'Many relics that are preserved here in Constantinople are of very suspect origin, but the worshipper who kisses them perceives supernatural aromas wafting from them. It is faith that makes them true, not they who make faith true.'
This excellent book tells the story of Baudolino, a man with the gift of telling the right lie at the right time. A chance meeting with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa sends our hero on a fantastic adventure across the known world and off in the search for the mystic kingdom of Prester John. Throughout, Umberto Eco shows a wry sense of humour, as our heroes go from one adventure to the next, always arguing about some philosophical point like the shape of the cosmos or the existence of the vacuum. Eco, like our hero weaves a rich fabric in which fact and fiction blend. Take one of Baudolino's travelling companions Kyot, is he the 'Kyot of Provencal' who inspired the medieval writer Wolfram von Eschenbach's 'Parzival'?
I suspect that someone with more knowledge of medieval history than I (which would not be difficult) would find many more subtleties in this book that I did. Still, I enjoyed this book hugely and can whole heartily recommend it.
Vintage, 522
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