Welcome to:
About Umberto Eco.com!
This site will explore the work of Italy's most famous contemporary intellectual who distinguished himself, over a career spanning 62 years, as a "public intellectual" by linking his prominent role as an academic theorist with his writings in newspapers and magazines as well as his bestselling novels for a popular audience.
Umberto Eco's passing on February 19th, 2016 has left a massive intellectual legacy that includes seven novels as well as fifty or more non-fiction works in both Italian and English. This blog will honor his rich legacy by considering how his ideas can be accessible for a broad popular audience and useful in our everyday lives.
As Italy's most famous contemporary intellectual, Eco's impact was broadly felt throughout the world in academia as well as in the popular sphere. Consequently his passing on February 19th, 2016 generated a huge crowd at his memorial in Milan, Italy that included prominent civic officials, celebrities such as the actor Roberto Benigni, fellow academics, and a massive outpouring amongst his readers from the general public who waited in line for hours to attend the ceremony.
An account of the memorial ceremony can be found at the following link from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/23/umberto-eco-funeral-sforza-castle-milan
A friend who had visited Eco during his illness recalled that Eco told him "To get old is beautiful." He also told him that "Laughter does not save man from death. But it helps." From: http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/facts-stories/article/italys-farewell-salute-umberto-eco. Laughter was a central focus of Eco's first novel The Name of the Rose, and he described laughter as an essential aspect of what distinguishes us as humans that comes about through our linguistic or symbolic capacity.
A number of obituaries acknowledging Eco's unique character as a "public intellectual" appeared in various newspapers throughout the world. Among these, the one from the The New York Times can serve as an example although it indicates that Eco was the author of more than 20 non-fiction works whereas I believe the number is closer to 50 if you count those in Italian as well as English, and it indicates that his first novel sold more than 10 million copies worldwide in various languages whereas, according to the Wikipedia list of bestselling works, it has sold more than 50 million copies, a number that will grow over the years as people become more familiar with his enormous legacy.
The New York Times obituary by Jonathan Kandell is useful in particular for its portrait of Eco's practice of bridging between an academic and a popular audience. It indicates that, for this reason, Eco was criticized by some traditional academics who believe that popular culture topics such as Superman and Mickey Mouse are unworthy of their consideration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/international/umberto-eco-italian-semiotician-and-best-selling-author-dies-at-84.html?_r=0
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/23/umberto-eco-funeral-sforza-castle-milan
A friend who had visited Eco during his illness recalled that Eco told him "To get old is beautiful." He also told him that "Laughter does not save man from death. But it helps." From: http://www.iitaly.org/magazine/focus/facts-stories/article/italys-farewell-salute-umberto-eco. Laughter was a central focus of Eco's first novel The Name of the Rose, and he described laughter as an essential aspect of what distinguishes us as humans that comes about through our linguistic or symbolic capacity.
A number of obituaries acknowledging Eco's unique character as a "public intellectual" appeared in various newspapers throughout the world. Among these, the one from the The New York Times can serve as an example although it indicates that Eco was the author of more than 20 non-fiction works whereas I believe the number is closer to 50 if you count those in Italian as well as English, and it indicates that his first novel sold more than 10 million copies worldwide in various languages whereas, according to the Wikipedia list of bestselling works, it has sold more than 50 million copies, a number that will grow over the years as people become more familiar with his enormous legacy.
The New York Times obituary by Jonathan Kandell is useful in particular for its portrait of Eco's practice of bridging between an academic and a popular audience. It indicates that, for this reason, Eco was criticized by some traditional academics who believe that popular culture topics such as Superman and Mickey Mouse are unworthy of their consideration.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/international/umberto-eco-italian-semiotician-and-best-selling-author-dies-at-84.html?_r=0
Umberto Eco has been the focus of my undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle over a period of more than 20 years beginning in 1988. After leaving academia and becoming an independent scholar in 2012, I decided to write about my understanding of the broad scope of Eco's ideas with the goal of making them accessible to a popular audience outside of academia as well as students of his work at all levels.
These efforts have resulted in the publication of an overview of Eco's intellectual practice entitled Umberto Eco, The Da Vinci Code, and the Intellectual in the Age of Popular Culture which was published by Palgrave Macmillan on July 2nd, 2017 in the initial hard cover edition.
Here is the link to the book page for Palgrave Macmillan:
http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319547886
Here is the link to the book offered on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Umberto-Vinci-Intellectual-Popular-Culture/dp/3319547887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548535846&sr=8-1&keywords=Douglass+Merrell
Although the cost of the current hard cover edition is somewhat cost prohibitive for many readers, the paperback edition is now available which is currently listed for sale at $29.00 on the Palgrave Macmillan website, and this price should be posted as well on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other bookseller websites once they are updated.
I am creating this site as a way of promoting my new book on Eco, but with the broader intention of generating a conversation about Eco's legacy with a popular audience who may not know Eco at all, or only based on his first novel The Name of the Rose, or from the movie version of the novel.
Because Eco was one of our most prominent contemporary "public Intellectuals," I believe that his ideas can be made accessible to a broad popular audience for exploring how they can be useful for all and not primarily for academic scholars.
Here is the link to the book page for Palgrave Macmillan:
http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319547886
Here is the link to the book offered on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Umberto-Vinci-Intellectual-Popular-Culture/dp/3319547887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548535846&sr=8-1&keywords=Douglass+Merrell
Although the cost of the current hard cover edition is somewhat cost prohibitive for many readers, the paperback edition is now available which is currently listed for sale at $29.00 on the Palgrave Macmillan website, and this price should be posted as well on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other bookseller websites once they are updated.
I am creating this site as a way of promoting my new book on Eco, but with the broader intention of generating a conversation about Eco's legacy with a popular audience who may not know Eco at all, or only based on his first novel The Name of the Rose, or from the movie version of the novel.
Because Eco was one of our most prominent contemporary "public Intellectuals," I believe that his ideas can be made accessible to a broad popular audience for exploring how they can be useful for all and not primarily for academic scholars.
