Customer Reviews

The Key to The Name of the Rose: Including Translations of All Non-English Passages (Ann Arbor Paperbacks)

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"Key" is the ultimate zoom lens. It provides the "big picture", a living, breathing sketch of the role of the Church, monnachs, and popular knowledge of the day. William of Baskerville appears, thus, on the stage of 15th century life. It offers an equally compelling close-up look at the minuetia of daily life in a monestary (such as the meaning of the times of day used in chapter headings). It contains a glossary of prominent individuals and movements of the day - alluded to in the novel - laying the foundation for characters' actions and motives. Also included is a god-send translation of all foreign terms in the novel plus their contextual meaning. However, even if you are already aware of all this, "The Key" serves as a wonderful companion while reading novel. It's like being able to talk about the book with an equally enthusiastic friend.

The Key to "The Name of the Rose" by Adele J. Haft, Jane G. White, and Robert J. White is a wonderful little book. When was the last time you used your Latin that you had in High School? You say, you never had Latin... well how do you expect to solve the clues that Brother William of Baskerville in "The Name of the Rose" gets.

Well, the answer is in this little tome as it includes translations of all of the Non-English passages making you as "smart" as Brother William. This book furthers your experience when reading "The Name of the Rose" as you now can decode the juicy clues. Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" is about crimes in a medieval abbey and the obsession of it monks with heresies, apocalyptic visions, and forbidden knowledge.

This "Key" is a delightful guide to the phrases and bizarre characters and has mirthful anecdotes that you're sure to enjoy and you'll solve the mystery of the seven deaths as fast as Brother William and enjoy the intrigue in doing so.

This is a very good guide to The Name of the Rose. Not perfect, but good. The non-English translations are very helpful, and beat sitting next to a Latin dictionary. The biographical information for historical characters is very good too. My only beef about this is that it doesn't address the historical backdrop of the novel well enough: the Renaissance of the previous century, the conflicts in the Church at the time, and the looming disasters of the 14th century between the time the novel takes place and the time the narrator lays the tale down. Get this volume if you're going to read the book. But don't rely strictly on this.

i am hoping to do an intricate performance art piece based on the novel "the name of the rose;" however, many of the lush details and layers were lost on me, because i am not a historian or a scholar well-versed in semiotics... the task is still daunting, but i feel more confident having this "hint book" to fill me in on the background information. it renders the novel much more accessible to a lay person, and makes the story even MORE fascinating than it already is. i suggest that anyone reading "the name of the rose" should have a copy of this to help them along... also, there is a text that does this same task for dante's "divine comedy" (dante has a large influence on the novel, so reading dante will help the reader to understand the apocolyptic attitudes of the characters). joseph gallagher wrote "a modern reader's guide to dante's 'the divine comedy'" which you may also find helpful.

After reading The Name of the Rose with few helps, discovering this book was quite wonderful. It goes into adaquate detail with the historical background, and I found the translations to be good and very helpful. A must for those trying the novel for the first time or for those who felt the lack of endnotes frustrating. A wonderful suppplement.

The Key to the Name of the Rose includes annotated translations of all the Latin that Eco included in his text . The Key also provides a brief chapter on the interaction among semiotics, detective mysteries, and medieval thought and a brief chronology of the Middle Ages. The pearl, however, is the chapter of historical annotations including brief descriptions of the saints, heretics, mythological allusions, and a multitude of medieval figures, both the important and the insignificant. The authors provide just the right amount of information for most readers; a paragraph or two on most. The book's central historical figures, Michael of Cesena, Ubetino of Casale, and Bernard Gui are all there, but so are many others. Peter Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Prester John each merit an entry.

I still don't understand why Eco wouldn't provide translations at the bottom of the page. In the recent translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky of War and Peace (Vintage Classics), the hundreds of French passages were included as in the original text, but translated at the bottom of the page without harm to the reader's appreciation that French was the language of the noble class. However, if he had, then perhaps this exceptional little guide would never have been published.

I wish I'd had this guide before I read The Name of the Rose, but it is worthwhile in its own right and an encouragement to re-read Eco's mystery.

I just finished "The Name of the Rose" and I found this book necessary to decipher all the Latin texts, and the texts by other languages. The other background information in this book was valuable as well. This book is really necessary if one wants to read "The Name of the Rose" thoroughly.

I bought this translation guide so I could better understand Eco's "The Name of the Rose". Why he chose to put much of the book in Latin I will never know. It definitely makes reading the book a chore. If you really want to "read" his book and if you DON "T read Latin...you need this. I am not very bright. Frankly, I also found Eco's book a labor to get through....but could not have done it at all without this key. I should stick to biker books...

I had read the book "The Name of the Rose" years ago when it was first published. While I made it through, it was tough going, to say the least. Having signed up for a class on the novel, and finding out about THE KEY was fabulous! The authors should be commended on their erudition, guidance, and expert pointers on how to really enjoy the novel. One of the best books I've ever invested in!!

I grew up with Medievalists - a professor Medieval Literature and a professor of Medieval History, my Aunt and Uncle respectively so I am familiar with the era, the people, even the food. Yet, I would not tackle "The Name of the Rose" without this companion volume.

This brief, but thorough book gives you the chronology that is pertinent to the story without weighing you down. It also gives succinct biographies of the hundreds of men and women referenced in The Name of the Rose. I found myself reading The Key in full before reading TNR. The notes section dissects difficult passages within TNR as well as translates the Latin. Not only do they give you the translation, but also when appropriate they give you the context in which the translation makes sense. Not all translations are equal, the authors do a great job of creating appropriate translations.

This book is for everyone reading TNR. You will jump a few IQ points just skimming the pages. It is even useful as a stand-alone short primer on the Middle Ages.