my post for day 1

Sorry this is late. My only excuse is that I’ve been sick for the last few days. Still sick, s’matter of fact, so this is going to be a bit short. And not overly broad…this is just a small point that interested me personally.

On the first day, Adso describes the abbey. He pays close attention to the geometry of the architecture, the shape of the abbey and the shape of the parts constituting the whole, the number of a given shape’s sides, and so on. Each number reveals “a subtle spiritual significance.” Adso’s emphasis on architecture is important, “For architecture, among all the arts, is the one that most boldly tries to reproduce in its rhythm the order of the universe…”

The outward, awe-inspiring appearance of the abbey seems to make a statement – that there is a secure foundation for truth, authority, and order in this world. The church seems to be that foundation. From a distance, the Aedificium resembles a tetragon: “a perfect form, which expresses the sturdiness and impregnability of the City of God”. This is pure speculation, but it may not be a coincidence that the Aedificium merely resembles the perfect form from a distance and is actually a different shape altogether (an octagon).

The abbey may resemble the perfect form from a distance, but its true nature has nothing in common with the spiritual tetragon. Its outward appearance is an illusion. Within the abbey, truth is elusive or locked up in a library. Not much is certain. As Matt pointed out, Eco also portrays the church/abbey as consistently hypocritical. The external form of the abbey gives the appearance of order, but really it is full of moral disorder – hypocrisy, heresy, and now suicide or murder. Eco does not portray the church as a worthy source of authority.

So everything that the structure of the abbey symbolizes is thrown into question. At any rate, the church itself is not a stronghold of order, truth, and authority, and I doubt that Eco will present anything else to take its place. For Eco, “the truth…we see in fragments”. Adso also remarks that William, “moved as he was solely by the desire for truth,” never finds what he’s looking for.