Saturday, February 27, 2010

Jorge of Burgos

Did you like him even a little?
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4 comments:

kc said...

And do you have an opinion on whether he actually believed all the stuff he spouted about the Antichrist and sin, or was he just an especially bitter (and terribly effective) control freak?

Why do you think Eco made him blind?

1:52 PM, February 27, 2010
cl said...

Well, I admit that a blind murderer is a great ploy. I never suspected him because of that, which is terrible.

And I think when a disability is written in like that, we're -- I'm? -- programmed to assume this is a "good" character and probably vulnerable, too.

So because of that, even though he was even preachier than the others, I wrote him off as the conscience of the abbey, which makes it even more stunning and slightly fabulous that he was instead the killer. He's that perfect example of the rambling religious man everybody figures is harmless, but in fact he isn't.

11:20 AM, February 28, 2010
kc said...

No, I didn't suspect him either, not of the actual killings.

What did you think of the passage where they're all in the library together and Adso realizes with shock that Jorge and William are two sides of the same coin.

"I realized, with a shudder, that at this moment these two men, arrayed in mortal combat, were admiring each other, as if each had acted to win the other's applause ... the act of seduction going on before my eyes ..."

And he speculates that what's going on, the vanity inherent, is worse than the sexual sins that went on in the abbey. Why? Because it has a much more profound impact than a roll in the hay?

Did you think he was fair in calling William vain at that moment?

By the way, I read that Eco based Jorge on the 20th century South American writer Jorge Luis Borges, who was also blind AND the director of the National Public Library in Buenos Aires. Fun, huh? But a compliment?

9:00 PM, March 01, 2010
Erin said...

Ha, I doubt Jorge Luis Borges would find the comparison very flattering.

I didn't suspect Jorge of the murders, either, but I did find him creepy from the start. And I can't get behind anyone who thinks people shouldn't laugh or read witty poems.

Adso's assessment of the showdown in the library was interesting. I don't think it's so hard to imagine that the "detective" would feel a certain grudging respect for the murderer when his intricate plot was finally revealed.

9:56 PM, March 03, 2010

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