“Towards a New Middle Ages” – Umberto Eco Revisits the Medieval Age

Umberto Eco’s attempt to bring the past into the present or the presentness of past is evident from his essay “Towards a New Middle Ages” wherein he draws an analogy between the present age and the medieval ages. Eco asserts in the essay that the present age follows a line of pattern that could be traced to the middle ages. It is likely the continuation of the mediaeval time with increased specialization that disrupts the inter dependence, gives rise to autonomy which could be disastrous and results into alienation. In the essay, he discusses specifically of the dangers of the present age in relation to the medieval ages. The parallel he draws negates the contingency changes over the period of time and the essay seems an exaggeration sidelining the development happened since then. This exaggeration evolves from the ‘fantasy’ that often considered as highly impossible but hints at the probability. Probability does not render the essay insignificant instead makes it as valuable because the fantasy goes into the critical inquiry into the past and links it to the present and the probable future. With the assistance of fantasy, Umberto Eco reconstructs the history in the present age but his reconstruction is the selective history in order to comment on the present and the future.

 

Umberto Eco: Rethinking History andFiction

 Umberto Eco’s essay – “Towards aNew Middle Ages”-   was published in 1985 in On Signs edited by Marshall Blonsky. Eco revisits the past in this prose. He is medievalist who harks back on the past for his fiction, criticism, theories and other art forms. He believes that the contemporary period is an offshoot of the past; we cannot detach ourselves from the past. The relationship between past and present is not limited to the temporal units, it is permanent. Past and present exist together; they enter into each other territory. “Towards a New Middle Ages” is an essay on medievalism and its revival in the contemporary period.

The prose is important for the study of The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum. Both the texts revisit the middle-ages, with their own vested interests to expose intricate cultural, social, and religious spheres. The common ground between the two texts is the reconstruction of medieval era. The essay “Towards a New Middle Ages” also reconstructs the middle ages. It raises some of the important themes, which we find in the texts like – fragmentation of central authority; emergence of radical groups, insecurity; preservation, secret groups, and production of fake knowledge.

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