The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
Encyclopedia
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (original Italian title: La Misteriosa Fiamma della Regina Loana) is a novel
by Italian
writer Umberto Eco
. It was first published in Italian in 2004, and an English language
translation by Geoffrey Brock
was published in spring 2005. The title is taken from the title of an Italian edition album of an episode of the American comic strip
Tim Tyler's Luck
.
The plot of the book concerns Yambo (full name: Giambattista Bodoni, just like the typographer Giambattista Bodoni
), a 59-year-old Milan
ese antiquarian book dealer
who loses his episodic memory
due to a stroke
. At the beginning of the novel, he can remember everything he has ever read, but does not remember his family, his past, or even his own name. Yambo decides to go to Solara, his childhood home, parts of which he has abandoned following family tragedy, to see if he can rediscover his lost past. After days of searching through old newspapers, vinyl
records, books, magazines and childhood comic books, he is unsuccessful in regaining memories, though he relives the story of his generation and the society in which his dead parents and grandfather lived. Ready to abandon his quest, he discovers a copy of the original First Folio
of 1623 among his grandfather's books, the shock of which causes another incident, during which he relives his lost memories of childhood. The final section of the book is, therefore, a literary exploration of the traditional phenomenon whereby a person's life flashes before him or her, as Yambo struggles to regain the one memory he seeks above all others: the face of the girl he loved as a student and ever after.
Umberto Eco includes myriad references to both high and low culture in the book (notably the Flash Gordon
strips), and he has drawn heavily on his own experiences growing up in Benito Mussolini
's Fascist Italy
. Like other Eco novels, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana boasts abundant intertextuality
.
, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, the book has a rating score of 65 based on 23 reviews.http://www.metacritic.org/books/authors/ecoumberto/mysteriousflameofqueenloana
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
writer Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
. It was first published in Italian in 2004, and an English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation by Geoffrey Brock
Geoffrey Brock
Geoffrey Brock is an American poet and translator.-Education:He received a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Florida in 1998...
was published in spring 2005. The title is taken from the title of an Italian edition album of an episode of the American comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Tim Tyler's Luck
Tim Tyler's Luck
Tim Tyler's Luck was an adventure comic strip created by Lyman Young, elder brother of Blondie creator Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip ran from August 13, 1928 until August 1996....
.
The plot of the book concerns Yambo (full name: Giambattista Bodoni, just like the typographer Giambattista Bodoni
Giambattista Bodoni
Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian engraver, publisher, printer and typographer of high repute remembered for designing a family of different typefaces called Bodoni....
), a 59-year-old Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
ese antiquarian book dealer
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
who loses his episodic memory
Episodic memory
Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events that can be explicitly stated. Semantic and episodic memory together make up the category of declarative memory, which is one of the two major divisions in memory...
due to a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. At the beginning of the novel, he can remember everything he has ever read, but does not remember his family, his past, or even his own name. Yambo decides to go to Solara, his childhood home, parts of which he has abandoned following family tragedy, to see if he can rediscover his lost past. After days of searching through old newspapers, vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
records, books, magazines and childhood comic books, he is unsuccessful in regaining memories, though he relives the story of his generation and the society in which his dead parents and grandfather lived. Ready to abandon his quest, he discovers a copy of the original First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
of 1623 among his grandfather's books, the shock of which causes another incident, during which he relives his lost memories of childhood. The final section of the book is, therefore, a literary exploration of the traditional phenomenon whereby a person's life flashes before him or her, as Yambo struggles to regain the one memory he seeks above all others: the face of the girl he loved as a student and ever after.
Umberto Eco includes myriad references to both high and low culture in the book (notably the Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
strips), and he has drawn heavily on his own experiences growing up in Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
's Fascist Italy
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
. Like other Eco novels, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana boasts abundant intertextuality
Intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another. The term “intertextuality” has, itself, been borrowed and transformed many times since it was coined...
.
Critical reception
The novel received generally positive reviews. On MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 0–100 reviews from film critics, the book has a rating score of 65 based on 23 reviews.http://www.metacritic.org/books/authors/ecoumberto/mysteriousflameofqueenloana
External links
- Harcourt Books interview with Umberto Eco
- June 20 2005 Diane Rehm interviews Eco (audio)
- Umberto Eco Wiki: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - wiki annotation of Queen Loana. Contains hundreds of entries.