"The Name of The Rose' is a different kind of novel. It is a very serious novel. It is a detective yarn at one level but it also delves into metaphysics, theology, and medieval history. Eco says that journalists and publishers believe that people like trash and don't like difficult reading experiences. But this was not the kind of novel. He says, "My American publisher didn't expect to sell more than 3000 copies in a country where nobody has seen a cathedral or studies Latin. So I was given an advance for 3000 copies, but in the end it sold two or three million in the U.S." Eco says, "I think if I had written 'The Name of the Rose' ten years earlier or ten years later, it wouldn't have been the same. Why it worked at that time is a mystery".