The name of the rose

Abstract

Although Eco recognizes several possible sources for the title The Name of the Rose, he tantalizingly invites readers to expolore for themselves the significance and signification of the book’s title. Interwoven with the title and the text are the subtexts of Eliot’s “Little Gidding,” Yeats’ Rose-poems, and Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. Perhaps the book is also an onomastic tribute to the nameless peasant girl of the novel. © 1994 by The American Name Society.