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After a violent storm in the South Pacific in the year 1643, Roberto della Griva finds himself shipwrecked-on a ship. Swept from the Amaryllis, he has managed to pull himself aboard the Daphne, anchored in the bay of a beautiful island. The ship is fully provisioned, he discovers, but the crew is missing.
As Roberto explores the different cabinets in the hold, he remembers chapters from his youth: Ferrante, his imaginary evil brother; the siege of Casale, that meaningless chess move in the Thirty Years' War in which he lost his father and his illusions; and the lessons given him on Reasons of State, fencing, the writing of love letters, and blasphemy.
In this fascinating, lyrical tale, Umberto Eco tells of a young dreamer searching for love and meaning; and of a most amazing old Jesuit who, with his clocks and maps, has plumbed the secrets of longitudes, the four moons of Jupiter, and the Flood.
In 1643, in still-uncharted Antipodean waters, Roberto, a young nobleman in exile, survives the wreck of his ship and lands on another ship, the mysterious and deserted Daphne, which is anchored just across the Date Line from an island surrounded by treacherous reef. If Roberto can reach the island, when time is always yesterday, can he correct his past? Simultaneous hardcover release from Harcourt Brace. 4 cassettes.
UMBERTO ECO is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna and the best-selling author of numerous novels and essays. He lives in Italy.
Most readers, however, had never heard of him before the 1980 publication of The Name of the Rose, a mystery novel set in medieval Italy. Dense with historical and literary allusions, the book was a surprise international hit, selling millions of copies in dozens of languages. Its popularity got an additional boost when it was made into a Hollywood movie starring Sean Connery. Eco followed his first bestseller with another, Foucault's Pendulum, an intellectual thriller that interweaves semiotic theory with a twisty tale of occult texts and world conspiracy.
Since then, Eco has shifted topics and genres with protean agility, producing fiction, academic texts, criticism, humor columns and children's books. As a culture critic, his interests encompass everything from comic books to computer operating systems, and he punctures avant-garde elitism and mass-media vacuity with equal glee.
More recently, Eco has ventured into a new field: ethics. Belief or Nonbelief? is a thoughtful exchange of letters on religion and ethics between Eco and Carlo Maria Martini, the Roman Catholic cardinal of Milan; Five Moral Pieces is a timely exploration of the concept of justice in an increasingly borderless world.
Eco also continues to write books on language, literature and semiotics for both popular and academic audiences. His efforts have netted him a pile of honorary degrees, the French Legion of Honor, and a place among the most widely read and discussed thinkers of our time.
Pressured by his father to become a lawyer, Eco studied law at the University of Turn before abandoning that course (against his father's wishes) and pursuing medieval philosophy and literature.
His studies led naturally to the setting of The Name of the Rose in the medieval period. The original tentative title was Murder in the Abbey.
Roberto de la Griva is an Italian nobleman from the 17th century. After a leisure living experience in Paris, he is accused of treason by Cardinal Richelieu's advisors and sent on to travel the Amaryllis to the South Pacific to discover the means by which navigators can understand the mystery of the "longitude." He is supposed to spy on the Dutchmen and report back to Richelieu.
After a violent storm, Roberto finds himself shipwrecked. Swept from the Amaryllis, he manages to pull himself aboard the Daphne-anchored in the bay of a beautiful island.
The Daphne is fully provisioned but the crew is missing. As he resolves to write a diary we learned from his youth: Ferrante, his imaginary evil brother; the siege of Casale which cost him his father's death, and the lessons given him on fencing, blasphemy, and the writing of love letters.
Soon he discovers that he is not alone on the Daphne-Father Caspar Casale, a Jesuit and scientist, is also obsessed with the problem of longitudes. Roberto and Caspar perform certain experiments-to no avail.
The book is 503 pages and it basically deals with the mysteries of life and death: "I am not urging you to prepare for the next life, but to use well this, the only life that is given you, in order to face, when it does come, the only death you will ever experience. It is necessary to mediate early, and often, on the art of dying, to succeed later in doing it properly just once." (p. 132).
Unfortunately the book is narrated by an unknown person, the point of view being universal and confusing. To quote the narrator: "We will remember, I hope-for Roberto has borrowed from the novelists of his century the habit of narrating so many stories at once that at a certain point it becomes difficult to pick up the thread." (p.423)
And that is why I would stay away from this book. It is as boring as it is confusing.
Anonymous
Posted May 23, 2005
For all Eco lovers out there, this is a must-read. I must say I did enjoy this book, however it took me a very looooooonnng time to read this book. I wasn't compelled to take it everywhere with me and read every second I could as I did with other works by Eco. This book jumps back and forth in the main character Roberto's time and reality. There were very interesting statements made in the book that made me think (I suppose that is Eco's philosophy/semiotics background). The idea of being a castaway upon a ship is intriguing in itself, however I kept asking myself, 'Why doesn't Roberto just sail away on the ship back to civilization?' This is definitely not a 'mindless' novel. If you didn't care for the movie 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks, you probably won't like this book. But if you love 'Castaway' (like I do) you will surely love this book.
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Posted May 18, 2003
Eco spins a marvelous tale that doesn't let up until the last page. This book will have you anxiously turning pages, and wanting more. Few authors have the ability to write this kind of complex prose. Yes this book is long and confusing at times, but the payoff is worth it. If you want a challenge with a wonderful reward, curl up with 'The Island of the Day Before.'
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Posted October 30, 2008
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Posted September 17, 2009
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Posted February 9, 2010
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Posted July 22, 2009
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Overview
After a violent storm in the South Pacific in the year 1643, Roberto della Griva finds himself shipwrecked-on a ship. Swept from the Amaryllis, he has managed to pull himself aboard the Daphne, anchored in the bay of a beautiful island. The ship is fully provisioned, he discovers, but the crew is missing.
As Roberto explores the different cabinets in the hold, he remembers chapters from his youth: Ferrante, his imaginary evil brother; the siege of Casale, that meaningless chess ...