New Releases by Umberto Eco

The final collection from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of The Name of the Rose and The Prague Cemetery, on the subjects of art and culture. In this collection of essays we find Umberto Eco’s perennial areas of interest explored in a lively and engaging style, accompanied by beautiful reproductions of the art he discusses. In these wide-ranging pieces he explores the roots of our civilization, changing ideas of beauty, our obsession with conspiracies and the emblematic heroes of the great narrative, amongst other fascinating topics. Umberto Eco was one of the most influential, and entertaining, intellectuals of the last century, as well as being a critically acclaimed and bestselling writer of both fiction and non-fiction.

A "scintillating collection" of essays on Disneyland, medieval times, and much more, from the author of Foucault''s Pendulum (Los Angeles Times). Collected here are some of Umberto Eco''s finest popular essays, recording the incisive and surprisingly entertaining observations of his restless intellectual mind. As the author puts it in the preface to the second edition: "In these pages, I try to interpret and to help others interpret some ''signs.'' These signs are not only words, or images; they can also be forms of social behavior, political acts, artificial landscapes." From Disneyland to holography and wax museums, Eco explores America''s obsession with artificial reality, suggesting that the craft of forgery has in certain cases exceeded reality itself. He examines Western culture''s enduring fascination with the middle ages, proposing that our most pressing modern concerns began in that time. He delves into an array of topics, from sports to media to what he calls the crisis of reason. Throughout these travels—both physical and mental—Eco displays the same wit, learning, and lively intelligence that delighted readers of The Name of the Rose and Foucault''s Pendulum. Translated by William Weaver

How do we know a cat is a cat . . . and why do we call it a cat? An "intriguing and often fascinating" look at words, perceptions, and the relationship between them ( Newark Star-Ledger). In Kant and the Platypus, the renowned semiotician, philosopher, and bestselling author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault''s Pendulum explores the question of how much of our perception of things is based on cognitive ability, and how much on linguistic resources. In six remarkable essays, Umberto Eco explores in depth questions of reality, perception, and experience. Basing his ideas on common sense, Eco shares a vast wealth of literary and historical knowledge, touching on issues that affect us every day. At once philosophical and amusing, Kant and the Platypus is a tour of the world of our senses, told by a master of knowing what is real and what is not. "An erudite, detailed inquirity into the philosophy of mind . . . Here, Eco is continental philosopher, semiotician, and cognitive scientist rolled all into one." — Library Journal (starred review)

"This marriage is not supposed to happen." Lombardy, 1628, a time of oppressive Spanish occupation of Northern Italy, and of the Thirty Years'' War. The young lovers Lorenzo and Lucia, both from peasant families, are planning their wedding. However, the villainous Don Rodrigo has designs on Lucia, and the lovers are forced to flee their village. Their dangerous journey in exile takes them through one of the most dramatic epochs in Italian history, filled with war, famine and plague - will they ever be able to find happiness together? Dave Eggers says, of the series: "I couldn''t be prouder to be a part of it. Ever since Alessandro conceived this idea I thought it was brilliant. The editions that they''ve complied have been lushly illustrated and elegantly designed."

A posthumous collection of essays by the great novelist, essayist, literary critic, and philosopher Umberto Eco

This new and expanded edition focuses on James Joyce''s cultural ancestry - aesthetic and linguistic, in particular - and his Italian influences and connections. It brings original scholarship to contemporary readers and contains an insightful added essay on Joyce''s aesthetic musings.

