Foucault's pendulum - Umberto Eco [130]
“I saw that in a movie.”
“So what? Where do you think scriptwriters get their ideas? The ark was made of acacia wood sheathed in gold inside and out—the same principle as electric condensers, two conductors separated by an insulator. It was encircled by a garland, also of gold, and set in a dry region where the magnetic field reached five hundred to six hundred volts per vertical meter. It’s said that Porsena used electricity to free his realm from the presence of a frightful animal called Volt.”
“Which is why Alessandro Volta chose that exotic pseudonym. Before, his name was simply Szmrszlyn Khraznapahwsh-kij.”
“Be serious. Also, besides the manuscripts, I have letters that offer revelations on the connections between Joan of Arc and the Sibylline Books, between Lilith the Talmudic demon and the hermaphroditic Great Mother, between the genetic code and the Martian alphabet, between the secret intelligence of plants, cosmology, psychoanalysis, and Marx and Nietzsche in the perspective of a new angelology, between the Golden Number and the Grand Canyon, Kant and occultism, the Eleusian mysteries and jazz, Cagliostro and atomic energy, homosexuality and gno-sis, the golem and the class struggle. In conclusion, a letter promising a work in eight volumes on the Grail and the Sacred Heart.”
“What’s its thesis? That the Grail is an allegory of the Sacred Heart or that the Sacred Heart is an allegory of the Grail?’’
“He wants it both ways, I think. In short, gentlemen, I don’t know what course to follow. We should sound out Signor Gar-amond.”
So we sounded him out. He said that, as a matter of principle, nothing should be thrown out, and we should give everyone a hearing.
“But most of this stuff,” I argued, “repeats things you can find on any station newsstand. Even published authors copy from one another, and cite one another as authorities, and all base their proofs on a sentence of lamblicus, so to speak.”
“Well,” Garamond said, “would you try to sell readers something they knew nothing about? The Isis Unveiled books must deal with the exact same subjects as all the others. They confirm one another; therefore they’re true. Never trust originality.”
“Very well,” Belbo said, “but we can’t tell what’s obvious and what isn’t. We need a consultant.”
“What sort of consultant?”
“I don’t know. He must be less credulous than a Diabolical, but he must know their world. And then tell us what direction we should take in Hermetics. A serious student of Renaissance Hermeticism...”
“And the first time you hand him the Grail and the Sacred Heart,” Diotallevi said, “he storms out, slamming the door.”
“Not necessarily.”
“I know someone who would be just right,” I said. “He’s certainly erudite; he takes these things fairly seriously, but with elegance, even irony, I’d say. I met him in Brazil, but he should be in Milan now. I must have his phone number somewhere.”
“Contact him,” Garamond said. “Tentatively. It depends on the cost. And try also to make use of him for the wonderful adventure of metals.”
Aglie seemed happy to hear from me again. He inquired after the charming Amparo, and when I hinted that was over, he apologized and made some tactful remarks about how a young person could always begin, with ease, a new chapter in his life. I mentioned an editorial project. He showed interest, said he would be glad to meet us, and set a time, at his house.
From the birth of Project Hermes until that day, I had enjoyed myself heedlessly at the expense of many people. Now, They were preparing to present the bill. I was as much of a bee as the ones we wanted to attract; and, like them, I was being quickly lured to a flower, though I didn’t yet know what that flower was.
46
During the day