Talk:Umberto Eco

Old post

The article's current reference to "hypertextuality" links to the article on hypertext, which does not mention the postmodern literary concept of "hypertextuality".

Seems strange, yes. I linked to hypertextuality instead. I don't know the concept though, but if you do, please create the article and explain! Thanks. ✏ Sverdrup 13:50, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I suggest removing that bit. IMO this article should be about his life, works, etc, but should refrain from detailed literary criticism. The paragraph referring to 'hypertextuality' means nothing to anyone but a specialist. johnsemlak 8:35 28 Febrary 2006 (UTC)

Pedant

I read in some Italian site comments on his political articles (on 9/11?). The commenters thought him a pedant showing off his culture but giving no solutions. Is that an extended opinion?

Yes, it definitely is. Fleurbutterfly 20:41, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

"Showing off" is a subjective phrase that reflects a personal judgment that may have no relation to fact or reality.Lestrade (talk) 18:12, 7 October 2010 (UTC)Lestrade

Eco has read many books. His thoughts, most likely, involve the thoughts of the many authors that he has read. If he quotes those authors, then he is merely expressing his thoughts. Only people who are less well-read would think of him as being showy or pedantic. They are envious because they have spent their time doing other things instead of reading. That is common in today’s culture. 98.110.35.22 (talk) 03:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)Lestrade

Opening sentence

Eco is a "novelist and philosopher, best known for his novels and essays." That's like saying he's a piano player known for playing the piano, it's ridiculous. Shouldn't the opening be a paragraph, including brief highlights of his life, work (Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum pop to mind) and such, instead of saying he's a novelist who (gasp) writes novels? LeoDV 21:30, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Eco a freemason? Even if he is (sources?), it definitely shouldn't come before medievalist, philosopher and novelist, or University professor, for that matter.

If you keep the reference to "his novels and essays" I would also replace "best known" with "most widely known" for. Then add something about his intellectual authority as a philosopher and his influence on European culture as the basis for his stature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.101.199.132 (talk) 14:59, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Influenced by ?

Having admired Eco's works for many years, I have recently stumbled upon J.L Borges. Its worth seeing the wickipedia pages on Borges, in particular the part one Eco and his work "The Name of The Rose". I found both share a love of the philosophical meander, pardoxes, taught narrative and academic parody. However, given the amount of other authors they both reference, where do we end on the matter ... under a large heap of musty books.

I don't know if Jorge Luis Borges should be mentioned since he can be mentioned as an influence for almost every 20th century author. Indeed, many authors do point to him as an inspiration, even when the styles and motifs are of a totally different nature. It would sort of be like saying a philosopher is somewhat influenced by Aristotle or Plato.--Rousseau

pretentiousness + lack of biography

The fact that Eco's writings are sometimes occasionally pretentious doesn't mean this page has to be as well. It would be more beneficial for the readers if the author of it was more interested in writing a dictionary entry than a school paper.

More important, however, is the fact that the "Biography and opus" part is all opus and no biography. I'd like to write the biography myself, but don't know enough about Eco's personal life to be capable of it.

What happened to the rule that we have to sign our every post on WP? Fleurbutterfly 20:46, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

/* Pedant */

No, this is by no means the popular view over here in Italy at any rate!! He has a weekly series in the extremely presitigious and extremely popular magazine L'Espresso which is widely read. I, personally , think that he is often prententious and offers no solutions, etc.. But that does not seem to be a widely shared view OVER HERE. Perhaps his political and social commentary should be mentioned in the Main text??

lacatosias

you said "I, personally" right? You answered your own delimma. That's your own point of view, and clearly, Umberto Eco is widely respected. Most of us just don't share your sentiments. Fleurbutterfly 20:52, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Homepage, publisher

Does anybody know if Eco has an official homepage maintained endorsed either by him or his publisher? I'm not finding much with Google.

Also no mention is made in the article of his publisher in Italy, Bompiani in Milan. — Hippietrail 19:45, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

doctorate

What does doctarate mean? It could not be a "dottorato", the equivalent of the English PhD., since it was introduced in Italy only in the late 1980s. I suppose that degree to be more appropriate. AnyFile 22:03, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm also unsure, but my Italian teacher once told me that the "normal" Italian doctorate equals a MA. February, 21st, User:prorokini

Anyfile is right. That's a BA. Cf the French version: "diplomé" USER:FOKWH

This page has been edited by Eco himself

In a recent article by Eco on Wikipedia, he mentions disagreeing with a description of one of his books, and says that he personally corrected the text

According to the article he corrected an interpretation that can't be found on this article, but on Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition. Shouldn't that paragraph be moved to that article? SncBlue 14:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Eco wrote also that he corrected something about his biography that was not correct (on this page, I presume) --Ggonnell 10:20, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Was he talking about Italian WP?--Shtove 22:14, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Missing works

Has anybody here yet seen Librarything.com? Have a look at Umberto Eco's page there and you'll see there are a few works missing from the bibliography here. The page includes works in many languages and many collection, which don't always map 1:1 with collections in other languages:

http://www.librarything.com/author/ecoumberto

— Hippietrail 16:49, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

a question

The study of Eco's works - ecology?

sorry - bad joke

andreas_td 17:40, 1 May 2006 (UTC+2)

Here's another bad joke:

The study of Andreas' works - andrology?

