ECO, Umberto

ECO, Umberto
(1932-)
   Italian academic and writer, famed for his work in history, philosophy, literary criticism and semiotics. While his novels are not explicitly sf, he shares with much of the best of the genre a central concern with both the nature of ideas and the moral significance of the methods by which we determine what is true. Il Nome della Rosa (1980; trans William Weaver as The Name of the Rose 1983 US/UK) is a medieval detective story (and a story about detection), an exploration of the detective's empirical approach to the world and the importance of humour, set against the fanatical certainties of medieval Christianity. Il Pendolo di Foucault (1988; trans William Weaver as Foucault's Pendulum 1989 US) tells the story of a group of Italian intellectuals who, appalled by the stupidity of the books on mysticism and occult history that they publish for a living, decide to construct their own conspiracy theory of history, and discover that the human PERCEPTION of reality is more subtle than they had anticipated (FABULATION). UE's fiction is remarkably inventive, sophisticated and humorous, expressive of a profound love for life over sterile abstraction.
   NT/PhR
   Other works: Travels in Hyperreality (coll trans William Weaver et al 1987 US), journalism and essays.
   See also: ITALY.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. . 2011.

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  • Eco, Umberto — born Jan. 5, 1932, Alessandria, Italy Italian critic and novelist. He has taught since 1971 at the University of Bologna. In The Open Work (1962), he suggested that some literature and modern music is fundamentally ambiguous and invites the… …   Universalium

  • Eco,Umberto — E·co (ĕʹkō), Umberto. Born 1932. Italian writer best known for his novels, including The Name of the Rose (1981). He has also written extensively on semiotics and British and American popular culture. * * * …   Universalium

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  • ECO (U.) — ECO UMBERTO (1932 ) Né à Alessandria, ville du nord de l’Italie, Umberto Eco fait ses études supérieures à Turin, où il soutient en 1954 une thèse de fin d’études sur l’esthétique chez saint Thomas d’Aquin. Il travaille d’abord comme assistant à… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

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