When the writer Umberto Eco, one of the great Italian intellectuals and who died Friday in Milan, achieved worldwide fame with his novel ‘The Name of the Rose’ , and was 48 years old and a host of titles to his credit, most of them essays on the world of semiotics and communication.
from the publication (1980) became a renowned novelist and columnist, skillfully swimming in the waters of popular culture, but without ever losing the weight that gave depth trained in philosophy. “It was a great theorist of signs, but also a great reader, very aware of mass culture, and was also a close eye on what was happening in the world man,” said the writer Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda. (At 84, dies Italian writer Umberto Eco)
Philosopher graduated from the University of Turin in 1954, had been added in the same institution Aesthetics professor and in Milan . That aesthetic knowledge is evident in the magnificent descriptions of medieval works that he amobló his most famous novel, which came a day that dawned wanting to “kill a monk”.
so let it written in his text ‘Postscript to the name of the rose’, in which virtually unveiled the secrets of its composition, from the first idea to the way it investigated , created in your imagination (and on paper at the point of maps) the overwhelming Benedictine abbey becomes the scene of his story and how this medieval recreation used to determine whether the duration of the talks.
” the name of the rose ‘sold over 50 million copies and six years later was successfully brought to film, starring Sean Connery. Put readers on the lookout for his second work of fiction. Foucault’s Pendulum (1988), which was also a big phenomenon in sales
However, the world of books had come to his door sooner. Born in Alessandria (Italy) in 1932, his curiosity was fueled by the trade of typesetter his grandfather, who allowed him to browse cheap novels and literary classics that were printed in his workshop.
Devotion to the word
it had started in the neovanguardista Group 63 intellectuals, where he developed a study on contemporary art.
also collaborated in publications such as the Times Literary Supplement “and” Tel Quel “, and for 35 years with the Bompiani publishing house.
his first publication was his doctoral thesis in 1956, entitled ‘The aesthetic problem Thomas Aquinas’. He wrote essays as ‘Apocalyptic and integrated’ (1964) and ‘Treaty of general semiotics’ (1975), which earned him academic reputation. “ We met him first as a semiotician, in the process of communication as a communications expert and the practice of journalism as a critical brainy communication and especially of journalism,” said Mario Morales, university professor and columnist.
for Morales, Eco is the “ Our Father of communication theorists in Latin America and, particularly, media analysts “, another interests of the Italian author. Despite his literary success, not away from its role in teaching and he continued to lead the creation of spaces of thought as the Department of Communication at the University of San Marino (1988) and the School of Humanistic Studies in Bologna (2000) , and throughout his life was getting different honoris causa in more than 25 universities around the world, including the Complutense de Madrid, Tel Aviv, Athens, Warsaw and Berlin.
the university professor Rodrigo Argüello said: “ Eco is for me a fundamental reference. As a theorist, he taught me to look at reality and ideas with caution, with suspicion . But I also believe that it is the only intellectual of this shaft could move its office (semiotics) fiction. I refer to the case of The Name of the Rose, where he pays homage to Peirce, Sherlock Holmes and who has to do with the reading of any sign. “
” It was a figure very universal; was fascinating, as the church where he lived, an old monastery adapted to take a monstrous library, “said Cobo Borda. In fact, I had more than 40 years living in Milan, where he had managed to accommodate about 35,000 books in a palatial building , which was located in one of the largest squares in Milan, in front of the Castello Sforzesco, visited by tourists.
His writings brought to the public issues of great density, as scientists, but was also a scholar on the world of comic books and a wide range of secular subjects. “There is another aspect that seems to me revealing added Cobo- and are two very beautiful books, one on another on beauty and ugliness. He acted as the compiler and sought the most beautiful images from the beginning of time until figures of fashion and Italian cinema. But it also showed the other side, how has become commonplace ugliness on those faces “.
World Recognition
Eco was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award Communication and Humanities in 2000, in recognition of a career that had already dealt her numerous academic awards. (See also: Eco, a thinker of this century)
For example, was professor and chairman emeritus of the School of Humanistic Studies of the University of Bologna (north) since 2008 and appointed by the Steering Committee of Unesco (1992) member of the Elders Forum; along with other intellectuals was a member of the Universal Academy of Cultures.
In addition, he received the Legion of Honour in 1993 and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature for all your work in 2004 in Salzburg.
Each release theirs was a media event in Italy, radiating to the world, whether it was a novel or an essay. This happened, for example, Kant and the Platypus (1997), which resulted in the media the question of the relationship between the two elements of the title. He replied that the ‘Corriere della Sera: “They have nothing to do, and that is the origin of my book. The first caged platypus came to Europe a year after Kant published his latest essay, at a time when he was very ill. Therefore, we can say that Kant never heard of the platypus, which adds to the fact that 85 years of discussion to classify the animal were necessary “.
History his latest book begins with the creation, by an Italian businessman (which recalls Silvio Berlusconi) ‘Number Zero’, a copy of a newspaper in tests carried out in 1992 . This newspaper wants to go out with the intention not to inform but as a power tool to put pressure and discredit political rivals or create reports, false information and plots.
this latter work, in addition being an x-ray on the worst of journalism, power and corruption, it was also established in a personal vision of Italy in the last 30 years.
in his later years, writer he was suffering from cancer and died on Friday at his home, next to the German Renate Ramage, his wife since 1962. S u work will survive for its literary impact and the specific weight of their profound ideas . “In other words, after reading one can not see and read the world in the same way,” he said Argüello.
Umberto Eco in an interview with Spanish writer Xavi Ayen, for magazine ‘mouths’, the middle of last year.
“you always have the nostalgia of childhood. mine is that of those nights in bomb shelters in a very dark and damp basement, bombs were heard outside. “
” once wrote in Wikipedia we were 13 brothers and I had married the daughter of my editor . Also my death was published, a story that I consider somewhat premature. “
” We live in a world in which the physicist who won the Nobel Prize knows nothing history of literature (…) Today a phenomenon of hyper, which is given very American. “
” (in 50) … there was only one television channel, in black and white, but at nine p.m. put Shakespeare, War and peace, or Pirandello, and the people did well, I saw it. Now I see programs that scream and insult “.
” The old TV was better, almost no garbage programming. Young people now watch more YouTube I do not know if they would be able to watch a movie from Wim Wenders which lasts four hours. “
” In the basement keep the boxes of manuscripts (…)
I leave everything so, for what would, otherwise, my students when I die? You have to think about giving work to future generations … “.
novels, essays and newspaper articles
Eco’s work was prolific in trials and seven novels. Among the most memorable are:
‘Apocalyptic and integrated’ (1964)
‘Absent structure’ (1968)
‘Treaty of general semiotics’ (1975)
‘ Reader in fable. Interpretive cooperation in the narrative ‘(1979)
‘ The Name of the Rose ‘(novel, 1980)
‘ Essays on The Name of the Rose “(1997)
‘The pendulum Foucault ‘(novel, 1988)
‘ the limits of interpretation ‘(1990)
‘ the island of the day before ‘(novel, 1994)
‘ Kant and the platypus’ ( 1997)
‘Baudolino’ (novel, 2000)
‘Postscript to “the name of the rose’ and translation of Latin texts’ (2000)
‘rediscovering America’ (2002 )
‘the mysterious flame of Queen Loana “(novel, 2004)
‘ the story of beauty ‘(2005)
‘ the Prague cemetery ‘(novel, 2010)
Confessions of a young novelist ‘(2011)
‘ History of lands and legendary places’ (2013)
‘Number Zero’ (2015)
CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT with information from Efe
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