In The Name of the Rose, [Eco's] first work of fiction, he has bestowed his own talents lavishly on his created sleuth. William knows that "the universe is talkative … and it speaks not only of the ultimate things (which it does always in an obscure fashion) but also of closer things, and then it speaks quite clearly." His acumen in deciphering the secret signs of the world would be sufficient delight, but Eco's complex themes include sparkling disquisitions on the arts of the Middle Ages—its architecture, manuscript illumination, gemmology, herbarism, numerology, cuisine, and witchcraft, as well as witty and erudite depictions of its manners, morals, and intricately twined politics and theology.

Eco has done more than create a learned diversion. The Name of the Rose (like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Pale Fire) is a mirrored hallway; each strand of the tale is in some sense...