A veteran of the Thirty Years War, Roberto della Griva is shipwrecked in the South Seas on a secret mission to the Antipodes. Roberto is saved by the appearance of an abandoned ship, the Daphne, which has enough stores to sustain him. The time aboard the Daphne affords Roberto opportunity to reflect. As he looks back on his loves and education, he is haunted by his doppelganger, whom he has suspected of being on board the ship. The book features the philosophical and scientific digressions and musings which are familiar to the readers of Eco's other novels.

Umberto Eco followed up the enormous success of his semiotic murder-mystery, THE NAME OF THE ROSE, with an equally erudite and intellectually spellbinding novel, the pseudo-thriller FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM. In jest, two editors in Milan and an expert on the Knights Templar invent an elaborate plan linking dozens of occult events with a secret scheme by the Templars to take over the world. The key to their world domination rests at Foucault's Pendulum in Paris. However, various nefarious organizations catch wind of the "plan," and soon what began as an intellectual prank becomes deadly serious.

Professor Bloom has written a lengthy introduction and presents essays by major critics from a variety of perspectives on the work of the American novelist famous for "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Farewell to Arms", as well as for many highly respected short stories.