Umberto Eco

[andave_ya]

Recently Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before caught my eye with its intriguing title at the library and I pulled it off the shelf. When I began to read it at home though, I gave up. It seemed like Robinson Crusoe written by a drunk. I closed it and sent it back to the library. But here on the LitNet I've come across several posts praising Eco's works. Should I try again? Which of his stories do you suggest?

[Schokokeks]

The first Eco book I read was The Name of the Rose, it's a "thriller" starring two medieval monks. There's a lot of Latin in it, should appeal to you, Andya ! ;)
Then I read Foucault's Pendulum, which was very heavy stuff, I think it took me almost half a year to finish it, and I still can't summarise its plot :). I remember having had the same feeling with Ulysses :D.
The most recent one by Eco I've read was a non-fiction book, called The Search for the Perfect Language, which was a very fascinating linguistic study. After all, Eco is not just a writer of fiction, but also a semiotist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics).
But in case you're looking for a good start on his work, I think you should go for The Name of the Rose, being his most "conventional" novel I know of. But reserve a lot of time, it's quite long :nod:. And once you're done, there's also an interesting movie adaption of it to be enjoyed ! :)

[manolia]

I have only read "Fucault's Pendulum". It is a very interesting book (quite big too) and you learn a lot about medieval history (if you are interested in history). It is also the well known story of the holy grail (among other things). It is well written (though maybe a bit boring at parts). On the whole a book i strongly recommend especially if you have read 'The Da Vinci code' because now is the time to read the real thing ;) and see for yourself how inferior Dan Brown's novel is and what a pathetic attempt he made in reproducing a theme with which Eco had already thrived.

[vheissu]

Some years ago I read The name of the Rose which I really enjoyed and is one of my faourite books,.Then I bought The island of the day before and have still not been able to finish it. I just couldn't really understand the first time I tried, but I picked it up again this summer and left it almost immediately. It just makes no sense to me...so it's now forgotten somewhere back at home...
I've also read The mysterious flame of queen Loana which was interesting, but not as good as The name of the rose. I'd say you should try with that one if you really want to read Eco.
Funnily enough, I was reading a collection of essays by Salman Rushdie and in one of them it mentioned Eco and was not a very positive comment!If I remember correctly, Rushdie was especially critical about Eco's Faucoult's pendulum.
But on the other hand, Eco is regarded as being a really good postmodern writer and analyst of medieval history....

[JBI]

Loved The Name of the Rose, loved Baudolino, loved Foucault's Pendulum, and loved The Island of the Day Before. I really haven't gotten around to the Flame of Queen Laona, but it should be interesting. What I like about Eco is that his style is always different. His first work is styled as a 14th century manuscript by a monk, whereas his second is structured as a first person account of his life, and jumps around a lot.

What really interests me however, is his use of philosophy in his books. The Name of the Rose is set to model his take on Semiotics, and to give us a more clear look at semiotic applications. Whereas Foucault's pendulum came out right when he was finished working on his paper about the truth.

[PeterL]

I can understand why someone might find The Island of the Day Before dull. It is about self-delusion, and Roberto is a very ignorant and self-deluded character. Of his novels I most liked Foucault's Pendulum. The Name of the Rose is a pretty ordinary detective story in an unusual setting.

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana is very interesting; it is about the nature od conscious and identity, but Eco made some mistakes in it. That is, he didn't keep the type of the protagonist consistent.

Umberto Eco's novels are comments in fiction that demonstrate his ideas in semiotics, literary interpretation, and other matters. The Name of the Rose was written arounf the same times as his Theory of Semiotics, and it is about signs, but it may be his most approachable novel. Foucault's Pendulum was written around the same time as The Limits of Interpretation, and it is about misinterpretation. I think that The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana is largely autibiographical, but I'm not sure; but it is a great read.

[andave_ya]

Thanks so much for commenting. As the general concensus is to read The Name of the Rose, I'll pick it up next time I'm at the library.

[vili]

Let me just add to the list of those praising Foucault's Pendulum. While I haven't read Eco's latest, it is Foucault's Pendulum that I really enjoy the most from his published fiction. The Island of the Day Before, meanwhile, sits unfinished on my bookshelf. Maybe I'll open it again one day, but it didn't really grasp my attention (either) for some reason.

[JCamilo]

Andave, the problem may be the fact that Eco is first an academic, a great one, with consireble knowledge and contribution for the semiotics, linguistics and literature that started to write fiction later in his life.
His essays are quite superior to his fiction so I would read there first, even because his fictions are more like a pratical application of his theories of influence.

[vili]

Andave, the problem may be the fact that Eco is first an academic, a great one, with consireble knowledge and contribution for the semiotics, linguistics and literature that started to write fiction later in his life.
His essays are quite superior to his fiction so I would read there first, even because his fictions are more like a pratical application of his theories of influence.
I don't personally think that reading Eco's theoretical works is necessary for enjoying his fiction. While knowing something about his theories certainly won't hurt, I think it is perfectly fine to start with the fiction, and then if one becomes interested in the issues raised, dig into the theory.

[Ryan_002]

Whilst I would also suggest starting off with Name of the Rose, I have recently also read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loanna. This novel is stacked with colour plates and whilst the plot is not as complex or involving as some of his other work, it does provide a fascinating look at European pop culture during the second World War era. This one makes for good light reading, and is somewhat nostalgic (remember when Disney was as much into comics as cartoons?) :)

[JCamilo]

I don't personally think that reading Eco's theoretical works is necessary for enjoying his fiction. While knowing something about his theories certainly won't hurt, I think it is perfectly fine to start with the fiction, and then if one becomes interested in the issues raised, dig into the theory.

