Foucault's Pendulum - JREF Forum

Foucault's Pendulum

Inside the mind of a conspiracy theorist
Submitted by tomwaits
19th November 2007

Foucault's Pendulum

It's pretty funny that 14 years after this book was released and became popular, The Da Vinci Code suddenly took the world by storm and everyone was talking about how Jesus had married Mary Magdalene and went to France, etc. This book is about many of the same topics, although not in the same way.

This book isn't about how these conspiracies are true, instead they are about people who insist that it's true despite all contrary evidence. This book is a fantastic read with a great theme (the search for the BIG SECRET to life and history). The occult references are endless, but the confusion is part of the appeal.

Umberto Eco

By delphi_ote on 27th November 2007, 03:31 PM

A book where mischievous scholars join forces to write the ultimate conspiracy theory written by a master of literary references. What more could you ask for?

I highly recommend The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, and The Name of the Rose as well. Umberto Eco always makes me smile.

By Stir on 28th November 2007, 08:23 AM

I too am a great fan of Umberto Eco, and have read all of his novels ... but I put Foucaults Pendulum at the bottom (Name of the Rose remains my favorite). I felt cheated by the ending. It felt a bit like the 'suddenly, everyone was run over by a truck' method of ending a story ... too abrupt and not in keeping with the feel of the rest of the book.

By tomwaits on 1st December 2007, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by Stir

You sure? I'd say it fits in pretty well. There was no BIG SECRET, just a perceived one (which of course we knew the entire time). The ending just reinforces that...the silliness of it all gone totally amuck.

I've read Name of the Rose and I enjoyed it. I'm also currently reading Baudolino which I like so far.

By JMA on 2nd December 2007, 07:06 AM

I also think it's an amazing book.

The Da Vinci Code is just pure crap compare to it.

By tomwaits on 2nd December 2007, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by JMA

I also think it's an amazing book.

The Da Vinci Code is just pure crap compare to it.

No kidding! My family kept insisting I read Da Vinci Code, so I did and realized it was a Michael Bay script filled with really bad pseudo-history. Imagine how happy I was to realize Eco had written a book making fun of these people over 10 years before!

By bourgeois_rage on 6th December 2007, 07:50 PM

Read it and had a great time looking up many of the more obscure references.

By Arthur Denton on 28th July 2008, 06:35 PM

I have had a hard time reading it at first. I think the first few chapters are hard to follow if you don't know about the Sephiroth and 14 years ago, without the help of Wikipedia, I wouldn't follow it to the end. But I did, and it is a most rewarding book. Yay for Pendulum, all the way down with the Da Vinci's Code (laaaame!)

By Childlike Empress on 29th July 2008, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by delphi_ote

A book where mischievous scholars join forces to write the ultimate conspiracy theory written by a master of literary references. What more could you ask for?

Well, i would like to read the book that came out of that effort. The book inspired by strange CT letters written to the authors, those mischievous rascals managing to write the ultimate conspiracy theory ... but wait, it was already published 13 years before Foucault's Pendulum ... Illuminatus!

Eco's book is very enjoyable but it was written for european pseudo-intellectuals while Illuminatus! was written for universal pseudo-kooks, and quite honestly, i prefere the latter.

By Fitter on 3rd August 2008, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Arthur Denton

I once heard a radio interview with Eco where he stated he makes the beginning of his novels difficult because he believes the reader must make an effort as well as the author.

#10

By Drudgewire on 5th August 2008, 08:59 AM

I loved it, but holy cow getting through the first hundred pages was brutal.

#11

By Diamond on 25th September 2008, 07:05 AM

I read the Da Vinci Code to find out what all the fuss was about. It was the most contrived, formulaic pulp thriller I'd ever read. What a piece of crap.

#12

By Piero on 6th February 2009, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Drudgewire

I loved it, but holy cow getting through the first hundred pages was brutal.

It's tough-going. There is a sort of guide called "Dizionario del Pendolo di Foucault" by italian authors Luigi Bauco and Franceso Millocca. It might be available in English.

#13

By Elizabeth I on 11th April 2009, 09:29 PM

I am totally impressed by the translator of Eco's books. He has to be at least as skilled as the author - the translated books read and flow as if they were composed by a native English-speaker, not translated from another language.

#14

By Mar\/in on 20th July 2009, 01:40 PM

Foucault's Pendulum is a book I return to every five years or so just because it's so much fun. I haven't read or watched the Da Vinci Code (well, I read the first page in a drugstore while waiting for a prescription, and I had to restrain myself from burning down the entire display rack then and there). But when I saw ads for the DVC, I was instantly reminded of the Preacher series of comics. Preacher is some good crazy sh*t.

#15

By Horza on 31st July 2009, 12:45 AM

Just read it during a flu bout. Great stuff and yes, hard to break into at first. The ending was somewhat abrupt, and not quite in the subtly pisstaking vein that the rest of the novel masterfully mines. Poor Lia.

#16

By dropzone on 10th August 2009, 08:23 PM

Read it after reading Illuminatus! and much of its core material. My reaction was that Eco did not do enough research before writing it.

And that it seemed like he had reached his contracted word count and stopped writing.

Both are forgivable because they reflect on what drives a hack author who is not being paid by the word: his advance was running out and he had to eat, he was getting only so much for the book, and it wasn't like any of that $#!^ was TRUE.