Book Review: The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco
The semiotician cum novelist Umberto Eco is among those authors who are able to elaborate a simple idea into a most challenging work. His latest novel, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, is the proof. He brings magic which into the story which otherwise has a rather dull plotline. While the word dull may be too harsh for someone of Eco’s caliber, this is most likely be the first impression upon reading it.
Sixty-year-old Yambo suffers from retrograde amnesia after an accident. He cannot remember his wife, family, his life and even his own name. Yet he has not forgotten every book he has ever read. Having a life dedicated to books, the antiquarian book dealer believes that he could only rely on his childhood readings in order to retrieve his memory. For the sole purpose, he withdrew to his family home which he had been avoiding.
In his sanctum, he finds boxes of manuscripts of high and low culture, newspapers, records, and his old schoolbooks which he then rereads. By reaching this part, other characters have ceased to exist. There is only Yambo—accompanied by the stories published in war-time Italy: Mussolini, Queen Loana and Josephine Baker.
He relearns about what he calls as the schizophrenia of education under fascist propaganda. As an addition to school, boys were recruited into Balilla, the fascist youth organization. They were trained to defend their nation, even if it meant to have their life taken. Yet even the fascist media could not bar the temptation of western readings; and that makes children also read American comics and books as well as listened to American songs. To bridge the gap, the foreign stories were then naturalized. Heroes must be Italian. Mickey Mouse was called Topolino and Buffalo Bill’s real name was Domenico Tombini from Romagna—the region where Mussolini was born.
This is when Eco’s magic is at work. While Yambo single-handedly fought to find his past through the pages, his mind adventure is not at all a bore. Readers would find themselves captivated by how his readings had influenced him in a way that life had never been the same again. He had his views changed about his conscience, way of life and women. We can certainly relate to similar issues as a whole. Aren’t we all influenced by what we read, hear, or see?
Eco has effortlessly captured the moments. It is without doubt because he grew up with the same readings as Yambo’s. The experience gave him the advantage of knowing his subject. However, it may as well be a drawback. Some readers would find the story to be difficult to follow because not everyone knows the subject as intimately as Eco. It requires further reading to understand the whole references mentioned. And since most of them are in Italian, it can be a daunting task. But this is not Eco’s first novel in which he uses the style. The best-selling The Name of the Rose was also dubbed difficult for the many Latin quotations. Eco’s storytelling is loved for that and there is no reason that his presumably last novel does not deserve the same appreciation.
