he fourteenth century--but the telling of the story is more important than the story itself. Eco fills the book with reference to literature, art, philosophy, and other cultural artifacts. The philosophical battle between Baskerville and the murderer takes up much of the latter portion of the novel, and the fact that the entire tale hinges on the importance of what we would consider a benign philosophical work, Aristotle's Poetics, adds to the irony of the novel while also making the reader think seriously about the meaning of intellectual freedom and the spirit of inquiry that motivates Baskerville and fills the murderer with dread. The primary issues of the novel concern degrees of control exerted over the individual and over society as a whole. The purpose of the novel is
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