The more you know, the more things have gone wrong
"If you want to win, you need to know just one thing and not to waste your time on anything else: the pleasures of erudition are reserved for losers."
It will be two months since the passing of Umberto Eco. The English edition of "Numero Zero", his final novel, came out a few months before his death. And the reception was far from the critically acclaimed "The Name of the Rose" (1983). His final work had numerous references to history, a literary device that he learned from Jorge Luis Borges. In fact, the Argentinian author influenced Eco's writings. (Eco created a character who had a striking resemblance to Borges.) In the case of "Numero Zero", it would be Il Duce. What if Benito Mussolini escaped from the mad crowd? Many didn't like the idea, even if the legacy of Fascism would be felt during the succeeding decades (after his assassination). For some people, they rather look forward. But the past can catch up sooner or later.
It's not an indecent proposal
Colonna, a hack journalist in his fifties, would call himself a loser. Simei offered him a post in Domani (Tomorrow), where he would receive eighty million lire in eighteen months. And this publication wouldn't make it to print. Commendator Vimercate would finance this venture, where he wanted news features that would be nothing but the absolute truth. The other members of the editorial staff would include someone who worked for a scandal magazine, a hack reporter who used to hang in police stations, another journalist who worked on puzzle and crossword magazines, and a female journalist who became jaded from writing about celebrity gossip.
It's not hard to figure out that it would be devious undertaking, where Commendator Vimercate wanted to use investigative journalism for his own personal interest. He ran a chain of hotels and rest homes. He owned a television channel. He was the assistant editor to a dozen magazines, where those who knew him too well would smirk at him. Colonna, who had seen it all, knew where this would lead to. Braggadocio, his new colleague, was too paranoid about his surrounding. He thought Domani would help him uncover the mystery behind Mussolini's death.
Eco, who specialized in the Middle Age, knew the repercussions of the Enlightenment, and one would be the concept of truth. It will be always be contested. In this case, it would be Fascism. The events took place in 1992, where the Italians figured out that the Christian Democrats didn't make their country any better than the early years of the twentieth century. It wouldn't be right for the far left to lead a Western European nation during the Cold War, but fifty years of rule of Christian Democracy led to extensive corruption, massive government debt and political paralysis.
The native of Milan conjured up a list of conspiracy theories behind it, which didn't excite many readers. Several authors have done it before, but there was one reason to go through the pages. (The book is almost 200 pages long.) Milan, a leading global city, had a storied past. The third chapter of the book described the areas that Colonna and Braggadocio passed by. They were old structures dating back to antiquity. As a matter of fact, keen eyes would reveal ruins that attest to the presence of the Celts. And let's not forget the Roman era. There was much to be learned, which took place centuries before trade turned Milan into a prosperous community in the north. Eco, a Milanese, should have known better.
Eco could be forgiven for his penchant for conspiracy theory, which would bring back memories of the First Republic. Apart from his essays, he hasn't written a book about his hometown. And he saved it for last.
