The Prague Cemetery
(...) it's quite enough to talk about something to make it exist (...)
The book covers a similar subject as one of Eco's previous novels,
Foucault pendulum
- namely, the idea of
conspiracy theory - but it takes a whole new perspective.
It already starts singularly - with the dissociative identity disorder of the main protagonist. Simone Simonini, has some memory leaks. Following the advice of an Austrian Jewish doctor named Fröide (yes, he means
the dr Freud, but he is not aware of that at the time), Simone tries to reconstruct his memories by telling the story of his life to somebody. And, in the absence of any close friend who could be that somebody, he decides to write a diary and tell the story to himself. Soon enough, he discovers that a certain priest, Abbé Dalla Piccola, reads his diary-book while he sleeps. Moreover, the priest becomes a co-author and co-writes the diary, as he recalls the events that Simonini has repressed. Needless to say, they are in fact the same person. So they both cooperate in order to try to figure out what was the trauma that made them split.
Simonini is not a man to be liked. The narrator describes him as 'the most hateful man in the world'. He is a master forger in the employ of various secret services. He does not even care which secret service - Italian, French, German or Russian - hires him, as long as he gets paid adequately. His alter ego, Abbé Dalla Piccola is not a nice person either, but certainly more remorseful. Abbé seems to be Simonini's conscience and makes him recall the awful deeds he chose not to remember. Together they struggle to recreate the events of their past up to now. And that
now means year 1897.
Well, I am no expert in the history of the 19th century Europe, so at first I got totally lost with
what and
who, and
why... But then I remembered that the book was supposed to be the literary vision of how
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion originated. What was more:
The only fictitious character in this story is the protagonist, Simone Simonini. His grandfather, Captain Simonini, is not invented (...).
All the others (except for a few incidental minor characters (...)) actually existed, and said and did what they are described as saying and doing in this novel.
At that point, I did a quick research, learnt about
The Protocols and the role that Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Sue, Maurice Joly , and others played in the process of that document invention, creation and development.
And then I really appreciated
The Prague Cemetery
. It all
clicked. I was happy. Up untill I read the final paragraph:
The Narrator is aware that, in the fairly chaotic plot sequence of the diaries reproduced here (moving back and forth, using what cineastes call flashbacks), the reader might have difficulty in following the linear progression of events, from Simonini's birth to the end of his diaries. (...) The Narrator, to be honest, has often found it difficult finding his own way around, but feels a competent reader need not become lost in the detail and should enjoy the story just the same. However, for the benefit of the overly meticulous reader, or one who is not so quick on the uptake, here is a table that sets out the relationship between the two levels (common, in truth, to every, what they used to call "well-made," novel).
And I felt dumb again - as always when I read a novel by Umberto Eco: I feel sooo content each time I manage to figure out an intertextual affiliation; at the same time I realise that I have missed a dozen of other references and get depressed. This time I did my best to catch up, but end up being called 'incompetent', 'overly meticulous' and 'not so quick on the uptake'.
Oh, well... I bet Eco cannot programme in Haskell, so we are even.
Stay tuned.
