Name Of The Rose

On August 16, 1968, I was handed a Book Written by a Certain Abbe Vallet, Le Manuscrit de Dom Adson de Melk, traduit en francais d'apres l edition de Dom J. Mabillon. Supplemented by historical information that was actually quite scant, the book claimed to reproduce faithfully a 14th century manuscript that, in its turn, had been found in the monastery of Melk by the great 18th century man of learning, to whom we owe so much information about the history of the Benedictine order. In a state of Intellectual excitement, I read with fascination the terrible story of Adso of Melk, and I allowed myself to be so absorbed by it that, almost in a single burst of energy, I completed a translation, using some of those large notebooks from the Papeterie Joseph Gibert in which it is so pleasant to write if you use a felt-tip pen.