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From: lisa entwistle
T1: lisamari@webtv.net
Date: 3/23/98
Time: 10:17:27 AM
Remote Name: 207.79.35.138
I agree that the preface is partly due to the time in which the book was written, but for somewhat different reasons. Though the book is a fictional story, it does contain vast amounts of references to real situations and people that have existed in history. It seems that this preface is partly a way for the author to give up responsibility for his words. Though it is fiction, people are bound to take at least some of it as fact. This is just a part of human nature to want to believe stories and personalize tham. Therefore, even the misrepresented characters in the story had the potential to be taken as describing accurately the actual person. By writing the prologue, Eco can place the whole story on someone else, in a sense. In the time he was writing about, tensions were high and religion was a major issue, as it still is. Perhaps he uses this preface as a way to dismiss his personal opinion out of the novel. This way, he cannot be issued any kind of blame for any negative reactions to the story. Of course, maybe the prologue was just his way of getting the reader involved in the story from the very first page and getting into the mindset needed to sit down and absorb this enormous book.