Adso of Melk

In the declining years, the Benedictine monk Adso recalls events, an eyewitness, and participant of which he happened to be in 1327. When political and church discords shook Europe. In this confusion, Adso, then a young novice, accompanies the English Franciscan William of Baskerville in his travels through the cities and largest monasteries of Italy. When Adso of Melk writes the story of his life and his adventures, he is an old man living in a German monastery and preparing for his own death. The younger Adso is characterized as young and attractive and is very curious and inquiring. He loves reading and studying and is fascinated by the mysteries of the abbey’s library. Throughout the novel, he systematically questions authority and contemplates the impossibility of arriving at definitive solutions to any of the many mysteries and arguments that open around him, since it seems everything can be explained in many different ways. For comparison, the older Adso is more peacefully accepting the limitations of his ability to perceive the ways of God and the mysterious order of the universe. If William is a personification of Sherlock Holmes, so it goes without saying that Adso becomes his Dr. Watson, eventually leaving us the manuscript that tells the story. An interesting fact is that the author wanted to name the novel "Adso of  Melk," because this hero stands apart, takes a neutral position.