Baudolino
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Baudolino is a 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a young man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christian world of the 12th century.
In the year of 1204, Baudolino of Alessandria enters Constantinople, unaware of the Fourth Crusade that has thrown the city into chaos. In the confusion he meets Niketas Choniates and saves his life. Niketas is amazed with his language genius, speaking any language he has ever heard, and on the question: if he is not part of the crusade, who is he? Baudolino begins to recount his life story to Niketas.
His story begins in 1155, when Baudolino is sold to and adopted by the emperor Frederick I. At court and on the battlefield, he is educated in reading and writing Latin and learns about the power struggles and battles of northern Italy at the time. He is sent to Paris to become a scholar.
In Paris, he gains friends (such as the Archpoet, Robert de Boron, and Kyot, the purported source of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival), and learns about the mythical kingdom of Prester John. From this event onward, Baudolino dreams of reaching this fabled land. On a long journey, encompassing 25 years, Eco demonstrates the full width of his story-telling style. Baudolino meets eunuchs, unicorns and strange caricatures of men. At one point, a female satyr-like creature recounts to him the full Gnostic creation myth; Gnosticism was a pervasive presence in Eco's other novel Foucault's Pendulum. Philosophical debates are mixed with comedy, epic adventure and creatures drawn from the strangest medieval bestiaries. The avid Umberto Eco reader will notice in this work references from previous novels of Eco.
Baudolino was translated into English in 2001 by William Weaver. The novel presented a number of particular difficulties in translation, not the least of which is that there are ten or so pages written in a made-up language that is a mixture of Latin, medieval Italian, and other languages.
Historical Characters in the Novel
- Frederick Barbarossa
- Niketas Choniates
- Robert de Boron
- Kyot (possibly only legendary)
- The Old Man of the Mountain
- Henry II Jasomirgott
- Henry the Lion
- The putative successors of Hypatia of Alexandria
- Pope Alexander III
- Beatrice, Countess of Burgundy
- The Archpoet (unknown except through his poetry)
- Otto of Freising
- Prester John (legendary)
- Gagliaudo, legendary saviour of (the real city) Alessandria
- The ancient Ardzruni dynasty
- Andronicus I Comnenus
- Stephen Hagiochristophorites
- Isaac II Angelus
Editions
- Harcourt (October 15, 2002; hardcover; ISBN 0151006903)
- Grasset (February 12, 2002; paperback, French; ISBN 2246615011)
- Recorded Books (October 2002; audio cassette; ISBN 1402528140)
- Distribooks (January 2003; Italian; ISBN 8845251950)
- Harvest Books (October 6, 2003; paperback; ISBN 0156029065)
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