Geir Gundersen 13:51, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

hahaha! breather...Fleurbutterfly 20:55, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Quote on christianity

I came across a reflection of his in the intro to a book of studies c.2000. It ran something like this: If christianity is not the truth, then the beauty of its concept is at least strong evidence for the existence of god. Does anyone know the citation for this?--Shtove 21:40, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Umberto Eco is agnostic and he has lost his faith long time ago, so I doubt he said that. Ciacchi 15:23, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

A cynical, optimistic agnostic. Sounds like Eco to me. Phyte (talk) 00:53, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

But he writes better than Dan Brown. He makes you think.Fleurbutterfly 20:57, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

People like complicated stories with arcane figures

I changed "Although his novels often include references to arcane historical figures and texts and his dense, intricate plots tend to take dizzying turns, he has enjoyed a wide audience around the world, with good sales and many translations." into "Because his novels often include references to arcane historical figures and texts and his dense, intricate plots tend to take dizzying turns, he has enjoyed a wide audience around the world, with good sales and many translations." I don't think people really prefer novels with only references to TV figures and sparse, simple plots which are straightforward. Geir Gundersen 13:49, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Atheist?

He's listed in the Italian atheists category - is this accurate? My impression is that he's an agnostic.--Shtove 16:18, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

You are correct. Eco is an agnostic, and actually states that "one should not have the arrogance to declare that God does not exist." (See [1]) --Banderman11 06:02, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

I don’t know what his position is. But the wikiquote reference is unfortunately worthless: the article claims he said that, but gives absolutely no indication of where or when. —Ian Spackman 15:56, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. Richard Dawkins has never claimed that god definitely does not exist, and I'm sure it's agreed that he is Athiest rather than Agnostic. Think you need to understand what the term Athiest means (Wikipedia essentially gives two views, one of which I don't buy into). 81.159.235.154 22:43, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Eco is an Atheist!

Interviewed by journalist Francesco Merlo (italian magazine “Il venerdì di repubblica” #1019 -september 28 2007-) Umberto Eco, answering the question «Do you are a believer?» says «At the moment, cautiously, i’m not» [«Per il momento, prudentemente, no». ] (page 27). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.15.203.250 (talk) 22:42, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Spoiler

Don't know if I'm doing this right - never edited Wikipedia before. But... Currently reading Foucault's Pendulum and decided to check the author. Although I could be wrong as I haven't finished it yet the paragraph about it seems to be a minor spoiler. Can we get a spoiler warning in there or possibly jst reomve the spoiler? "The game turns dangerous when outsiders learn of The Plan, and believe that the men have really discovered the secret to regaining the lost treasure of the Templars." - THats the particular sentence

Meh. We know this from the first few pages when the narrator is hiding in the museum: a group of nastymen are out to get Hero Protagonist. The entire story is told in flashback. The "spoiler" is no worse, and probably less culpable in wrecking the plot development, than any good movie trailer. You ask a valid question, but it's probably not a real problem.

I think the sentence "We know this from the first few pages when the narrator is hiding in the museum: a group of nastymen are out to get Hero Protagonist." is an oversimplified and unjustified statement. It obviously IS a GIANT spoiler. If you knew it beforehand, how could you complete reading the book and enjoy it? It is obviously one of that "oh! That ending was obvious" statements, which are, 99% of the time, a plain fabrication on the part of the concerned person. I think we need to remove this spoiler or insert a spoiler warning. It certainly ruined any suspense for me. Ntveem 11:06, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

By that logic we should include a spoiler warning on every article. The Book of Genesis: [SPOILER ALERT] He did it all in six days and then took a breather. Or Romeo and Juliet: [SPOILER ALERT] they all (well, most of them) die at the end. Cross Reference (talk) 04:53, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

postmodernist

I know Eco "has been labelled" a postmodernist author. However, much like with categories like "gay people", I doubt is sufficient to categorize him as such. We would ideally need evidence that he self-identfies as a postmodernist, or at least evidence that the classification is undisputed. He is certainly (very much) aware of postmodernism, but that's irrelevant. dab (𒁳) 18:04, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Questionable start and source

