Finished the work "Baudolino" of Umberto Eco in two weeks' time, and the first half of the story was a stunningly part which fully demonstrates the talent of Eco...It was a good plot having a story-telling character to tell a story from nowhere to a kaleidoscopic wonderland of Baudolino. We used to have the story of Marco Polo, Alice in the wonderland or the Chinese version's "Journey to the West", but then Eco's journey was a myth of labyrinth voyage of the Crusades. The propaganda holy grail in Da Vinci Code was also a designated mystery in Baudolino. The Prester John was the drive of the character to go through his decades of searching and actualising. I like the style of the story-telling, as stated by Baudolino, the story was true and fake. The second half of the story, though, pitched me an out-of-control space odyssey. There is a discussion on the location of Prester John's Empire during the middle ages, and seeing India as a probable destination is refutable and illogical. Some named Ethiopia as the other world of Christianity. When I was reading the novel of Eco, I did land on this piece of stereotypic land of unknown, spending a night in this country where tranquility favoured the silent starry sky. Stereotype and misunderstanding may not only exist in Babel or Baudolino's world, but ours. When people think Ethiopia is a state of nowhere or hunger or uncivilised, the Ethiopian may think that Hong Kong is a city of China where incubator is really in full blossom. Of course the cultural difference differentiates the definition of incubator. Rather than talking about our bankers' incubator, the Ethiopian I met did ask me the cost to buy an incubator which he thought is an important export from Hong Kong. I see the gadget.
In the mood of those magic journey plots in the Hollywood scene, I also visualise how Johnny Depp would take up the hat of Baudolino to preach his belief of Prester John in the coming years. Bonne chance!
