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The Idle Book Club 12: Umberto Eco

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The Idle Book Club 12:

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Umberto Eco

Chris and Sarah stop into the studio for an impromptu podcast in honor of Umberto Eco, the Italian semiotician and author of esoteric novels including The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Eco passed away just days ago, and we felt it was appropriate to pay our respects—and share some choice quotes and personal experiences. Join us!

Books Discussed: The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, The Prague Cemetery, Numero Zero

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(This podcast has been reuploaded to remove a spoiler. Sorry!! Hopefully your podcast reader triggers a redownload automatically.)

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I like mysterious flame better than island or prague cemetery (or Baudolino which is my least favourite of his novels barring possibly his last which I also haven't read).

On the non-fiction side, how to travel with a salmon etc. and travels in hyperreality are pretty accessible. I liked Six Walks but that kind of thing (broadly, narratology) is precisely my bag, and with that one it's not so much a matter of accessibility as it is I wonder whether someone not of a similar bent would find it interesting. I bounced pretty hard off A Theory of Semiotics, and only have vague recollections of The Open Work and one other of his that I read...I'm thinking it was either Misreadings, The Limits of Interpretation, or Interpretation and Overinterpretation...not sure which.

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I enjoyed this a lot. Eco was an incredible writer, though I haven't read about half his novels, and have only read a handful of his nonfiction (which is smart and thoughtful and wonderful, if dry). This was a marvelous little tribute, and a great introduction for readers who aren't that familiar with his work. 

 

I would say, however, that while The Name of the Rose is a little easier to get into for some first timers, mostly because of it's pretty traditional Sherlock style genre trappings, I feel like Foucault's Pendulum is such a better book, and much more wryly funny.

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Travels in Hyperreality is amazing for starting the trend of European intellectuals observing Disneyland and finding it symptomatic of American culture writ large (Baudrillard is another giant of this particular genre). I also seem to recall that collection having an excellent essay about the semiotics of clothes.

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Chris' The Name of the Rose: The Board Game story was great. I've never played the game, but I was aware of it. Loved that Eco refused to sign it. Also, for anyone who cares about these things, it was designed by Stefan Feld, a very well-respected designer. His stuff is very hit-or-miss for me, but when he hits he hits hard, so The Name of the Rose is probably at least worth checking out.

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(This podcast has been reuploaded to remove a spoiler. Sorry!! Hopefully your podcast reader triggers a redownload automatically.)

Crap, wish I checked this thread beforehand  :wacko:

 

I was really intrigued by the discussion and would like to read some of his novels. I would start with Name of the Rose as recommended but now that I know

about Jorge, which I assume is a major plot-point

should I skip it? Or is there enough going on that one piece of info isn't going to ruin the journey? I'm tempted to just jump on Foucault's Pendulum instead.

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The book is definitely worth reading even if you know some of the plotpoints. I've been meaning to re-read The Name of the Rose for some time now.

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I love how Chris talks about how the title "In the Name of the Rose" just caught his attention.  I ran across it in high school, and I loved historical fiction, the older the better.  And I was immediately drawr to it when I saw it.    It has such a slow yet increasing rhythm.  A gumshoe monk investigates a crime, in a medieval monastery.    

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I just finished up The Prague Cemetery last night. Overall i didn't like it as much as The Name of the Rose. The main character is such a perfect asshole that he's hard to identify with (except that he's a foodie, which I loved). The slog through the bigotry of every stripe was less rewarding than the slog through the beginning of TNotR, especially since the Prague-slog continued through the entire book.

 

I'm thinking I might try Foucault's Pendulum as my next foray into Eco, since I remember being struck by the title some time earlier in my life the way Chris was struck by the name of The Name of the Rose.

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The Prague Cemetery is by far the worst of Eco's books that I have read. It felt like a kind of weird, weak redo fo Foucault's Pendulum.

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The Prague Cemetery is by far the worst of Eco's books that I have read. It felt like a kind of weird, weak redo fo Foucault's Pendulum.

 

Sadly, I feel that's a common tendency for great authors who are reasonably prolific and live a long time. For instance, after the mid-2000s, Iain Banks just wrote retreads of his previous works, usually with one idea in them done better and every other idea done worse. Inspiration is not infinite, apparently, and it's especially not infinite when you write these intricate, well-considered works.

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The Prague Cemetery is by far the worst of Eco's books that I have read. It felt like a kind of weird, weak redo fo Foucault's Pendulum.

 

Have you read Numero Zero? 

 

 

:(

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