I don't agree with (almost) starting the article with the sentence

Recently his 1988 novel Foucault's Pendulum has been described as a "thinking person's Da Vinci Code,"

since Focault's pendulum is much superior to Da Vinci Code. Citing a source is alright, but the sources must be of some quality, too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.50.160.90 (talk) 21:45, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Much superior, well written, well planned, than Da Vinci Code. Fleurbutterfly 21:01, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

And may i add that The Name of the Rose is also superior. Fleurbutterfly 21:02, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

I can't say that I'm a big fan of this sentence in the article either. The comparison doesn't seem important or relevant enough to be in the lead paragraph, and the linked article only mentions Eco in passing. Perhaps something more interesting could be pulled from a better source, e.g. [2]? Ziggurat 09:32, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Bibliography

Hello all, I created a Bibliography of Umberto Eco page. Please feel free to make it better.

TuckerResearch (talk) 04:23, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Where are the References?

What happened to references? There are barely any anywhere - just lots of POV and 'original research'. I suggest we either strip out the whole lot and start again or start digging up some verifiable facts. Spanglej (talk) 02:06, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

The Name of the Rose

In this book Mr Eco uses a very unusual mechanism for a murder.

Can anybody, including Mr Eco, explain how the item is a direct copy of the method described in the Arabian Nights in The Story of the Clever Minister?

There probably does not exist any third occuerrence in world literature of this particular method of murder!

Samarendra Narayan Roy, India —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roy.samarendra (talk • contribs) 06:27, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Ur-Fascism essay

Reference number 7 leads one to an advertisement website, rather than to Eco's Ur-Fascism essay, as it used to and was intended to do.

I'm unfamiliar with the editing history review and editing processes of Wikipedia, but I thought for the time being I could at least raise mention of the problem. Presumably it was changed recently, as I was led from the reference to the essay's correct page less than six months ago. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.169.189.225 (talk) 04:01, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Copyright problem

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English title for his latest novel

Amazon has The Prague Cemetery, rather than The Cemetery of Prague for this unreleased book. TuckerResearch (talk) 10:42, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Eco is a medievalist?

I read the article twice. 1.) I didn't read anywhere that he studied history, only that he studied medieval philosophy. 2.) I didn't find any sources that he published scientific works about history of Middle Ages - only aesthetics, anthropology and other philosophical problems.

Medievalist is a historian, as far as I know. For example, professor Anthony Kenny studied Thomas Aquinas, scholasticism and medieval philosophy, but no one considers him a medievalist, only a philosopher.

"Eco, Umberto." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. :

"Italian literary critic, novelist, and semiotician"

Same in this link: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ueco.htm

Not a word about medievalist. I edited the article accordingly.

Philosopher12 (talk) 14:53, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

"The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco in "light" version

Croatian writer Giancarlo Kravar: Italian newspaper La Voce del Popolo from Rijeka, Croatia, announced that Umberto Eco wrote a new "light" version of his novel "The Name of the Rose", one of the capital works of 20th century, it would be more interesting and popular to the readers in the 21 century.85.114.62.130 (talk) 15:28, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

External links modified

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Wrong Moussa Sow

This article was conflating anthropologist Moussa Sow with a senegalese footballer identically named. So, I fixed that. Eliécer Guillén.200.229.152.200 (talk) 16:22, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

Tnx.--Ymblanter (talk) 07:46, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

The Prague Cemetery

The description of this is a trifle strange: by most accounts, the Dreyfus Affair and the Protocols were symptoms, not causes of antisemitism, which was firmly in place before either of these occurred.

Paul Magnussen (talk) 04:54, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Umberto Eco/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

The Italian version begins with: 'Laureatosi in filosofia' means 'a BA in Philosophy'.FOKWH 10:38, 17 December 2006 (UTC)FOKWH

Substituted at 09:30, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Removing all the categories

The article is not displaying any categories. Others IPs tried to put all the categories back but were reverted by claims that some of it were unsourced.[3] I just want to know if there is a good reason to remove all the categories of this article or if it was accidental. Thanks, 179.219.80.232 (talk) 19:05, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

I am not sure what happened but I restored the categories. Thanks for noticing.--Ymblanter (talk) 07:42, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

Featured picture scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Italiaanse schrijver Umberto Eco, portret.jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for January 5, 2022. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2022-01-05. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 16:16, 28 December 2021 (UTC)

Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, cultural critic, political and social commentator, and novelist. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies, and literary theory, and Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel that touches on similar themes. This photograph of Eco was taken in 1984, during the period of more than thirty years in which he taught at the University of Bologna.

Photograph credit: Rob Bogaerts

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