Umberto Eco Philosophy, Semiotics and the

Umberto Eco may have become world-famous with his best-selling novel The Name of the Rose, but his writings have been influential in many fields for several decades. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to his work and thought.

Michael Caesar is Professor of Italian and Head of Italian Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Acknowledgements

ix

Note on References

x

Introduction

1

(5)

Form, Interpretation and the Open Work

6

(22)

On form and interpretation: from Croce to Pareyson

6

(4)

Art and rationality

10

(5)

The appearance of Opera aperta

15

(3)

The poetics of the open work

18

(5)

Beyond `openness'

23

(5)

A Critical View of Culture: Mass Communications, Politics and the Avant-garde

28

(26)

The role of the avant-garde

29

(8)

Mass communications and theories of mass culture

37

(6)

Television and semiotic guerrilla war

43

(4)

Openness and structure

47

(7)

Introducing the Study of Signs

54

(22)

Signals and sense

55

(9)

Ambiguity, self-reflexivity and the aesthetic message

64

(3)

The critique of iconism

67

(2)

Some provisional conclusions on the aesthetic message

69

(7)

A Theory of Semiotics

76

(24)

From La struttura assente to A Theory of Semiotics

76

(5)

Communication, code and signification

81

(2)

Sign and sign-function

83

(7)

Sign production, iconism and the aesthetic message (again)

90

(10)

Semiotics Bounded and Unbound

100

(20)

The boundaries of semiotics

102

(9)

The dynamics of semiosis

111

(9)

Theory and Fiction

120

(25)

Readers and worlds

120

(14)

Texts

134

(11)

Secrets, Paranoia and Critical Reading

145

(17)

Kant, the Platypus and the Horizon

162

(9)

Notes

171

(13)

Select Bibliography

184

(9)

Index

193

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Umberto Eco Philosophy, Semiotics and the Work of Fiction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials