Best Selling Books by Umberto Eco

Presents four theories describing the limits of literary interpretation, challenging "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation" that diminishes the meaning and the basis of communication. -- Back cover.

Publisher Description

In 1327, finding his sensitive mission at an Italian abbey further complicated by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William of Baskerville turns detective.

This book is significant for its concept of "openness"--the artist''s decision to leave arrangements of some constituents of a work to the public or to chance--and for its anticipation of two themes of literary theory: the element of multiplicity and plurality in art, and the insistence on literary response as an interaction between reader and text.

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.

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

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

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.

In this exhilarating book, we accompany Eco as he explores the intricacies of fictional form and method. Using examples from fairy tales and Flaubert, Poe and Mickey Spillane, Eco draws us in with a novelist’s techniques, making us his collaborators in the creation of his text and in the investigation of some of fiction''s most basic mechanisms.

“Impishly witty and ingeniously irreverent” essays on topics from cell phones to librarians, by the author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum (The Atlantic Monthly). A cosmopolitan curmudgeon the Los Angeles Times called “the Andy Rooney of academia”—known for both nonfiction and novels that have become blockbuster New York Times bestsellers—Umberto Eco takes readers on “a delightful romp through the absurdities of modern life” (Publishers Weekly) as he journeys around the world and into his own wildly adventurous mind. From the mundane details of getting around on Amtrak or in the back of a cab, to reflections on computer jargon and soccer fans, to more important issues like the effects of mass media and consumer civilization—not to mention the challenges of trying to refrigerate an expensive piece of fish at an English hotel—this renowned writer, semiotician, and philosopher provides “an uncanny combination of the profound and the profane” (San Francisco Chronicle). “Eco entertains with his clever reflections and with his unique persona.” —Kirkus Reviews Translated from the Italian by William Weaver

A literary prank leads to deadly danger in this "endlessly diverting" intellectual thriller by the author of The Name of the Rose ( Time). Bored with their work, three Milanese book editors cook up an elaborate hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with occult groups across the centuries. Becoming obsessed with their own creation, they produce a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault''s Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real. When occult groups, including Satanists, get wind of the Plan, they go so far as to kill one of the editors in their quest to gain control of the earth. Orchestrating these and other diverse characters into his multilayered semiotic adventure, Umberto Eco has created a superb cerebral entertainment. "An intellectual adventure story...sensational, thrilling, and packed with arcana."— The Washington Post Book World

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.

The idea that there once existed a language which perfectly and unambiguously expressed the essence of all possible things and concepts has occupied the minds of philosophers, theologians, mystics and others for at least two millennia. This is an investigation into the history of that idea and of its profound influence on European thought, culture and history. From the early Dark Ages to the Renaissance it was widely believed that the language spoken in the Garden of Eden was just such a language, and that all current languages were its decadent descendants from the catastrophe of the Fall and at Babel. The recovery of that language would, for theologians, express the nature of divinity, for cabbalists allow access to hidden knowledge and power, and for philosophers reveal the nature of truth. Versions of these ideas remained current in the Enlightenment, and have recently received fresh impetus in attempts to create a natural language for artificial intelligence. The story that Umberto Eco tells ranges widely from the writings of Augustine, Dante, Descartes and Rousseau, arcane treatises on cabbalism and magic, to the history of the study of language and its origins. He demonstrates the initimate relation between language and identity and describes, for example, how and why the Irish, English, Germans and Swedes - one of whom presented God talking in Swedish to Adam, who replied in Danish, while the serpent tempted Eve in French - have variously claimed their language as closest to the original. He also shows how the late eighteenth-century discovery of a proto-language (Indo-European) for the Aryan peoples was perverted to support notions of racial superiority. To this subtle exposition of a history of extraordinary complexity, Umberto Eco links the associated history of the manner in which the sounds of language and concepts have been written and symbolized. Lucidly and wittily written, the book is, in sum, a tour de force of scholarly detection and cultural interpretation, providing a series of original perspectives on two thousand years of European History. The paperback edition of this book is not available through Blackwell outside of North America.

Playful parodies by the author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault''s Pendulum. Here, Eco pokes fun at the oversophisticated, overacademic, and overintellectual, and along the way makes penetrating comments about our modern mass culture and the elitist avant-garde in art in criticism.

A world-renowned novelist and one of the Vatican''s leading authorities square off over some of the burning issues of our day, with commentary by leading American writers and thinkers.

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Discusses the differences between "open" and "closed" texts, or, texts that actively involve the reader and texts that evoke a limited, predetermined response from the reader. -- Back cover.

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.

