Baudolino [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Before you decide if you want to read Baudolino, remember whether you liked Candide or not. If you did, this book will be fun. If you know very much about medieval history, as well, then this book will be a must!

If you did not like Candide, you will probably hate Baudolino.

One of the central tenets of medieval society was loyalty owed to those to whom one was tied by fealty or by custom. Baudolino was a northern Italian peasant, and owed loyalty only to the knights and lords with rights over his father's land. Then, an event intervenes and he becomes bound to Frederick Barbarossa (red beard) who becomes the first Holy Roman Emperor. Baudolino's tale explores that medieval loyalty as a theme in the same exaggerated way that Voltarie used Candide to explore optimism.

While spending time with Niketas Choniates, a high court official in Constantinople, as they flee together from the knights of the Fourth Crusade, Baudolino recounts the Candide-like story of his life from the time he met Frederick.

In the process, the favorite themes of the Middle Ages are all considered including chivalry, romantic love, lust, marriage, the crusades, the relationship between church and state, the rise of the city, clerical practices, religious beliefs, religious relics, traitorous behavior, fascination with heretical beliefs, imaginary animals, magic, alchemy and the Crusades. Each subject is done in a satirical way that reveals a cynical view of how people could (and probably did) turn each matter to practical personal benefit.

Not satisfied with that lampooning accomplishment, Mr. Eco also draws on the styles of Dante, Cervantes, and Swift while making indirect references to their work. For example, you will be amused as Baudolino falls hopelessly in love with the unattainable Beatrice, who in this case is the emperor's wife. In a humorous reference to Candide, Baudolino steals a kiss . . . and has to remove himself from her presence after that.

Within the context of the story, the main historical events are real. Baudolino, like the egotist in us all, builds his tale so that he is the key actor in every event. As they say, success has a thousand fathers while failure has none. The satires on human venality and foibles are unrelenting and almost cynical. I think some would be offended by the fun poked at their own religions here. . . until they realize that Baudolino takes on almost all religions of the time in one place or another in the book.

One of Baudolino's key approaches to solving problems is to manufacture false manuscripts, relics and other evidence that suit his purposes. Despite this, it is a testament to his commitment to Frederick that he takes himself to pursue the mythical Prester John to deliver a false relic that Baudolino helped produce.

For those who are fans of The Name of the Rose, Mr. Eco even includes a locked room mystery that will keep you guessing until the last pages of the book.

I was bowled away by the imagination and ingenuity of the story and the many satirical directions it takes. I would be very surprised if I read a better satire in the next ten years.

After you finish this book, I suggest that you think about where you have put loyalty above the truth. How would someone else see your actions? Would you redo those actions now, if you could?

'Baudolino' is a fanciful and mythical novel by Umberto Eco, set in the twelfth century Europe and the Near East. Eco, best known for his masterwork 'The Name of the Rose,' returns with 'Baudolino' to the theme medieval Europe, albeit of somewhat earlier date. The eponymous protagonist of this novel finds himself adopted by an accident by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, which sets him on the path of high adventure. During Baudolino's years of study in Paris, he befriends a motely crew of thinkers, poets, and adventurers, and with their help conjures a plan to discover the land of mythical Prester John, who supposedly lives somewhere far in the East. Most of the second half of the novel concerns the journey of Baudolino and his companions. Most of the stories in here are told from the Baudolino's perspective, as he narrates them to Niketas Choniates, a famous twelfth century Byzantine historian, whose life he had saved during the sacking of Constantinople.

Frederick I and Niketas Choniates are just a couple of actual historical characters who appear in 'Baudolino' under very unusual and highly fabricated circumstances. Eco knows his history very well, and is able to push the plausibility into the lacunae of our knowledge and fill them up with fanciful interconnected narrative. In the latter part of the book, though, he almost completely abandons any appeal to realism, and takes the reader on a wild ride through some of the most fantastic and imaginative scenes taken from the medieval myth and lore.

Both readers and the literary critics have not in general been impressed by any of the Eco's fictional works, with the notable exception of the 'Name of the Rose.' That book had propelled Eco well into the stratosphere of modern literary celebrities, and he's been able to capitalize on that reputation for the better part of the last three decades. Unfortunately, 'Baudolino' does nothing to repair the generally low impression that Eco's later novels had left. Despite the dazzling displays of erudition and mastery of medieval history and lore, the novel doesn't have a sense of unified and coherent narrative. The characters are very colorful, but they lack the depth of emotion and are not very convincing as actual flash and blood individuals. It's almost as if Eco had tried to develop every character around a particular idea. This can sometimes work in a short story, but in order for the reader to care about them over the course of a long novel, they needed to poses a lot more verisimilitude to the actual human beings.

Parts of the novel are intended as a tongue-in-cheek criticism and lampooning of the medieval inter-Christian controversies and disputes. This in itself has some appeal, and it leads to some of the funnier situations and scenes in the book, but even here Eco manages to go overboard and overwork his points. Overall, 'Baudolino' is an interesting exercise in adapting comedia dell'arte for the modern audience, but unfortunately it is too overwrought and overstylized for it to be either amusing or engrossingly thought provoking. It's still an interesting enough novel, and if you are into the medieval history then you'll find a lot of curious and fascinating material in it.

Eco certainly knows how to spin a tale, and this is what he has done here, using the character of Baudolino to tell stories (or lies?) all the way through the book. Full of fantastic detail, the book's 500+ pages are also filled with long discussions about belief, religion, philosophy, poetry, the vacuum ... and much more besides. This can become tedious, and often the dialogues are long-winded. Nevertheless, at times it is a gripping tale, somewhere between medieval adventure and fantasy with a good dash of religion, love, battles and lots and lots of history.