5.0515 Rs: Foucault's Pendulum (7/97)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 10 Dec 1991 17:29:50 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0515. Tuesday, 10 Dec 1991.
(1) Date: Mon, 9 Dec 91 19:25:59 EST (17 lines)
From: lenoblem@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Lenoble Michel)
Subject: Re: 5.0513 ... Eco, Computers and Literature
(2) Date: Mon, 09 Dec 91 19:27:01 EST (10 lines)
From: "Andrew J. Bourgeois" <HABOURG@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: Computer in Eco's FP
(3) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 08:49 EST (15 lines)
From: Jim Wilderotter -- Georgetown Center for Text and
Subject: Foucault's Pendulum
(4) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 09:14 EST (13 lines)
From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET
Subject: Re: 5.0513 ... Eco, Computers and Literature
(5) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 11:08 EST (11 lines)
From: LS973@ALBNYVMS.BITNET
Subject: Re: 5.0513 ... Eco, Computers and Literature
(6) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 91 11:39:42 EST (18 lines)
From: allegre@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Allegre Christian)
Subject: More on computers and literature
(7) Date: Tue, 10 Dec 91 20:22 GMT (13 lines)
From: George Aichele <0004705237@mcimail.com>
Subject: Foucault's Pendulum
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 91 19:25:59 EST
From: lenoblem@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Lenoble Michel)
Subject: Re: 5.0513 Rs: Grammar; Eco, Computers and Literature (2/71)
In his Pendule de Foucault, Eco decribes a computer named
Aboulafia, at least in the french version.
Michel.
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(2) --------------------------------------------------------------15----
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 91 19:27:01 EST
From: "Andrew J. Bourgeois" <HABOURG@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: Computer in Eco's FP
"Foucault's Pendulum" (which I thoroughly enjoyed) employed a PC, nicknamed
Abulafia which Diotalevi (or was it Belbo? - it's been awhile since I read it)
used to generate possible conspiracy scenarios based on all the data the three
characters input from a variety of sources. It was hilarious, but then I'm
partially brain damaged from working with the bloody things for so long myself.
-Andy
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 08:49 EST
From: Jim Wilderotter -- Georgetown Center for Text and
Subject: Foucault's Pendulum
KESSLER <IME9JFK@UCLAMVS.BITNET> asked about the computer theme in
Foucault's Pendulum. It's been a while since I have read the book
(I read it while still in hardback), but I believe the computer was
used to gather all the data that the characters could find and helped
them to create all the permutations from the data as to what might
have been / still was going on. The computer helped them to pinpoint
all the locations of activity (in time and space) and to locate when
(in the present) that the next activity was to occur.
Jim Wilderotter
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------21----
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 09:14 EST
From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET
Subject: Re: 5.0513 Rs: Grammar; Eco, Computers and Literature (2/71)
RE: *Foucault's Pendulum*
The computer is essential to the plot! The "author" figure deciphers
his friend's discoveries on computer diskette, having had to find the
password (light into his friend's mind) first. The friend's discovery
of computer writing, and subsequent mania with it, is similar to that
of many who become obsessed with the technology and a possible new way
to express themselves. I think the computer aspect is extremely important.
Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX)
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1991 11:08 EST
From: LS973@ALBNYVMS.BITNET
Subject: Re: 5.0513 Rs: Grammar; Eco, Computers and Literature (2/71)
To: Kessler
Re: Eco
In your reading of Foucault's Pendulum you may have come across a character
named Abulafia.
Lorre Smith
SUNY Albany
"Eco Schmeco"
(6) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 91 11:39:42 EST
From: allegre@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Allegre Christian)
Subject: More on computers and literature
There is no computer theme per se in Umberto Eco's Pendulum. But there is
Belbo's computer, and from the point of view of the history of ideas, this
is almost a better evidence of the presence of computers in literature than
a theme. Remember the first "Filename". It shows Belbo playing with his
word processor which represents for him the "ars combinatoria". Page 34-35 in
the original italian edition, there is a program in BASIC,; page 37-38 a rando-
mization of the word "iahveh". The presence of the computer in Eco's Pendolo
shows that the word processor is a not completely neutralized but standardized
tool near the end of the 80s, and it may well be the start of a discussion of
the _personal_ uses of computers.
Christian Allegre
(7) --------------------------------------------------------------23----
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 91 20:22 GMT
From: George Aichele <0004705237@mcimail.com>
Subject: Foucault's Pendulum
As I recall, the computer in Eco's novel is named "Abulafia" and is
a micro used by the three hero-conspirators for word processing as
well as to create and/or organize random words or syllables as part
of their Templar/Rosicrucian "scam" (which eventually becomes quite
serious and destroys them). One of the disappointments of *FP* is
that this subplot remains quite peripheral, unlike the library in
*Name of the Rose* -- I expected otherwise from Eco!
George Aichele