By Eric Herschthal, other
NEW YORK (N.Y. Jewish Week)—That “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the notorious anti-Semitic tract about a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, still has currency in parts of the world today was no deterrent for Umberto Eco. If there was anyone who could get away with a novel about the forged document’s creation, it was Eco. A towering member of Italy’s intellectual elite, he is a man as famed for his works on philosophy as he is for his best-selling novels.
But why, given the sensitivity, create a whole book around such a vicious piece of bigotry? Simple, Eco said in an interview from Italy: “I’m always fascinated by stupidity and credulity.”
He added, “If you sort through the Internet, you find [conspiracies] all the time. Not only about Jews, but that the Twin Towers were not taken down by bin Laden or al Qaeda, for instance. … Conspiracies are a way for people to say, “˜It’s not my fault. There’s someone else to blame.’”
A lapsed Catholic, Eco, 79, knew he was wading in perilous waters. Before he even published the book, he showed a manuscript to Jewish friends, and even the chief rabbi of
Rome. Most gave him their approval, especially since the main character, Simone Simonini, the one who forges “The Protocols,” is so clearly repellent.
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