Umberto Eco |
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Collection title
Italians cioè Italiani
First broadcast date
03/20/1997
Abstract
The journalist Beppe Servegnini interviews Umberto Eco on different matters: the relation with his body and with trips, the lack of musical and linguistic education in Italy, the difference with other countries, the idea of a wandering cleric and the plot of the novel" the name of the rose".
It is also about the Italians' conformism and their relationships with other peoples, on the book " how to get a monstrous culture", and its collaboration with the Bompiani publishing house, as well as the reasons of the success achieved by the character of Fantozzi.
Dialogues from a film with Walter Chiari.
Broadcaster
RAI - RAI Tre
Audiovisual form
Interview
Primary theme
Languages and literatures
Credits / Cast
- Servegnini Beppe - Speaker
- Servegnini Beppe - Author of original work
- Caviotti Claudio - Director
Map locations
- Italy - Eastern North - Milan
Original language
Italian
Context
Umberto Eco
Stephane Mourlane
Umberto Eco is one of the most contemporary Italian authors internationally recognized for its scientific and literary works. Born in January 5, 1932 in Alexandria in the Piedmont region, he studied in Turin University where he grew up in a Catholic environment. After participating in the activities of youth associations of Catholic Action, he distanced himself from the faith after his thesis oral presentation on the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. At the University of Turin, he works on his thesis under the direction of Luigi Pareysson, one of the most famous Italian philosophers of his time, specialist of Carl Jaspers and the German existentialism. Umberto Eco immediately demonstrated a great intellectual eclecticism. His work focused both on medieval scholasticism and the Avant-garde art or even the mass culture. For each of these themes, he devoted several books that became well recognized. His academic career began in 1961: he taught at Turin, Milan and Florence. His Eclecticism prevented him to remain confined to the academic community. He collaborated with the L'Espresso magazine since its foundation in 1955 and worked since 1959 with the editor Bompiari. Subsequently, he worked for many newspapers: Il Giorno, La Stampa, Il Corriere della Sera, la Repubblica or Il Manifesto. His attraction towards the media pushed him to work for the cultural department of the Italian television for a while.
In the domain of Sciences, he imposed himself through the publication of The struttura assente as a precursor of semiotics in 1968. In 1971, he founded the journal of Versus. Quaderni di Studi Semiotici. His treaty on general semiotics (Trattato semiotica di generale) provided a major theoretical synthesis in 1975 in the analysis of signs. That year, he held the chair of semiotics at the University of Bologna. He received numerous invitations to the biggest European and American universities. His work is gradually moving towards the development of a theory of narration and literature. He devoted himself particularly to the study of the reception in Lector in Fabula published in 1979, which became a reference book. He continued and expanded this theme through the publication of numerous tests.
If his work earned him an international scientific recognition, however, his reputation became even wider with the publication of his romantic novel. His novels are most often perceived as a literary echo to his scientific concerns. The author claims an inspiration drawn from the Gruppo 63, literary neo-avant-garde, he was born in Sicily and defended formal experimentation in the story. In fact, Eco's novels are not always easy to access. However, His first novel, Il nome della rosa, published in 1980, was a worldwide success. The survey conducted by the Franciscan monk William of Baskerville in the fourteenth century in a Benedictine monastery, was published in 17 million copies and read in 47 languages . In 1988, the success was also granted to pendolo di Foucault, that presented a satire of the esotericism and conspiracy theory. His other novels, such as L'isola del Giorno prima in 1994, Baudolino in 2000, La misteriosa fiamma della regina Loanain 2008 and Il cimetero di Praga in 2010 are also bestsellers translated into multiple languages.
Member of the prestigious Academy of Lincei in Italy, doctor honoris causa of 38 universities around the world, Umberto Eco has developed a glorious piece of work that made him one of the greater intellectuals of the second century.
Bibliography :
Franco Forchetti, Il segno e la rosa. I segreti della narrativa di Umberto Eco, Rome, Castelvecchi, 2005
Anna Maria Lorusso, Umberto Eco. Temi, problemi e percorsi semiotici, Rome, Carocci, 2008
Sandro Montalto (a cura di), Umberto Eco: l'uomo che sapeva troppo, Pisa, ETS, 2007
