Eco: Foucalt's Pendulum by eco foucault (ebook smartphone .txt) 📕

said five words, I knew hewasn't for us. Not him. But the people he was talking about,authors and readers alike¡Xthat's different. Professor Bramantihappened to confirm the very idea I Ve been pondering for some daysnow. Here, look at this," he said, theatrically taking three booksfrom his drawer.

"Here are three volumesthat have come out in recent years, all of them successful. Thefirst is in English; I haven't read it, but the author is a famouscritic. What has he written? The subtitle calls it a gnostic novel.Now look at this: a mystery, a best-seller. And what's it about? Agnostic church near Turin. You gentlemen may know who theseGnostics are..." He paused, waved his hand. "It doesn't matter.They're something demoniacal; that's all I need to know...Yes,maybe I'm being hasty, but I'm not trying to talk like you, I'mtrying to talk like Bramanti¡Xthat is, I'm speaking as a publisher,not as a professor of comparative gnoseology or whatever it is.Now, what was it that I found clear, promising, inviting¡Xno, more,intriguing¡X in Bramanti's talk? His extraordinary capacity fortying everything together. He didn't mention Gnostics, but heeasily could have, what with geomancy, maalox, and mercurialRadames. And why do I insist on this point? Because here is anotherbook, by a famous journalist, who tells about incredible thingsthat go on in Turin¡XTurin, mind you, the city of the automobile.Sorceresses, black masses, consorting with the Devil¡Xand forpaying customers, not for poor crazed peasants in the south.Casaubon, Belbo tells me you were in Brazil and saw the savagesdown there performing satanic rites...Good, later you can tell meabout it, but really, it's all the same. Brazil is right here,gentlemen. The other day I went personally into that bookshop¡Xwhat's it called? Never mind; it doesn't matter¡Xyou know, theplace where six or seven years ago they sold anarchist books, booksabout revolutionaries, Tupamaros, terrorists¡Xno, more,Marxists...Well, the place has been recycled. They stock thosethings Bramanti was talking about. It's true today we live in anage of confusion. Go into a Catholic bookshop, where there used tobe nothing but the catechism, and you find a reassessment ofLuther, though at least they won't sell a book that says religionis all a fraud. But in the shops I'm talking about they sell theauthors who believe and the authors who say it's all a fraud,provided the subject is¡Xwhat do you call it?"

"Hermetic," Diotalleviprompted.

"Yes, I believe that'sthe right word. I saw at least a dozen books on Hermes. And that'swhat I want to talk to you about: Project Hermes. A newbranch..."

"The golden branch,"Belbo said.

"Exactly," Garamondsaid, missing the reference. "It's a gold mine, all right. Irealized that these people will gobble up anything that's hermetic,as you put it, anything that says the opposite of what they read intheir books at school. I see this also as a cultural duty: I'm nophilanthropist, but in these dark times to offer someone a faith, aglimpse into the beyond...Yet Garamond also has a scholarlymission..."

Belbo stiffened. "Ithought you had Manutius in mind."

"Both. Listen, I rootedaround in that shop, then went to another place, a very respectableplace, but even it had an occult sciences section. There areuniversity-level studies on these subjects sitting on the shelvesalongside books written by people like Bramanti. Think a minute:Bramanti has probably never met any of the university authors, buthe's read them, read them as if they were just like him. Whateveryou say to such people, they think you're talking about theirproblem, like the story of the cat, where the couple was arguingabout a divorce but the cat thought they were disagreeing about thegiblets for its lunch. You must have noticed it, Belbo; you droppedthat remark about the Templars and he nodded immediately. Sure, theTemplars, too, and cabala, and the lottery, and tea leaves. They'reomnivorous. Omnivorous. You saw Bramanti's face: a rodent. A hugeaudience, divided into two categories¡XI can see them lining upnow, and they're legion. In primis: the ones who write about it,and Manutius will greet them with open arms. All we have to do todraw them is start a series that gets a little publicity. We couldcall it...let's see..."

"The Tabula Smaragdina,"Diotallevi said.

"What? No. Toodifficult. It doesn't say anything to me. No. What we want issomething that suggests something else..."

"Isis Unveiled," Isaid.

"Isis Unveiled! That'sgood. Bravo, Casaubon. It has Tutankhamen in it, the scarab of thepyramids. Isis Unveiled, with a slightly black-magical cover, butnot overdone. Now let's continue. The second group: those who buyit. I know what you're thinking, my friends: Manutius isn'tinterested in the buyer. But there's no law to that effect. Thistime, we'll sell Manutius books. Progress, gentlemen!

"But there are also thescholarly studies, and that's where Garamond comes in. We'll lookthrough the historical studies and the other university series andfind ourselves an expert, a consultant. Then we'll publish three orfour books a year. An academic series, with a title that'sxdirectbut not too picturesque..."

"Hermetica," Diotallevisaid.

"Excellent. Classical,dignified. You ask me: Why spend money with Garamond when we canmake money with Manutius? But the scholarly series will act as alure, attracting intelligent people, who will make suggestions andpoint out new directions. And it will also attract the others, theProfessor Bra-mantis, who will be rerouted to Manutius. It seemsperfect to me: Project Hermes, a nice, clean, profitable operationthat will strengthen the flow of ideas between the two firms...Towork, gentlemen. There are libraries to visit, bibliographies tocompile, catalogs to request. And find out what's being done inother countries...Who knows how many people have already slippedthrough our fingers, people bearing treasures, and we dismissedthem as worthless. Casaubon, don't forget, in the history ofmetals, to put in a little alchemy. Gold's a metal, I believe. Holdyour comments for later: you know I'm open to criticism,suggestions, objections, as all cultured people are. This projectis in effect as of now.

"Signora Grazia, thatgentleman's been waiting two hours. That's no way to treat anauthor! Show him in!" he shouted, to make himself heard as far asthe reception room.

43

People who meet on thestreet...secretly dedicate themselves to operations of Black Magic,they bind or seek to bind themselves to the Spirits of Darkness, tosatisfy their ambitions, their hates, their loves, to do¡Xin aword¡XEvil.

¡XJ. K. Huysmans,Preface to