“s books, translations from French and English, in addition to a twice-monthly newspaper column”
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Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. 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, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on the history o…
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culture · Italian semiotician, philosopher and writer (1932–2016) · philosopher · novelist · essayist · pedagogue · screenwriter · translator · university teacher · semiologist · writer · literary critic · also Umberto Eco, Eco
Born 5 January 1932 · Died 19 February 2016 · Q12807
73 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 4 entries
MARCA: Umberto Eco, escritor: "El fin del terrorismo no es solamente matar ciegamente, sino lanzar un mensaje para desestabilizar al enemigo"
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Public attention spiked: 4,289 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.8× the usual 893, with 0 article edits. Coverage that week: “Umberto Eco, escritor: "El fin del terrorismo no es solamente matar ciegamente, sino lanzar un mensaje para desestabilizar al enemigo"” (MARCA).
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Clarin.com: Umberto Eco, filósofo y semiólogo italiano: "Se puede ser un mentiroso independientemente de que se diga la verdad o no"
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2025· 1 entry
The Guardian: How to spot a fascist the Umberto Eco way | Letter
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2017· 1 entry
A retrospective of Eco's work was published by Open Court as the 35th volume in the prestigious Library of Living Philosophers, edited by Sara G
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2016· 16 entries
The Guardian: Pape Satàn Aleppe by Umberto Eco review – why the modern world is stupid
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The Guardian: My hero: Umberto Eco by Jonathan Coe
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The Guardian: Hundreds attend Umberto Eco funeral in Milan
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The Guardian: Final Umberto Eco book publication pushed forward after author's death
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco receives honorary doctorate from Athens University – archive video
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco: ‘People are tired of simple things’
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco obituary
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco, Italian novelist and intellectual, dies aged 84
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco in quotes – 10 of the best
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The Guardian: Umberto Eco, 1932-2016
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Died 2016-02-19.
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“I am mimetic. If I write a book set in the seventeenth century, I write in a Baroque style. If I’m writing a book set in a newspaper office, I write in Journalese.”
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“Książki to ubezpieczenie na życie, maleńka antycypacja nieśmiertelności. Raczej wsteczna (niestety!), niż spoglądająca w przyszłość. Ale nie można mieć wszystkiego i to od razu.”
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“I don't even have an E-mail address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages.”
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“(…) chciałem, żeby czytelnik się bawił (…), po prostu przełamać barierę, jaką wzniesiono między sztuką a tym, co się podoba.”
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“Arcydzieło, nawet jeśli opowiada jakąś niezbyt wyszukaną historyjkę, skłania odbiorcę do odnajdywania w nim siebie i problemów całej ludzkości.”
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2015· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Łódź (2015).
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“Umberto Eco: How I Wrote my Books”
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2014· 1 entry
Was awarded the Gutenberg Prize of the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz
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2013· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate of the University of Burgos (2013).
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2012· 1 entry
Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière published a book of conversations on the future of information carriers
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2011· 1 entry
Awarded Cesare Pavese Prize (2011).
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2010· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate from University of Paris-II (2010).
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Eco was invited to join the Accademia dei Lincei
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2009· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Belgrade (2009).
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2005· 1 entry
Eco was honoured with the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement, along with Roger Angell
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2004· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the Marie and Louis Pasteur University (2004).
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2002· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of Rutgers University (2002).
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2001· 1 entry
Awarded Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2001).
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2000· 3 entries
Awarded Princess of Asturias Award for Communications and Humanities (2000).
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Awarded The VIZE 97 Prize (2000).
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A seminar in Timbuktu was followed up with another gathering in Bologna to reflect on the conditions of reciprocal knowledge between East and West
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1997· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate of Grenoble-III University (1997).
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A book which Eco reputedly warned his fans away from, saying, "This a hard-core book
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1996· 2 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1996).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Tartu (1996).
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1995· 1 entry
During a presentation at the Milan Triennale University, he declared: "I have seen several multimedia works, and I personally collaborated in the drafting of a publication of this type
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1993· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctorate presented by Indiana University Bloomington (1993).
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1992· 1 entry
And narrated by Colonna, a hack journalist working on a Milan newspaper, it offers a satire of Italy's kickback and bribery culture as well as, among many things, the legacy of fascism
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1990· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of Sofia University (1990).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Madrid Complutense (1990).
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1989· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (1989).
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Awarded Bancarella Literary Prize for Foucault's Pendulum (1989).
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1988· 2 entries
Eco founded the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Republic of San Marino, and in 1992 he founded the Institute of Communication Disciplines at the University of Bologna, later founding the Higher Schoo
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At the University of Bologna, Eco created an unusual program called Anthropology of the West from the perspective of non-Westerners (African and Chinese scholars), as defined by their own criteria
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1986· 1 entry
Loyola University Chicago in 1987, the University of Liege in 1989, the University of Glasgow in 1990, the University of Kent in 1992, Indiana University Bloomington in 1992, University of Tartu in 1996, Rutgers Univers
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1985· 3 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate from Brown University (1985).
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Awarded honorary doctor of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (1985).
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With his last column (a critical appraisal of the Romantic paintings of Francesco Hayez) appearing 27 January 2016
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1982· 1 entry
Awarded Prix Médicis étranger for The Name of the Rose (1982).
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1981· 1 entry
Awarded Strega Prize for The Name of the Rose (1981).
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1980· 1 entry
Eco was awarded the Strega Prize in 1981, Italy's most prestigious literary award, receiving the Anghiari Prize the same year
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1979· 1 entry
With Seymour Chatman and Jean-Marie Klinkenberg)
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1978· 1 entry
“I started to write [The Name of the Rose] in March of 1978, moved by a seminal idea. I wanted to poison a monk.”
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1975· 1 entry
Was promoted to Professor of Semiotics at the University of Bologna
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1971· 2 entries
Took up a position as associate professor at the University of Bologna and spent 1972 as a Fulbright scholar at Northwestern University
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Eco co-founded Versus: Quaderni di studi semiotici (known as VS among Italian academics), a semiotic journal
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1969· 1 entry
Left to become Professor of Semiotics at Milan Polytechnic, spending his first year as a visiting professor at New York University
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1962· 1 entry
Published Opera aperta (translated into English as "The Open Work")
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1961· 2 entries
Eco was promoted to the position of lecturer in the same subject in 1963, before leaving the University of Turin to take a position as lecturer in Architecture at the University of Milan in 1964
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Eco's short essay "Phenomenology of Mike Bongiorno", a critical analysis of a popular but unrefined quiz show host, appeared as part of a series of articles by Eco on mass media published in the magazine of the tyre manu
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1959· 1 entry
Following his return to university teaching, Eco was approached by Valentino Bompiani to edit a series on "Idee nuove" (New Ideas) for his eponymous publishing house in Milan
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1958· 1 entry
Eco left RAI and the University of Turin to complete 18 months of compulsory military service in the Italian Army
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1956· 1 entry
Became an assistant lecturer at his alma mater
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1954· 1 entry
Studied at University of Turin, laurea (1954).
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1945· 1 entry
And he was exposed to American comic books, the European Resistance, and the Holocaust
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1932· 1 entry
Born 1932-01-05.
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