FOUCPEND.REV

         A REVIEW OF _FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM_ BY UMBERTO ECO

     In his latest book, _Foucault's Pendulum_, Umberto Eco
explores the Western esoteric traditions.  Though not apparently
an adherent, he is clearly immersed in the history of those paths. 
Anyone who read his previous novel about heresy in the Middle Ages,
_The Name of the Rose_, will know him to be a man of great
erudition.  He has studied both heresy and esoteric traditions
extensively.  One cannot fault him, however, simply for not being
a believer, and his scholarship shows some respect for the ideas
that nurture many.  
     The plot is interesting, though uneven in its development. 
He starts by describing how the narrator, an editor in a small
Italian publishing house, hides in a Paris museum after dark to
await a gathering of a secret fraternity who has kidnapped his
friend and colleague.  He then leads the reader through a
recollection of how this came about.  In brief, the publishing
company decides to publish a series of books on the occult and the
protagonists are assigned as editors for this series of books.  The
narrator, Causubon, his friend Belbo and another colleague,
Diotalevi, a non-believing Jewish student of Kabbalah, decid they
can collectively write a better book than any of the authors whose
manuscripts they solicit or receive.  They resurrect a thread of
a Secret Plan of the Knights Templar fed to them years ago by an
eccentric and mysterious Col. Ardenti.  He told them how he
discovered part of the secret of the Knights Templar, and asked
their help in publishing a book on what he knew so as to draw out
anyone who knew the remaainder of the Secret Plan.  They add to
this thread a chain of associations that brings in Rosicruciansim,
Hermetic magic, witchcraft, Kabbalah, St. Germaine, the Masons, the
neo-Templars, the Assassins, and a host of other movements and
ideas.  These thorough modern and secular editors don't really
believe in the occult, or even mainline spirituality.  But soon
they become so immersed in the process of creation so as to believe
their own creation.  More importantly, others believe it.  The
mysterious "Tres" organization seeks to get the Secret Plan and
winds ups kidnapping Belbo in order to extract from him the secret. 
How the plot climaxes and resolves, I will leave for each reader
to discover.  
     As a novel, it builds quickly through the first several
chapters, drags throughout much of the development, and picks up
more energy as it comes to a close.  As a mystery novel it is a
heavy read, but for anyone with interest in and a knowledge of the
history of the Western esoteric traditions, it goes much quicker
and provides a wealth of new learning.
     By profession Eco is a teacher of semeiotics, the science of
understanding how signs and symbols work.  His work, therefor,
has to be understood in light of his interest in the meaning and
use of an esoteric symbol system.  In the end, he concludes that
the symbol systems of the Western esoteric traditions come up
lacking in the face of the orthodox Christian path, which though
containing mysteries is much less demanding and confusing.  
     Eco is like many intellectuals; too caught up in the world
of ideas and the relativism that comes with it to be a complete
believer.  Yet he seems to yearn for the ability to wholeheartedly
believe in some system that would give him transcendence.  The
narrator, Causubon was on the fringe of the turbulent left-wing
politics of Italy in the 60's and 70's.  His friend Belbo struggles
with his life-long pattern of never seizing the moment, but always
living life indirectly and cautiously.  He has edited others
writings rather than take the risk of his own creative effort. 
Finally, through the creation of the Plan Belbo finds the courage
he has always avoided.  Diotalevi also finds in the project a path
to renewed commitment to Kabbalah.  Causubon gets immersed in the
plan and almost looses his sense that it is his creation rather
than an external reality;  it is only his very earthy girlfriend
and the birth of their child that grounds him back in concrete and
mundane reality.  In the end, all three meet tragic ends, and the
ultimate message is that involvement in the occult or esoteric
spirituality is fundamentally dangerous.  Perhaps one should expect
unhappy endings in mystery and adventure novels.  But this reader
is left with the distinct impression that Eco, by his scholarly
distance from a commitment to heretical and esoteric systems, views
them as so many weird and beautifully iridescent butterflys stuck
on pins in the collection of an entomologist.  
     His fundamental question, however, deserves serioius
consideration despite his unfavorable answer from the point of view
of those who believe in the Western esoteric traditions.  The Plan
is constructed by weaving a web of associations among elements that
originally appear unconnected.  The web, once constructed, leads
to associations not previously seen, and ultimately, allows
everything to be connected with almost everything else.  Eco finds
this somewhat suspicious--if everything is connected or can be
connected, then no connection is meaningful--if everything is true,
nothing is true.  Since associations and correspondences are so
important to many of the paths within the Western esoteric
traditions, practitioners must guard against unlimited linkages and
fuzzy correspondences.  But what criteria for selection exist when
the method emphasizes an intuitive approach.  In other words, how
does one verify connectioins that may be intuitively perceived. 
At the human level there is a strong temptation to take one's
perceptions as valid on their face, or to take on authority the
perceptions of one's teacher, or at its worst, to uncritically
believe almost anything that bears the label of
occult/esoteric/New-Age.  Left-brain thinking has its value as a
corrective for over-inclusive right-brain perceptions of the "big
picture."  Eco doesn't believe that such discrimination is
possible.  Maybe paranoia, madness and death will not be the end
result for all who walk the paths, as it was for the protagonists
in this novel, but an associational net with not boundaries or
restrictions can still be a dangerous, or at least unprofitable
tool.  
     In summary, I found the book fascinating, if for no other
reason than it tantalized me with new bits and pieces of history
of esoteric paths.  Eco could trim much of the book for a better,
faster paced novel, without sacrificing development of his main
themes.  It is a long book, and a dense read at times.  The point
of view does not in the end favor the Western esoteric
traditions, but there is enough fairness and scholarship to make
one wonder if Eco is not a disappointed believer, or at least
someone who found the path attractive enough to want to believe
in it.  If only ....
     January 11, 1990
     P. Larsonh modern and secular editors don't really
believe in the occult, or even mainline spirituality.  Bu