Baudolino

Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino, published in 2000, is about the experiences of a man named Baudolino in the known and legendary Christian world of the 12th century. With dazzling digressions, outrageous tricks, extraordinary feeling, and vicarious reflections on our postmodern age, Baudolino is Eco the storyteller at his brilliant best.

William Weaver translated Baudolino into English in 2001. The novel presents a variety of unique translation challenges, not the least of which is that it is written in a made-up language that is a mash-up of Latin, medieval Italian, and other languages (intended to reconstruct how a barely-literate Italian peasant boy of the 12th century would have tried to write in the vernacular). Saint Baudolino, a historically-attested hermit from the eighth century, is the Patron Saint of Alessandria, hence a child born there would naturally take his name.

Detailed information:

Author: Umberto Eco
Language: Italian
Genre: Historical novel, speculative fiction

Link to read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10507