Kingdoms of Elfin added to the List! I really enjoyed Lolly Willowes so it's good to have another recommendation by the same author.
I'd agree that Eco gets a bit puffed up, but I think what makes this such a good book is that he actually steps away from part of his usual conceit. Part of his Thing is usually a terribly intellectually capable character - William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose, for example. When it works, it's great, but when it doesn't, you get alienated by a clever-clogs. Yambo is precisely the opposite - a very intellectually capable man, but without access to any of the stuff that would back up that capability, if that makes sense. It's like Eco is deliberately trying to write against type - it creates a very different sort of novel. I'd be interested to know what you make of it.
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Date: 2013-11-17 08:51 pm (UTC)I'd agree that Eco gets a bit puffed up, but I think what makes this such a good book is that he actually steps away from part of his usual conceit. Part of his Thing is usually a terribly intellectually capable character - William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose, for example. When it works, it's great, but when it doesn't, you get alienated by a clever-clogs. Yambo is precisely the opposite - a very intellectually capable man, but without access to any of the stuff that would back up that capability, if that makes sense. It's like Eco is deliberately trying to write against type - it creates a very different sort of novel. I'd be interested to know what you make of it.