Oh, no. Surelly, no one needs any background information to know before reading any book.
The reasons I suggest it, is because she already said that she had a problem to finish his fiction (this she is not Eco's ideal reader yet) and because his qualities as critic are superior to his skills as romancist, therefore she may enjoy it a lot.

[Prometheus'Wake]

Foulcault's pendulem may be one of the best novels I've ever read. My only disappointment in it is that I can never read it again for the first time.
There is quite a lot of philosophy to this book. It raises interesting questions about the nature of truth and faith. It may take you some time, but getting through Eco's work has always proven a rewarding experience.

[vili]

Oh, no. Surelly, no one needs any background information to know before reading any book.
The reasons I suggest it, is because she already said that she had a problem to finish his fiction (this she is not Eco's ideal reader yet) and because his qualities as critic are superior to his skills as romancist, therefore she may enjoy it a lot.
Like I mentioned earlier on, I personally also had problems with The Island, and stopped reading it half-way through. As I have really enjoyed the other Eco novels that I have read, my personal experience would suggest that not liking that particular novel doesn't necessarily imply that you won't like or be able to read the others.

As for background knowledge, certainly some sort of a socio-cultural-linguistic background is needed for any book, but I still doubt that you need a specific background in Eco's theoretical works in order to be able to enjoy his fiction. As I wrote earlier, while I suppose that knowing more about those things will also enhance one's reading experience when it comes to his novels, I would still stick to my original comment in that the difference as far as I can see it is not big enough for someone who is not necessarily all that interested in the details of the theory to bother reading the theoretical works first.

In fact, it might even work the other way around, with Eco's fiction being a nice, soft introduction to his more complicated theoretical frameworks.

Of course, I wouldn't prevent anyone from reading Eco's theoretical writings before his fiction. All I'm saying is that if one just wants to read the novels, it seems like quite a lot of work for me to first read a bunch of criticism, especially when (in my opinion) that criticism is not absolutely necessary for the enjoyment of those novels.

[JCamilo]

Again, nothing is necessary to enjoy a book except your own experience of reading it. Knowing nothing about it won't prevent it, knowing a lot about it is not something writen in the stone that you will enjoy it.

But that is not the point, the point is that the person in the this thread (not you or me, even because I also read The Name of the Rose way before I read anything else by him) already have a experience that was frustating with Eco, even because her expectations are big with him and asked what else she should read. Considering great part of fascination of Eco is due his academic knowledge, a new path to her may be what I suggested, because she would be moving herself from the casual reader to the intented reader of Eco (Eco wrote his books for people who are familiar with his academic work, he said it, so how could it not be helpful).
At any extent, I did suggest her to read his literary criticism, not the semiotic/lingustic who are far more complicated indeed and they ask for a knowledge of therminology, etc but his Literary analyses often only ask for the person to know the book or the author or be curious about it and are quite simple. There is also his articles for magazines, that are quite simple also, but those are not that relevant.

[andave_ya]

This is really interesting. Originally I thought JCamilo suggested his semiotics stuff, which I didn't think I'd understand. But I would like to read his literary critiscism. Could I ask for some names? I've already got "The Name of the Rose" on hold from the library, but I'll see if they have any of his criticism works there. Thanks.

[vili]

Again, nothing is necessary to enjoy a book except your own experience of reading it. Knowing nothing about it won't prevent it, knowing a lot about it is not something writen in the stone that you will enjoy it.
Sorry, I seem to have misunderstood what you wrote earlier on, somehow (not quite sure how) thinking that you argued for one needing to have some sort of background information before being able to read any book. Which then seems to have led me to totally misinterpret the rest of what you wrote in that comment, thus prompting my previous reply to you. Well, this teaches me that I should really not try to write to the forums while working at the same time!

And yes, while Eco's semiotics and philosophy (he isn't really a linguist, I would say) are probably too much to tackle just for the sake of his novels, his literary criticism may indeed be a suitable place to start with, even before reading his fiction. And considering that andave_ya seems indeed very interested in the idea, your suggestion has really been a good one.

And I should just learn to read, that's all. ;)

[JCamilo]

Well, all our fault or as Eco would say, the interpretation fault ;)

His criticism can be found in books like "On Literature" (he focus in his own personal techniques, Proust, Borges, Joyce, Alexandre Dumas, etc), or Six Walks in the Fictional Woods (and interesting serie of speeches following Italo Calvino Six Proposals, they are good friends)...I must say that i read Eco mostly in portuguese, so I do not remember all the english titles of everything, mayb vili can add some here also.

His theory roots (since he deals with semiotics) have a bit if Bakthin influence but he also deals with the textual interpretation field - In fact, Eco seems to do a hard work to put together the main theories about text (Barthez, Derrida, Foucault) together, perhaps because of the massing Jorge Luis Borges influence, that was in way, the influence of all those theorics.
he also is one of the greatest specialists in dark age/middle age documentation and symbols. One text of Eco is enough to dismiss all the Code da Vince styles and conspiracy theories (It was Foucault or Island that was about it ?), very interesting.

[PeterL]

he also is one of the greatest specialists in dark age/middle age documentation and symbols. One text of Eco is enough to dismiss all the Code da Vince styles and conspiracy theories (It was Foucault or Island that was about it ?), very interesting.

Yes, Foucault's Pendulum deals with most of the issues in the Da Vinci Code. Because I read Foucault's Pendulum I feel no need to Da Vinci Code.

[JBI]

I would say for his work Baudolino I little knowledge about the time period/events following the life of Frederick Barbarossa is needed. Most of his jokes only work if you understand the history. For instance, he plays on historic names and uses them in his story (a lot of the main cast assembled around Baudolino are famous poets from the time period). Not to mention the fact that the majority of his characters are real historical figures (and how he uses Baudolino to connect them all is nothing short of miraculous).

I would of course, not recommend reading this one first.