Book reviews

Consider a coincidence.

It occurs not in isolation, but as part of the entire complexity of life. A coincidence is often so called when it is our own mind making the connections, as though we highlight all instances of the word "out" in a book when we are determined to find a cosmic significance in the word "out". In such a case, all these highlit words leap out at one, as though imbued with a special meaning, derived from something integral to them which we attribute to them from their occurrence.

But had any other word been chosen as the special and significant word, that word would itself have exhibited signs of significance. In other words, it is the mind's determination to imbue an occurrence, an event, a thing, or a series of occurrences or events or things that gives rise to a perception of something of incredible significance within events, things, occurrences or sequences that have no such integral significance.

Umberto Eco plays upon this quality with the assurance of a master, in prose that is lyrical, powerful, convincing and overwhelmingly original. His story is seemingly a simple narrative to begin with, until the three men – Casaubon (the narrator), Jacopo Belbo and Diotallevi – who work at a publishing house (Isis Unveiled, the vanity publishing section of Garamond) come into contact with would-be writers whose field is the esoteric and ludicrous. Vanity publishing – it's the boon for those who don't hit the mainstream, but who desperately wish to see their names in print as the author of such-and-such a book. And the beauty of Isis Unveiled is that one needn't actually produce the number of books one says one is publishing. Some standard replies and the inevitable "we had to pulp the unsold books" takes care of that. Voilà. One has made money for doing practically nothing.

From this fairly modest beginning comes a story of increasing complexity. The three men are drawn into their own conspiracy as they decide to create a little intellectual game, a satire. The conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories – that's what they will create. They spend countless hours dragging in every possible element of conspiracy theories they can think of, from the Templars to the Rosicrucians, from the Kabalah to the occult to Hermetic writing to the Paulicians to every possible mystical theory that's ever been. They call it "The Plan", and gradually it assumes a reality that they never expected it to. Spoiler The Holy Grail is associated with telluric currents and a super-plan to take over the world by locating the umbilicus mundi. And the conspiracy theorists, to whom are leaked details of this theory as though it were real, show signs of taking it seriously – deadly seriously.

Secret societies – the trouble with them is that if one is determined to believe in secret societies, one will, regardless of evidence. And when evidence for the existence of "cells" that date from the disbanding of the Templars is apparently leaked, what is to prevent those who are predisposed to believe in arcane mysteries from talking themselves into believing they are the members of this secret society? That is exactly what occurs… and the hunt is on to find the secret map which Belbo claims to have in his possession.

Is meaning there beneath the obvious? Is the subtext carrying a whisper of truth? Are the increasing connections the three men find real? Is there truly a global and historical conspiracy of breathtaking dimensions? Truth, symbology, meaning, belief, reality and unreality – Eco's writing is a true tour de force. His protagonists are half-convinced by the conspiracy they themselves have invented, a conspiracy going back thousands of years and taking in everything that could delight a mystic and a devotée to hidden symbols and strange puzzles.

Foucault's Pendulum swings between suggestion and belief, between reality and unreality, between cynical creation of a myth and the half-dazed wondering whether there's something in it after all, with the deftness and insistent motion of a literary pendulum. Its movement is not the result of the earth, but the result of human perception. This novel is one of the most powerful and visionary novels ever written, in language both literary and accessible for those who have progressed beyond the Harry Potter vocabulary. It is a work that will remain in the memory of all who read it, challenging one's notions of how belief and mystery function. The final scene, with its deliberately unresolved tension, makes the reader's mind hum with questions; it is like the imprint of a negative image that one is sure one could resolve finally if only one sought more connections, tried harder to join the dots of the meaning of life and intelligence and truth.

An astounding work from an author who is arguably the finest writer of the twentieth century. Highly recommended.