"Los perdedores y los autodidactas siempre saben mucho más que los ganadores. Si quieres ganar, tienes que concentrarte en un solo objetivo, y más te vale no perder el tiempo en saber más: el placer de la erudición está reservado a los perdedores". Con estas credenciales se nos presenta Colonna, el protagonista de Número Cero, que en abril de 1992, a sus cincuenta años, recibe una extraña propuesta de un tal Simei: va a convertirse en redactor jefe de Domani, un diario que se adelantará a los acontecimientos a base de suposiciones y mucha imaginación, sin reparar casi en el límite que separa la verdad de la mentira, y chantajeando de paso a las altas esferas del poder. El hombre, que hasta la fecha ha malvivido como documentalista y que, en palabras de su ex mujer, es un perdedor compulsivo, acepta el reto, y arranca la aventura. Reunidos en un despacho confortable, Colonna y otros seis colegas preparan el Número Cero, la edición anticipada del nuevo periódico, indagando en archivos que esconden los secretos ocultos de la CIA, del Vaticano y de la vida de Mussolini. Todo parece ir sobre ruedas hasta que un cadáver tendido en una callejuela de Milán y un amor discreto cambian el destino de nuestro héroe y el modo en que los lectores vamos a mirar la realidad, o lo que queda de ella.

The wise and witty guide to researching and writing a thesis, by the bestselling author of The Name of the Rose—now published in English for the first time. Learn the art of the thesis from a giant of Italian literature and philosophy—from choosing a topic to organizing a work schedule to writing the final draft. By the time Umberto Eco published his best-selling novel The Name of the Rose, he was one of Italy’s most celebrated intellectuals, a distinguished academic, and the author of influential works on semiotics. Some years before that, Eco published a little book for his students, in which he offered useful advice on all the steps involved in researching and writing a thesis. Since then, it has been translated into 17 languages—and is now for the first time presented in English. Eco’s approach is anything but dry and academic. He not only offers practical advice but also considers larger questions about the value of the thesis-writing exercise in six different parts: • The Definition and Purpose of a Thesis • Choosing the Topic • Conducting the Research • The Work Plan and the Index Cards • Writing the Thesis • The Final Draft Eco advises students how to avoid “thesis neurosis” and he answers the important question “Must You Read Books?” He reminds students “You are not Proust” and “Write everything that comes into your head, but only in the first draft.” Of course, there was no Internet in 1977, but Eco’s index card research system offers important lessons about critical thinking and information curating for students of today who may be burdened by Big Data. Irreverent and often hilarious, How to Write a Thesis is unlike any other writing manual and belongs on the bookshelves of students, teachers, writers, and Eco fans everywhere.

Embracing the web of multi-culturalism that has become a fact of contemporary life from New York to New Delhi, Eco argues that we are more connected to people of other traditions and customs than ever before, making tolerance the ultimate value in today''s world. What good, he asks in a talk delivered during the Gulf War, does war do in a world where the flow of goods, services, and information is unstoppable, and the enemy is always behind the lines? What makes news today, who decides how it will be presented and how does the way it is disseminated contribute to the widespread disillusionment with politics in general? In one of the most personal of the essays, Eco recalls experiencing liberation from fascism in Italy as a boy, and examines the various historical forms of fascism, always with an eye toward such ugly manifestations today. And finally, in an intensely personal open letter to an Italian Cardinal, Eco reflects on a question underlying all the reflections in the book - what does it mean to be moral or ethical when one doesn''t believe in God? As thoughtful and subtle as they are pragmatic and relevant, these essays present one of the world''s most important thinkers at the height of his critical powers.

