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Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works
a critical list with discussions
Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by
Umberto Eco
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Standard Disclaimer:
This is a brief discussion of Umberto Eco and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Umberto Eco This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Eco: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn't think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what's what.) I don't pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Eco tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Eco worthy; in sum, to help you rank Eco (and the works by Eco listed here) on your personal literary "to do" list. |
A Few Words About Umberto Eco
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the "Other Resources" section below will lead you to some information about the "Notable Books" listed farther down this page.
Other Umberto Eco Resources
Umberto Eco Resources on the Web
Eco being a darling of mainstream lit-crit, there is a plethora of resource material on him, but you can find an awful lot of what is utile at just two web sites. The first is Eco's "official" web site, Umberto Eco; but a probably even richer resource is the Eco site called Porta Ludovica (a sub-site of The Modern Word). Moreover they between them present quite a few links to further Eco resources: check the lists at Eco's Eco Links page, and Umberto Eco Pages & Links at Porto Ludovica. (But be aware that not a few of all those links are now dead, while others are of only marginal utility to any critical evaluation.)
A few other focussed and useful Eco resources include--of course--the ever-useful Author's Calendar Umberto Eco page, and the article "A Resounding Eco" at Time; and eNotes has several quite useful pages related to Umberto Eco criticism.
There is, of course, a ton more material, including interviews, one-off reviews of particular books (Porto Ludovico has within it a highly useful tabulation of Selected Reviews of Eco texts), and even essays and articles by Eco himself. But somehow, though Eco certainly has produced a real oeuvre, the marvels of modernity have very nearly reduced him to being someone, as the wondeful line goes, "famous for being famous", and much of the material is more about Eco than about the works. Anyway, as always, to dig beyond what is descibed above, Google Is Your Friend.
Umberto Eco Resources in Print
Here again, the heavy lifting has already been done--see Books and special issues of journals at Eco's site, and Eco Criticism: Books at Porto Ludovico.
Notable Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by Umberto Eco **
(For more possible titles by this author, see the "Unrated Books by Rated Authors" page.)You loaded this page on Tuesday, 7 October 2008, at 08:37 GMT
it was last modified on Monday, 8 September 2008, at 00:47 GMT
