MovieChat Forums > The Name of the Rose (1986) Discussion > What is Adso reading in the library?

What is Adso reading in the library?

posted 10 years ago by teal123
2 replies | jump to latest

When he is lost and William has him read aloud. It goes:

...love does not originate as an illness but is transformed into it when it becomes obsessive thought ... Amorous melancholia ... outward appearance begins to change ...

Googling these terms does not yield the answer. Sounds quite interesting, for those afflicted by lovesickness.

[–] Sussexfilmlad 10 years ago

I'm working from memory here, but it may be a mash-up of lines (or a sort-of quote) by Marsilio Ficino, the first Catholic translator of Plato.

[–] zootie 10 years ago

If I remember correctly, in the book he was reading about Lycanthropy (ie, love being a sickness/cause of Lycanthropy). Albeit it has been a while. I don't remember if he even read it aloud (ie, as in the movie, while trying to find each other).