An erudite and witty collection of Umberto Eco's essays on mass culture from the 1960s through the 1980s, including major pieces which have not been translated into English before. The discussion is framed by opposing characterizations of current intellectuals as apocalyptic and opposed to all mass culture, or as integrated intellectuals, so much a part of mass culture as to be unaware of serving it. Organized in four main parts, "Mass Culture: Apocalypse Postponed," "Mass Media and the Limits of Communication," "The Rise and Fall of Counter-Cultures," and "In Search of Italian Genius," Eco looks at a variety of topics and cultural productions, including the world of Charlie Brown, distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow, the future of literacy, Chinese comic strips, whether countercultures exist, Fellini's Ginger and Fred, and the Italian genius industry.

Apocalypse Postponed

Politics & Social Sciences

UMBERTO ECO

Social Sciences

Flamingo

... not merely interesting and novel, but also exceedingly provocative and heuristically fertile." ―The Review of Metaphysics... essential reading for anyone interesting in... the new reader-centered forms of criticism." ―Library JournalIn this erudite and imaginative book, Umberto Eco sets forth a dialectic between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ texts.

The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts (Hutchinson university library)

Literature & Fiction

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

The Middle Ages of James Joyce: The Aesthetics of Chaosmos

Religion & Spirituality

Harvard University Press

How we know that a cat is a cat is a nice philosophical poser, and has been since the time of Plato. Why we should all agree on calling the animal a cat is equally interesting, yet it throws up the problem that lies at the heart of all modern philosophy: how much do our perceptions of things depend on our cognitive ability, and how much on our linguistic resources? Where, and how, do these two questions meet? Having decided against a systematic treatment of his subject, Umberto Eco undertakes a series of idiosyncratic and typically brilliant explorations, starting from the perceived data of common sense, from which flow an abundance of 'stories' or fables, often with animals as protagonists, to expound a clear critique of Kant, Heidegger and Peirce. And, as a beast designed specifically to throw spanners in the works of cognitive theory, the duckbilled platypus naturally takes centre stage.

Kant and the Platypus

History

Random House]

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 todays 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 doesnt believe in god? as thoughtful and subtle as they are pragmatic and relevant, these essays present one of the worlds most important thinkers at the height of his critical powers

Five Moral Pieces

Classics

Vintage Books

Hilarious and provocative, fanciful and wise, offering answers to questions we never thought to ask and questions to the answers we always thought we knew, these essays range over subjects marginally useful and fabulously unexpected.

How to Travel With a Salmon : And Other Essays

The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon - all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where "the most interesting things happen at night."

Name of the Rose

Contemporary

Vintage Books USA

Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars and Media Populism

PRAGUE CEMETERY, THE

Vintage

Roberto della Griva, a seventeenth-century nobleman, finds himself stuck upon a ship from which he cannot escape, so he explores the ship and reminisces about the various chapters and experiences of his life. Reprint. NYT.

The Island of the Day Before

Literary

Penguin??Books

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Books by UMBERTO ECO