reminiscence he becomes convinced that all his troubles will end, if only he can reach the land. The story is told from the point of view of a modern editor who has sorted through the man's papers. Exactly how the papers were preserved and eventually handed down to the editor remains a point of conjecture. This work contains references to Eco's previous novels. In one example, there is a mention of a crucial plot point from Eco's first novel The Name of the Rose. The novel presupposes a “model reader” who possesses a certain specialist encyclopedic competence, in particular with regard to the aesthetics of Mannerism and the Baroque, although it in no way excludes a more average reading public. A number of characters have been borrowed from historical reality, such as Cardinal Richelieu, Cardinal Mazarin, and Colbert. Many fictional characters owe their names and their ideas to known cultural personalities of the Baroque period, such as Saint-Savin (Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac), Father Emanuele (Emanuele Tesauro), and Father Gaspar (Gaspar Schott and Athanasius Kircher). Critical reception In a review published on The New York Times Book Review on October 22, 1995, Robert Kelly wrote "Every age gets the classics it deserves. I hope we deserve "The Island of the Day Before." If we do, we will not only know the pleasures of a profound and ingenious story artfully told but will experience Renaissance battles, love poems and sea journeys in the age of exploration." The publication of the German edition in March 1995 was preceded by months of media coverage, which, in various interviews, hints and advance reports, fueled the excitement for the long-awaited third novel by the author of the two world successes The Name of the Rose and the Foucault's Pendulum, and which malicious tongues called "Chronicle of an announced bestseller”. Already two months before publication, when it was reported that the original Italian edition was not selling as well as expected, some newspapers wrote that the new Eco had suffered a "premature media death". When the novel came out, the reaction in the media was mixed. Some critics found it tedious and cluttered, some dismissed it outright harshly. References Further reading 1994 novels 20th-century Italian novels Bompiani books Fiction set in the 17th century Italian alternate history novels Metafictional novels Postmodern novels Novels by Umberto Eco Novels set on islands