Aristide Torchia
Encyclopedia
Aristide Torchia is a fictional character
from The Club Dumas
, a 1993 novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
. The events of the novel take place hundreds of years after Torchia's death, and he is referenced only as a historical figure. He is also mentioned in the film The Ninth Gate
, which is based on the novel.
Torchia was born in 1620. He was apprenticed in Leyden under the Elzevir
family. After returning to Venice
he published small works on philosophical and esoteric themes. In 1666, Torchia published De Umbrarum Regni Novem Portis (The Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows), which was in turn based on the Delomelanicon, or Invocation of Darkness, a work supposedly written by Lucifer
and that would allow the reader to summon devils. The Inquisition
condemned Torchia for magic and witchcraft and burned him at the stake in 1667.
A possible real-life inspiration for this character may have been Giordano Bruno
, who, like Torchia, was an Italian mystic and philosopher whose controversial books earned him the scorn of the Inquisition, who burned him at the stake in 1600.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from The Club Dumas
The Club Dumas
The Club Dumas is a 1993 novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The book is set in a world of antiquarian booksellers echoing his previous work, The Flanders Panel....
, a 1993 novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez is a Spanish novelist and journalist. He worked as a war correspondent for twenty-one years . His first novel, El húsar, set in the Napoleonic Wars, was released in 1986. He is well known outside Spain for his "Alatriste" series of novels...
. The events of the novel take place hundreds of years after Torchia's death, and he is referenced only as a historical figure. He is also mentioned in the film The Ninth Gate
The Ninth Gate
The Ninth Gate is a 1999 horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Roman Polanski. It is a neo-noir, occult mystery thriller involving the rare book business, wherein rare-book dealer Dean Corso is hired by bibliophile Boris Balkan to validate a seventeenth-century copy of The Nine Gates...
, which is based on the novel.
Torchia was born in 1620. He was apprenticed in Leyden under the Elzevir
House of Elzevir
Elzevir is the name of a celebrated family of Dutch booksellers, publishers, and printers of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The duodecimo series of "Elzevirs" became very famous and very desirable among bibliophiles, who sought to obtain the tallest and freshest copies of these tiny...
family. After returning to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
he published small works on philosophical and esoteric themes. In 1666, Torchia published De Umbrarum Regni Novem Portis (The Nine Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows), which was in turn based on the Delomelanicon, or Invocation of Darkness, a work supposedly written by Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
and that would allow the reader to summon devils. The Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
condemned Torchia for magic and witchcraft and burned him at the stake in 1667.
A possible real-life inspiration for this character may have been Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno , born Filippo Bruno, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited...
, who, like Torchia, was an Italian mystic and philosopher whose controversial books earned him the scorn of the Inquisition, who burned him at the stake in 1600.