Trois piliers de la maison d''édition Garamond, Belbo, Diotallevi et Casaubon, jouant avec leur intelligence, trouvent les bons indices d''un complot, lequel, né au moment de la suppression de l''ordre des Templiers par Philippe le Bel en 1312, aurait traversé l''Histoire jusqu''à nos jours. Objectif : la domination du monde. Instrument : le repérage d''un endroit à la surface de la planète d''où on peut dominer les courants souterrains et déterminer les climats du monde entier. Nos trois amis ont donc inventé un Plan, par jeu intellectuel, mais ils sont pris au sérieux par un groupe d''illuminés qui jouent de leurs pouvoirs policiers et politiques pour leur faire dire où se trouve la carte du mystère, carte qu''ils ont purement et simplement inventée. Le parchemin crypté, message chiffré du début, n''était qu''une liste de la ménagère, mais le jeu des uns est devenu enjeu vital pour les autres qui n''hésitent plus à tuer pour s''emparer d''un secret inexistant. Toute la science du monde, toutes les religions, des druides aux druses de Joumblatt, tout notre savoir défilent ici avec une fluidité géniale et sans jamais retarder l''action, mais en enrichissant le suspense. Jeux vertigineux des miroirs, style très riche et de tous les niveaux, de l''argot au plus littéraire, du plus dramatique au plus humoristique. Poignants portraits de femmes, Lia, Amparo, Lorenza... Historiquement bien enraciné dans notre époque, le roman, dans son mouvement de pendule, traverse tous les siècles pour toujours revenir au nôtre, en un jeu créateur fascinant où chaque lecteur se transforme en un initié aux mystères les plus profonds et les plus fous de notre planète.

How we create and organize knowledge is the theme of this major achievement by Umberto Eco. Demonstrating once again his inimitable ability to bridge ancient, medieval, and modern modes of thought, he offers here a brilliant illustration of his longstanding argument that problems of interpretation can be solved only in historical context.

A fascinating illustrated tour of the fabled places in literature and folklore that have awed, troubled, and eluded us through the ages. From the epic poets of antiquity to contemporary writers of science fiction, from the authors of the Holy Scriptures to modern raconteurs of fairy tales, writers and storytellers through the ages have invented imaginary and mythical lands, projecting onto them all of our human dreams, ideals, and fears. In the tradition of his acclaimed History of Beauty, On Ugliness, and The Infinity of Lists, renowned writer and cultural critic Umberto Eco leads us on a beautifully illustrated journey through these lands of myth and invention, showing us their inhabitants, the passions that rule them, their heroes and antagonists, and, above all, the importance they hold for us. He explores this human urge to create such places, the utopias and dystopias where our imagination can confront things that are too incredible or challenging for our limited real world. Illuminated with more than 300 color images, The Book of Legendary Lands is both erudite and thoroughly enjoyable, bringing together disparate elements of our shared literary legacy in a way only Umberto Eco can. Homer’s poems and other ancient and medieval texts are presented side by side with Gulliver’s Travels and Alice in Wonderland; Tolkien shares space with Marco Polo’s Books of the Marvels of the World; films complement poems, and comics inform novels. Together, these stories have influenced the sensibilities and worldview of all of us.

From the world-famous author of THE NAME OF THE ROSE, an illuminating and humorous study on the pleasures and pitfalls of translation. ''Translation is always a shift, not between two languages but between two cultures. A translator must take into account rules that are not strictly linguistic but, broadly speaking, cultural.'' Umberto Eco is of the world''s most brilliant and entertaining writers on literature and language. In this accessible and dazzling study, he turns his eye on the subject of translations and the problems the differences between cultures can cause. The book is full of little gems about mistranslations and misunderstandings.For example when you put ''Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce'' through an internet translation machine, it becomes ''Studies in the logic of the Charles of sandpaper grinding machines Peirce''. In Italian ''ratto'' has no connotation of ''contemptible person'' but denotes speed (''you dirty rat'' could take on a whole new meaning!) What could be a weighty subject is never dull, fired by Eco''s immense wit and erudition, providing an entertaining read that illuminates the process of negotiation that all translators must make.

A collection of essays from Italian novelist Umberto Eco on a wide range of topics.

Umberto Eco published his first novel, The Name of the Rose, in 1980, when he was nearly fifty. In these “confessions” the author, now in his late seventies, looks back on his long career as a theorist and his more recent work as a novelist and explores their fruitful conjunction. This book takes readers on a tour of Eco’s own creative method.

A top-selling international work by the author of The Name of the Rose follows the controversial 19th-century story of a European world where violence and occult practices shaping key historical events are commonly linked by a solitary evil genius.

