Foucault's Pendulum

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Foucault’s Pendulum

Umberto Eco’s truly lluminating novel Foucault’s Pendulum (1989) opens with an unknown character in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in Paris. The character struggles to hide, but finally finds refuge in a replica submarine. He in the conservatoire to discover if “the plan” is real, to save Belbo and to find the truth behind the conspiracy that has lead him here over the course of almost a decade. Eco only refers to this character as Casaubon, the protagonist.

After the introduction, Casaubon meets Dr. Jacopo Belbo, a fellow colleague that works as a book editor in a publishing house, in the early 1970’s (timeline not clearly defined) in Milan, Italy. Belbo calls Casaubon for help with the evaluation of an new author’s book , Colonel Ardenti, book. He tells that he has found a secret pamphlet that suggests the Knights Templar’s plot (“the plan”) to rule the world and avenge the death of their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, who was killed by the French king in 1314. Later that night he disappears and cops investigate both Belbo and Casaubon.

After ye...

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