The Prague Cemetery, a novel by the Italian writer, Umberto Eco, was
published in Italy in 2010. The novel deals with the emergence of the Protocols of the
Sages of Zion, which is claimed to constitute the justification for the Jewish genocide.
The novel is based on proven historical facts. Only the main character is fictional; the
rest of the characters in the book are historical figures. The events mentioned in the
novel occurred between 1897 and 1898. The main character of the story, Simone
Simonini, is a forger hiding under the guise of an antique dealer. Simonini's life and
views on Jews were shaped by the words of his grandfather, who raised him. After
graduating from law school, his grandfather died, and he started to work for the notary
public, who carried out the inheritance process. He exposed the illegal activities of the
notary public and had him imprisoned. Thus, he replaced the notary public and
continued to carry out the same illicit activities as his predecessor, preparing forged
documents, perjury, and even becoming a murderer in the future to destroy evidence.
Simone Simonini lives in an apartment above his vintage shop in Impasse Maubert.
One day, he discovered a dark corridor leading from his apartment to the apartment
next door. The discovery of this apartment marked the beginning of a series of
mysterious events. Simonini came across the name Reverend Dalla Piccola on his
writing desk. The events that took place after that were conveyed to the reader through
the writings of the two characters to each other. Later, Simonini discovered that Dalla
Piccola was a split personality he had created. The house where the character lives and
the Prague Cemetery have the characteristics of perceptual space in the novel and are
shaped according to the character’s mood swings.
At the end of the novel, Simonini fulfills his raison d’etre and completes the “Protocols
of the Elders of Zion”, a forged record of the secret meeting of Jewish leaders in the
Prague Cemetery. He even orchestrates a small explosion in the Paris underground
system to increase its credibility.
Keywords: Anti-semitism, Cramped tombstones, Conspiracy theory, Closednarrow space, Dissociative identity disorder, Impasse maubert, Labyrinthine space, Murder, Open-wide space, Prague, Prague cemetery, Prague old jewish cemetery, Protocols of the elders of zion, Paris, Perceptual space, Peripheral space, Spatial perception, Sensory perception, Split personality.
