I love reading Umberto Eco books. Actually, let’s clarify that statement. I love having read Umberto Eco books. The books themselves are, at times, a little difficult to get through. They are extremely dense and lyrical and definitely not books that you can easily skim through and understand what is going on. From the 1860s through the end of the century, Eco’s newest book, The Prague Cemetery, deals with the rise of the antisemitism from Herrmann Goedsche’ Biarritz through the Dreyfus Affair (with a large stop at The Protocols of the Elders of Zion). It’s an amazing story where only the main character (and possibly his grandfather) are fictional. Everyone else is a real person and actually did the actions Eco writes about. So, let’s check out the scourge of Judaism and the Freemasons (and the Catholic Church, depending on who’s paying).

Simone Simonini was raised by his grandfather who is an equal opportunity bigot who hates everyone and everything and goes on for pages about who he hates and why he hates them. After the grandfather passes away, Simonini goes to work for a notary. At this time in history, a notary not only witnesses documents, but also creates them to meet whatever needs their client has. If you have a recently deceased father who disinherited you, then the notary (for a small fee) will willingly create a new (and notarized) will that talks about your reconciliation and addition back to the will. Simone learns from the best and eventually uses his skill to oust his master and become the new notary. His grandfather’s connections and Simonini’s skills gets him on a boat with novelist Alexander Dumas in an effort to tamp down the patriotic nationalism setting in Italy after the conquest by Garibaldi.

This leads to Simonini working for several secret services to bring discredit to Jews, Freemasons, the Catholic Church and various other parties by using his forgery skills and connections. Starting with alleged Zionist meetings in the Prague Jewish Cemetery, Simonini starts working on his masterpiece that goes through several iterations and owners and is copied by and from various other documents, before the Russians finish off The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Simonini works multiple sides and does many things to gather more information and/or just create it out of thin air or poorly sourced rumors. Eco manages to even squeeze Simonini into a prominent role in the Dreyfus Affair.

The structure of the book is heavily influenced by Alexandre Dumas’ Joseph Balsamo and Eco is just good enough a writer to pull it off. Simonini is a wicked man who is ruled by his talents and his passionate hatred. But he often manages to get himself stuck in corners and forced to relinquish his masterpiece to others. The Prague Cemetery is a well written and fun book that explores the boundaries and delusions of hatred and shows how interconnected many of the historical events really were in the late 1800s. Highly recommended.