The well-known Italian semiotician and novelist Umberto Eco discloses for the first time to English-speaking readers the unsuspected richness, breadth, complexity, and originality of the aesthetic theories advanced by the influential medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas, heretofore known principally as a scholastic theologian. Inheriting his basic ideas and conceptions of art and beauty from the classical world, Aquinas transformed or modified these ideas in the light of Christian theology and of developments in metaphysics and optics during the thirteenth century. Setting the stage with an account of the vivid aesthetic and artistic sensibility that flourished in medieval times, Eco examines Aquinas''s conception of transcendental beauty, his theory of aesthetic perception or visio, and his account of the three conditions of beauty--integrity, proportion, and clarity--that, centuries later, emerged again in the writings of the young James Joyce. He examines the concrete application of these theories in Aquinas''s reflections on God, mankind, music, poetry, and scripture. He discusses Aquinas''s views on art and compares his poetics with Dante''s. In a final chapter added to the second Italian edition, Eco examines how Aquinas''s aesthetics came to be absorbed and superseded in late medieval times and draws instructive parallels between Thomistic methodology and contemporary structuralism. As the only book-length treatment of Aquinas''s aesthetics available in English, this volume should interest philosophers, medievalists, historians, critics, and anyone involved in poetics, aesthetics, or the history of ideas.

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.

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

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.

This book brings together some of the most distinguished figures currently at work in philosophy, literary theory and criticism to debate the limits of interpretation.

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

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"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 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.

"Eco wittily and enchantingly develops themes often touched on in his previous works, but he delves deeper into their complex nature... this collection can be read with pleasure by those unversed in semiotic theory." --Times Literary Supplement

A self-confessed liar spins a fascinating tale of his life in this “comic and brilliantly baffling” historical novel by the author of The Name of the Rose (The Guardian, UK). Constantinople, 1204. The Byzantine capital is under siege by the knights of the Fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion, one Baudolino saves a historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors—and proceeds to regale him with the fantastical story of his life. Born a simple peasant in northern Italy, Baudolino has two major gifts: a talent for learning languages and a skill in telling lies. As a boy he meets a foreign commander who adopts Baudolino and sends him to the university in Paris, where he makes a number of adventurous friends. Spurred on by myths and their own reveries, they decide to go in search of the legendary priest-king Prester John who is said to rule over a vast kingdom in the East. The kingdom they seek is a phantasmagorical land of strange creatures with eyes on their shoulders and mouths on their stomachs; of eunuchs, unicorns, and lovely maidens. With dazzling digressions, outrageous tricks, extraordinary feeling, and vicarious reflections on our postmodern age, Baudolino is Eco the storyteller at his brilliant best.

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.

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.

Daß er in den Mauern der prächtigen Benediktinerabtei an den Hängen des Apennin das Echo eines verschollenen Lachens hören würde, das hell und klassisch herüberklingt aus der Antike, damit hat der englische Franziskanermönch William von Baskerville nicht gerechnet. Zusammen mit Adson von Melk, seinem etwas tumben, jugendlichen Adlatus, ist er in einer höchst delikaten politischen Mission unterwegs. Doch in den sieben Tagen ihres Aufenthalts werden die beiden mit kriminellen Ereignissen und drastischen Versuchungen konfrontiert: Ein Mönch ist im Schweineblutbottich ertrunken, ein anderer aus dem Fenster gesprungen, ein dritter wird tot im Badehaus gefunden. Aber nicht umsonst stand William lange Jahre im Dienste der heiligen Inquisition. Das Untersuchungsfieber packt ihn. Er sammelt Indizien, entziffert magische Zeichen, entschlüsselt Manuskripte und dringt immer tiefer in ein geheimnisvolles Labyrinth vor, über das der blinde Seher Jorge von Burgos wacht ...

" . . . the greatest contribution to [semiotics] since the pioneering work of C. S. Peirce and Charles Morris." —Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism " . . . draws on philosophy, linguistics, sociology, anthropology and aesthetics and refers to a wide range of scholarship . . . raises many fascinating questions." —Language in Society " . . . a major contribution to the field of semiotic studies." —Robert Scholes, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism " . . . the most significant text on the subject published in the English language that I know of." —Arthur Asa Berger, Journal of Communication Eco''s treatment demonstrates his mastery of the field of semiotics. It focuses on the twin problems of the doctrine of signs—communication and signification—and offers a highly original theory of sign production, including a carefully wrought typology of signs and modes of production.

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.

Een door drie redacteuren van een Milanese uitgeverij bedacht occult complot achter de wereldgeschiedenis, dat aanvankelijk een middel tot amusement was, wordt een bedreiging voor lichaam en geest.