Most Popular Books by Umberto Eco

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In a final chapter added to the second Italian edition, Eco examines how Aquinas''s aesthetics came to be absorbed and superseded in late medieval times and draws instructive parallels between Thomistic methodology and contemporary structuralism.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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

Bondedrengen Baudolino bliver adopteret af Frederik Barbarossa og beretter om sit liv med korstog, rejser og Frederiks bestræbelser på at blive anerkendt som tysk-romersk kejser

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.

"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.

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.

En katalog over kataloger. Overvejelser om, hvordan ideen om kataloger, lister, samlinger har ændret sig gennem århundrederne. Herved afspejler de tidsånden i forskellige perioder. Med lister fra bl. a. litteraturens og kunstens verden

The author of The Name of the Rose considers a wide range of topics, from Superman and Casablanca , Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, Jim Jones and mass suicide, and Woody Allen, to pop festivals and football, and not least the social and personal implications of tight jeans.

Eco displays in these essays the same wit, learning, and lively intelligence that delighted readers of The Name of the Rose and Foucault''s Pendulum. His range is wide, and his insights are acute, frequently ironic, and often downright funny. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

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.

L''anti Robinson Cruso?︠ Un roman dans lequel Eco le linguiste vient prt̊er main forte ̉Eco le romancier. Le hřos est un intellectuel, fils de hobereau pim̌ontais, naugrag ̌en 1643 face ̉une des l̋es de l''archipel des Fidji, qui cherche ̉comprendre le monde. Selon Pierre Lepape, l''auteur a invent ̌une nouvelle forme de roman historique qui trouve ses fondements dans l''histoire culturelle et trac ̌une vaste fresque de l''Europe baroque. Pour le traducteur ce roman-encyclopďie est aussi un roman de formation, d''espionnage et d''amour. [SDM].

Umberto Eco''s latest work unlocks the riddles of history in an exploration of the "linguistics of the lunatic," stories told by scholars, scientists, poets, fanatics, and ordinary people in order to make sense of the world. Exploring the "Force of the False," Eco uncovers layers of mistakes that have shaped human history, such as Columbus''s assumption that the world was much smaller than it is, leading him to seek out a quick route to the East via the West and thus fortuitously "discovering" America. In a careful unveiling of the fabulous and the false, Eco shows us how serendipities - unanticipated truths - often spring from mistaken ideas. From Leibniz''s belief that the I Ching illustrated the principles of calculus to Marco Polo''s mistaking a rhinoceros for a unicorn, Eco tours the labyrinth of intellectual history, illuminating the ways in which we project the familiar onto the strange.

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.

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.

A collection of essays by one of the leading intellectuals of our time on the years of the September 11th events, of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and of the establishment of a populist media-based regime in Italy. Wit his customary sharpness and wit, Eco illustrates the tragic steps backwards that have been taken since the end of the last millennium.

Le problème esthétique chez Thomas d''Aquin est un doctorat de 1954 (publié en 1956 et dans une édition revue en 1970). Il s''agit donc non d''un texte " ancien ", au sens factuel du terme, mais d''une œuvre scientifique de jeunesse dont le statut de légitimité vient d''être confirmé par l''édition américaine d''Harvard University Press. Le présent ouvrage est la mise en perspective par l''auteur de sa thèse, seul travail exhaustif et contemporain sur la problématique de Thomas d''Aquin comprise dans le mouvement de la sensibilité médiévale. Les textes thomistes intégrés dans leur cadre historique deviennent ainsi une fresque des conceptions du Moyen Âge sur l''art et le beau, du beau conçu comme transcendantal. L''aporie inhérente à l''esthétique thomiste ouvre paradoxalement la voie à une interprétation nouvelle des catégories esthétiques dans la société médiévale. D''une manière plus actuelle, Umberto Eco trouve dans cet ouvrage les cheminements de ses interrogations sémiologiques et d''une analyse de l''art dont l''origine métaphysique ou religieuse a été le principe jadis nécessaire, aujourd''hui dépassé. L''esthétique découvre alors une vocation dont chacun aurait dû savoir qu''elle était avant tout une vision.