Umberto Eco’s &lt;i&gt;The Prague cemetery&lt;/i&gt;: A game of double co-incidence

Maria Spruyt

doi:10.4102/lit.v36i1.1146

Abstract

Although classified as a literary novel with a fictional plot, The Prague cemetery is crammed with historical information on 19th century Europe, with the focus on the rise of anti-Semitism during this period. The overwhelming amount of data has been criticised as distracting from the plot and creating difficulty for the reader in making sense of the storyline. This article examines the role of the reader in deciphering the twisting of historic events and fiction in The Prague cemetery , that is, a literary text packed tight with historical data intertwined with a fictional story, loaded with signs, symbols and hidden meanings that have to be decoded. It is demonstrated, firstly, that a Model Reader with encyclopaedic knowledge will be able to decode the hidden meanings in the text; secondly, that the nonmodel, or empirical reader, who does not actualise all of the meaning content, will not be hindered in his understanding of the story and thirdly, that the author’s intentions will duly be accomplished.

Highlights

To Umberto Eco, professor of semiotics and master of codes, signs and hidden meanings, as well as conspiracies are favourite subjects mainly ‘because of the paranoia that allows them to flourish’
In an interview with Stephen Moss (2011) he says that the paranoia of the universal conspiracy is more powerful because it is everlasting
Hammack (2014) describes these frontiers as a blending of inner landscape and outer landscape where the fantastic and realistic converge. From this premise further questions arise: Does The Prague cemetery offer the reader orientation in both external and internal space, and allow him access to data from what might be construed as a collective world mind? Or, in the words of Kroll, explore new frontiers themselves? Would the empirical reader be confined to external, realistic space and the new frontier open to the Model Reader only? What is the new frontier that The Prague cemetery offers the erudite reader?

Summary

Introduction

To Umberto Eco, professor of semiotics and master of codes, signs and hidden meanings, as well as conspiracies are favourite subjects mainly ‘because of the paranoia that allows them to flourish’. Guillemette and Cossette (2006) refer to the concept of an empirical reader, who ‘deduces a model image of something that has previously been verified as an act of utterance and which is textually present as an utterance’ (Eco 1985:80– 81) This reader views the text pragmatically and will, for instance, find publicly displayed structures he recognises from the story, even though they might have been the inventions of the author. Hammack (2014) describes these frontiers as a blending of inner landscape and outer landscape where the fantastic and realistic converge From this premise further questions arise: Does The Prague cemetery offer the reader orientation in both external and internal space, and allow him access to data from what might be construed as a collective world mind? From this premise further questions arise: Does The Prague cemetery offer the reader orientation in both external and internal space, and allow him access to data from what might be construed as a collective world mind? Or, in the words of Kroll, explore new frontiers (inside and outside) themselves? Would the empirical reader be confined to external, realistic space and the new frontier open to the Model Reader only? What is the new frontier that The Prague cemetery offers the erudite reader?

A Model Reader for The Prague cemetery

Conclusion