Over Lia's objections, Casaubon and his partners become more and more invested in the Plan they have created, but then unwisely start hinting to Agliè that they possess knowledge he does not.

Inspired by the theories they encounter, as well as Ardenti's, they decide one night to create their own history of the world based on the idea that an occult conspiracy is the cause of all historical events. During their projects, he, Belbo, and Diotallevi meet many odd characters from the occult word with the help of Agliè.

He also meets and falls in love with a woman named Lia. Upon his return, Casaubon becomes a freelance researcher and accepts work from Garamond, first a history of metals, and then a history of occultism. Eventually, Amparo leaves Casaubon, and he moves back to Italy. Agliè likes to tell historical stories as though he were there in person. Casaubon moves to Brazil, where he gets a radical socialist mixed-race Brazilian girlfriend named Amparo and later meets a man named Agliè who is an expert in occultism. Sure enough, the man disappears mysteriously, but the police investigation goes nowhere. This turns out to be a book purporting to expose the secret of the Templars, which the author believes is dangerous to know. Casaubon is introduced to Diotallevi and is allowed to be present while they interview an author, Colonel Ardenti, who presents a manuscript. Belbo, who works for a publisher named Garamond who specializes in academic works and doubles as a vanity press, finds Casaubon interesting and invites him to visit the publisher. The narrative contains numerous flashbacks, dream sequences, and historical anecdotes, but the basic plot is this: Casaubon, while working on his degree, meets Belbo at a bar one night and they have a conversation during which Casaubon reveals his expertise. Diotallevi: Belbo's partner who is obsessed with all things Jewish and Cabbalistic.Belbo: Editor who is haunted by failure and frustrated desires.Also an intellectual dilettante and expert on The Knights Templar. While The Da Vinci Code plays the conspiracy theory view of history completely straight, and Illuminatus! subverts it wildly, this novel is an elaborate and sometimes savage Deconstruction. Three very bored friends create an Ancient Conspiracy for shit and giggles, then things go to hell when some external people begin to take their bogus theories way too seriously.įoucault's Pendulum is a 1988 novel by Umberto Eco, and a notable work of conspiracy literature. The deconstruction of the Conspiracy Theorist.

Il pendolo di foucault umberto eco