These days it is almost impossible to get away from discussions of whether the book will survive the digital revolution. Blogs, tweets and newspaper articles on the subject appear daily. Amidst the twittering, the thoughts of Jean-Claude Carriere and Umberto Eco come as a breath of fresh air.

Umberto Eco reflects on how the idea of catalogues has changed over the centuries and how, from one period to another, it has expressed the spirit of the times. His essay is accompanied by a literary anthology and a wide selection of works of art illustrating and analysing the texts presented.

Hay listas que tienen fines prácticos y son finitas, como la lista de todos los libros de una biblioteca; hay otras, en cambio, que pretenden sugerir grandezas innumerables y que nos transmiten el vértigo del infinito. La historia de la literatura de todos los tiempos es infinitamente rica en listas, que a menudo son simples elencos escritos por el mero placer de la enumeración, la eufonía del catálogo o por el afán de reunir elementos entre los que no existe ninguna relación específica, como en las llamadas enumeraciones caóticas. Eco estudia esta forma literaria escasamente analizaday demuestra cómo las artes figurativas son capaces de sugerir elencos, incluso cuando la representación pictórica parece estar rigurosamente limitada por el marco.

In this book Umberto Eco argues that translation is not about comparing two languages, but about the interpretation of a text in two different languages, thus involving a shift between cultures. An author whose works have appeared in many languages, Eco is also the translator of Gérard de Nerval''s Sylvie and Raymond Queneau''s Exercices de style from French into Italian. In Experiences in Translation he draws on his substantial practical experience to identify and discuss some central problems of translation. As he convincingly demonstrates, a translation can express an evident deep sense of a text even when violating both lexical and referential faithfulness. Depicting translation as a semiotic task, he uses a wide range of source materials as illustration: the translations of his own and other novels, translations of the dialogue of American films into Italian, and various versions of the Bible. In the second part of his study he deals with translation theories proposed by Jakobson, Steiner, Peirce, and others. Overall, Eco identifies the different types of interpretive acts that count as translation. An enticing new typology emerges, based on his insistence on a common-sense approach and the necessity of taking a critical stance.

« Ce n''est pas un essai théorique sur la traduction, mais une illustration des problèmes que posent la traduction à travers des exemples qu''Umberto Eco a vécu : en tant qu''éditeur, en tant qu''auteur, en tant que traducteur lui-même. Ce sont ces trois éclairages-là que nous retrouvons sans cesse dans un texte qui fourmille d''exemples, en toutes les langues. Eco demande à ses lecteurs d''être plurilingues, et non polyglottes, nul besoin de maîtriser les langues citées pour comprendre, puisqu''on est toujours dans la comparaison. Lorsqu''on arrive à la notion capitale de la fidélité : s''il ne cite pas le fameux traduttore-traditore (que les Français ont inventé) il nous apprend que la fidélité n''est pas la reprise du mot à mot mais du monde à monde. Les mots ouvrent des mondes et le traducteur doit ouvrir le même monde que celui que l''auteur a ouvert, fût-ce avec des mots différents. Les traducteurs ne sont pas des peseurs de mots, mais des peseurs d''âme et dans cette histoire de passage d''un monde à l''autre tout est affaire de négociation. Voilà, le mot est lâché ; tout bon traducteur est celui qui sait bien négocier avec les exigences du monde de départ pour déboucher sur un monde d''arrivée le plus fidèle possible, non pas à la lettre mais à l''esprit. Tout donc est dans le presque du titre. » Myriem Bouzaber

