Appearance
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
This book explores the meaning of memories and their role in making us who we are. You don't have to grow up in Milan in WWII to relate to the childhood of the main character, you simply have to love books and reading as much as he does (and I do). Eco's style is modern and the interspersed graphics are wild. I had forgotten how much I always wanted to be Dale Arden. The most important part of the book is the mystery, the search, and fact that after you strip away everything else, that is what is at the heart of every human being. Another fine novel by Umberto Eco, fabulously translated.
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
I was just going to listen to the audio version, but quickly got lost in the foreign words and train of thought. Also the pace - I read much faster than the tape speaks. But, a word to the wise - don't just listen to the audio. Not too far along,I purchased the hardcover copy of the book. I was so surprised to see all the graphics included which add greatly to the text and follow it closely. Either read it or do both as I did, but do not do just the audio alone. I'll let the rest of the reviews speak for the content and readibility. Umberto Eco is just not my cup of tea.
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
Those expecting an adventure akin to Name of the Rose may be disappointed in Eco's latest offering. I was not, though it does remind me of wading through dense fog, especially at the outset. I am a huge fan of Eco, and I discovered that, like rays of sunshine penetrating that fog, it illuminates those precious tiny gems that enable one to glimpse and understand rarely understood aspects of human existance. This apparently semiautographical novel allows the reader to gain insights into coming of age in Italy prior to, during and after WWII and it is so well written and illustrated that one can forgive Eco's manifest self indulgence.
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
Extraordinary Italian writer Umberto Eco is familiar for his phenomenal best-seller, THE NAME OF THE ROSE, among other works. THE MYSTERIOUS FLAME OF QUEEN LOANA takes the reader for a bizarre ride through the past to discover how memory operates. In Italy, 60-year-old Giambatistta "Yambo" Bodoni has suffered a stroke that has affected his memory. Flashes of sound and literary allusions fill the book's opening pages as Yambo's mind approaches consciousness in a hospital room. He knows only words and sounds, literary references in several languages, a poem here, Sherlock Holmes there, as his brain tries to re-focus. It's a brilliant, exciting and very dizzying sequence. Yambo can't remember who he is or who the people around him are, but he seems to remember all sorts of other things. When he goes off to his childhood home in the country to recuperate, he finds memories of his boyhood in the books and toys he grew up with."Certain images spark something inside you," he says and goes in search of more of that spark or "mysterious flame." As he re-reads all his childhood books, he also rediscovers old Fascist material and horrible anti-Semitic propaganda from the early 1940s. He's not sure how it all fits together in his life. "It is awkward, revisiting a world you have seen before," he says, "like coming home, after a long journey, to someone else's house."Lots of remarkable col orful illustrations, reprinted from actual French, German and mostly Italian ads, posters, cartoons and book covers, also evoke strong memories. I couldn't relate to most of the European allusions, but I related to the process. If he had been talking about the books I grew up with, it would have stirred strong memories of my own. The segments during which he is in and out of consciousness are fascinating and poetic, demonstrating how he thinks and what he perceives. The book is a beautiful recreation of the memory-triggering process. As we follow how he regains his memory, the process seems to ring true. Eco is a gifted craftsman. This is truly a masterpiece, and some of the insights are breathtaking.
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana is a side of Umberto Eco that you haven't seen before . . . and I think you will like it . . . especially if you found the references in The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum to be a little too much for you.The book's premise is much like that of The Arabian Nights, an excuse to introduce an interesting story teller who unravels a fascinating tale that could go on endlessly. In this case, the device is a stroke which causes Yambo to lose his memory of most everything (including his name) except what he has read. Recuperating from his stroke, Yambo receives hints from his wife and best friend about what he's like . . . and discovers that he has a weakness for the ladies. What does that mean about his relationship with his beautiful, young assistant?Soon frustrated by his memoryless life in Milan, Yambo goes back to his childhood home to see if anything there resurrects any memories. He discovers a house and attic full of the past through which he relives the history of Italians his age. Later, a second stroke restores his memory, and he relives his life as it happened . . . with a little fantasy attached.It's a witty commentary on the vacuity of the "official" record of our times to see how little of Yambo's life the effects of his life captured.For those who aren't Italian, the book offers deep and thoughtful look at what it meant to live in Italy under the Fascists. At times, it seemed like the musical comedy version of Gunter Grass's books about Nazi Germany.The book dazzles most, however, with its many full color illustrations from books, magazines, posters and other cultural icons. These images make the mental pictures conjured up by Eco's words stronger and more lasting. Be sure to check out the section on sources of citations and references that begin on 451. These details will add to your enjoyment of the illustrations.As I read the book, I wished that I knew a few more languages (especially German and Italian), but most of the references were either easy to appreciate or covered in context by another reference that I understood. Naturally, some Ph.D. student will write a dissertation that firmly fixes all of the references, but that will be too stuffy to read for this breezy, charming effort.What is life? What is memory? What is reality? These fundamental questions are all beautifully addressed in both sublime (images of perfect love) and the mundane (relieving oneself among the vineyard rows.It's great fun, and I highly recommend this book to you. It's the high brow's perfect beach read!
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
I am a big fan of Eco's work and I like this one very much. It is well written and has lots of information just like all other books that he wrote. But for some reason, I don't like this one as much as the other ones. There is just too much information from a culture and era that I can't related to. Perhaps, it is meant to be like this. Maybe he wanted to convey the idea of fragmented foreign ideas becoming the past memory.