: chroniclers narrate
• Mixing different planes of reality.
• Creating a place for Prester John….....
• Vortex of interpretation versus dogmatic closure.
• Chapter Two: Political Power-Struggle over Truth-Claims – Cui bono?
• Rivalry between the state and the church…
• Secular and religious power based on forged letters .....
• Suppression of dissidents
• Subversive strategies: poverty debate, laughter and satire.
• Apocalypse: a new beginning or the end of everything?
• What and where is paradise – How does one get there?
• Chapter Three: Authority and Authenticity - Establishing and Controlling Truth-claims
• The Library preserves and conceals knowledge
• Heretics and Saints ..........\li>
• The network of textual knowledge.
• Unicorns or rhinoceros?
• Tradition has a social function
• The force of persuasion ...
• Suppressing alternative narratives.
• Chapter Four: Conceptual Making of Truth and Imagining Possibilities.
• Empiricism and science..\li>
• Possibility and desire are part of the future.
• Feelings and inner truth.
• Idealism and archetypes
• Relics and the importance of singularity.
• Symbolic ordering – signs and signifiers
• The emptiness of language....
• The conflict between universals and individuals

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This thesis investigates the philosophical and metaphysical themes explored in Umberto Eco's novels The Name of the Rose and Baudolino. By examining the authors' use of textual strategies and the interplay between historical knowledge and imaginative fiction, the study aims to understand how Eco presents different approaches to truth, knowledge, and reality.

• The role of truth in the construction of fictional worlds.
• The power struggles over truth-claims in medieval societies.
• The interplay between epistemology and ontology in Eco's novels.
• The manipulation of truth and knowledge for political and religious purposes.
• The impact of intertextuality and anachronism on the construction of historical verisimilitude.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

Chapter One analyzes Eco's unique blend of history and fiction, showcasing how his narratives engage with diverse elements of knowledge and reality. It explores the interweaving of historical and fictional characters, the use of chroniclers as narrators, and the deliberate destabilizing of the historical worlds within the novels.

Chapter Two delves into the struggle for power between the Church and the state in the medieval world, focusing on how each institution utilizes truth claims to advance its agenda. The discussion includes the significance of the poverty debate in The Name of the Rose and its role in exacerbating the internal conflict within the Church.

Chapter Three examines the ways in which authority and authenticity are established and controlled through the manipulation of knowledge. It explores the role of libraries in preserving and concealing knowledge, the power of tradition in shaping beliefs, and the suppression of alternative narratives.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, Baudolino, Historiographic Metafiction, Medieval World, Truth, Knowledge, Epistemology, Ontology, Intertextuality, Anachronism, Political Power, Church, State, Truth-Claims, Authenticity, Authority, Fictional Worlds, Historical Verisimilitude.