Umberto Eco nos comenta la Historia de la Belleza, en un libro profusamente ilustrado, desde la noche de los tiempos hasta nuestros días. ¿Qué es la belleza? ¿cómo nació ese concepto? ¿cómo ha evolucionado a lo largo de los siglos? ¿quiénes fueron sus inventores?. A estas y otras muchas preguntas contesta Umberto Eco con su habitual erudición, pero también en un tono didáctico y ameno, asequible a todos los lectores. El libro, además, va acompañado de extraordinarias ilustraciones que dan luz a las palabras de Eco: reproducciones de pinturas y esculturas, el testimonio de la evolución de la belleza a través de los siglos. Eco escribe además según las teorías comparatistas y sugiere concomitancias entre los grandes maestros de distintas épocas, así Piero dell Francesca con Paul Klee. Este libro, de formato especial, es una verdadera joya, un texto imprescindible en cualquier biblioteca.

Turning Back The Clock Is A Brilliant Collection Of Essays By One Of The Leading Intellectuals Of Our Time. With His Customary Sharpness And Wit, Eco Explains The Tragic Steps Backwards That Have Been Taken Since The End Of The Last Millennium. After The Cold War, The Hot War Has Made Its Come-Back In Afghanistan And Iraq. Exhuming Kipling S Great Game, We Have Gone Back To The Clash Between Islam And Christianity.The Ghost Of The Yellow Danger Has Been Resurrected, The 19Th Century Anti-Darwin Debate Has Been Reopened, Right-Wing Governments Predominate.It Almost Seems Like History, Tired Of The Big Steps Forward It Has Taken In The Past Two Millennia, Has Gone Into Reverse.This Book Proposes Not So Much That We Resume A Forward March, But At The Very Least That We Cease Marching Backwards.

The national bestseller--now in paperback with an exquisite cover with foil and French flaps. Umberto Eco, one of the greatest storytellers of all time, continues to enthrall readers with this exquisitely crafted novel that celebrates the romance, war, politics, philosophy, and science of the baroque period in all its lush and colorful detail.

To recall his memories, Yambo withdraws to the family home where he searches old newspapers, comics, records, photo albums, and diaries to relive the story of his generation: Mussolini, Catholic education and guilt, Josephine Baker, Flash Gordon, and Fred Astaire.

"Nobody photographs libraries, those splendid and intimate cathedrals of knowledge, as beautifully as Candida Hofer. Her photographs are sober and restrained in feel- the atmosphere is disturbed by neither visitors nor users, especially as she forgoes any staging of the locations. The emptiness is imbued with substance by a subtle attention to colour, and the prevailing silence instilled with a metaphysical quality that gives voice to the objects, over and above the eloquence of the furnishings or the pathos of the architecture." "This volume contains Hofer''s famously ascetic images of the British Library in London, the Escorial in Spain, the Whitney Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, the Villa Medici in Rome and the Hamburg University Library, among others. Umberto Eco introduces the collection with a witty reflection on the role of libraries in all our lives."--BOOK JACKET.

Publisher Description

Brother William of Baskerville is sent to investigate charges of heresy against Franciscan monks at a wealthy Italian abbey but finds his mission overshadowed by seven bizarre murders. A monk poisons the pages of the scandalous book Poetics by Aristotle; when anyone licks his fingers to turn the pages, they ingest the poison.

In this authoritative, lively book, the celebrated Italian novelist and philosopher Umberto Eco presents a learned summary of medieval aesthetic ideas. Juxtaposing theology and science, poetry and mysticism, Eco explores the relationship that existed between the aesthetic theories and the artistic experience and practice of medieval culture. "[A] delightful study. . . . [Eco''s] remarkably lucid and readable essay is full of contemporary relevance and informed by the energies of a man in love with his subject." --Robert Taylor, Boston Globe "The book lays out so many exciting ideas and interesting facts that readers will find it gripping." --Washington Post Book World "A lively introduction to the subject." --Michael Camille, The Burlington Magazine "If you want to become acquainted with medieval aesthetics, you will not find a more scrupulously researched, better written (or better translated), intelligent and illuminating introduction than Eco''s short volume." --D. C. Barrett, Art Monthly