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bookishlybeauty's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.25
You can definitely tell he is extremely knowledgeable about literature however I’m not sure if it’s the translation or just how he writes but there were times that he seemed to have a “holier then thou” attitude and was almost talking down/condescendingly to the reader- which is not a fun experience.
terrimpin's review against another edition
3.0
I found a few of the essays irrelevant to my tastes, but for the most part I enjoyed these essays. Wilde: Paradox and Aphorism, On Style, and How I Write were my favorites. I may return to these in the future once I've read more of the texts that are referenced.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
3.0
Umberto Eco has been an author whose works I have been trying to finish albeit unsuccessfully for quite some time now. I have tried twice to finish 'Name of the rose' but gave up half way in the process for want of a better reason. Foucault's Pendulum was no better either. The books seemed to mock me ' you need to read much better than this to get to us, boyo !!' was what they seemed to tell me. Every time at the library I pause at the rack on Eco's books and think "Should I ? or Should I not ? " but this time I picked up this set of essays and it paid off in a way of its own.
Reading this book was like getting to a Labyrinthine library of some volumes which I had not even heard of before. Once in the library Eco sets a brisk pace and walking along you see spines of books that bring vague but interesting recollections to the mind. Eco talks at length of James Joyce, the aphorisms of Oscar Wilde, the influence of Borges in his works and so forth. Language and literature becomes a test sample to him which he slices and dices with relish. The parts on symbolism i skipped for i was never much a taker for it. But the most interesting part to me was the final essay on Eco himself and his writing style as a whole, pretty interesting considering the otherwise serious topics he chooses for the rest of the book.
Recommending the book would be a dicey affair...if you are not in the right mood for some really in depth critical reading on literature this would bore you out of your skull...as it did to me on some days ...
Reading this book was like getting to a Labyrinthine library of some volumes which I had not even heard of before. Once in the library Eco sets a brisk pace and walking along you see spines of books that bring vague but interesting recollections to the mind. Eco talks at length of James Joyce, the aphorisms of Oscar Wilde, the influence of Borges in his works and so forth. Language and literature becomes a test sample to him which he slices and dices with relish. The parts on symbolism i skipped for i was never much a taker for it. But the most interesting part to me was the final essay on Eco himself and his writing style as a whole, pretty interesting considering the otherwise serious topics he chooses for the rest of the book.
Recommending the book would be a dicey affair...if you are not in the right mood for some really in depth critical reading on literature this would bore you out of your skull...as it did to me on some days ...
mlindner's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this collection of essays and I would have given it 5 stars except for just not knowing what he was talking about on occasion. That is not really his fault, of course, but is due to my own lack of education/experience.
Some of my favorite essays were "On Some Functions of Literature," "Borges and My Anxiety of Influence," "On Symbolism," "Intertextual Irony and Levels of Reading," "The Power of Falsehood" and "How I Write." Many of the others were also quite excellent.
The depth and breadth of Eco's erudition is simply amazing.
Some of my favorite essays were "On Some Functions of Literature," "Borges and My Anxiety of Influence," "On Symbolism," "Intertextual Irony and Levels of Reading," "The Power of Falsehood" and "How I Write." Many of the others were also quite excellent.
The depth and breadth of Eco's erudition is simply amazing.
chloehamburn's review against another edition
3.0
Hmm, my first foray into the mind of Umberto Eco and I didn't love this like I thought I would. He's unbelievably intelligent and cultured (I swear my brain grew new synapses with every page) but also hard to follow. I found a glaring lack of references to women in history and women in literature. Every single author or figure of importance to Eco is a man, which is disappointing and narrow-minded, despite the man's genius. I interpreted his lack of reference as a dismissive attitude toward the contributions of women which I find infuriating, but because this is a book of randomly compiled essays, it's unclear whether the lack of women is endemic to his work or just a coincidence.
I completely plan on reading more of him, especially The Name of the Rose, and I also want to return to one essay I left unread about Gérard de Nerval, because I want to read the novella Sylvie first. For now, though, this anthology is marked as read.
I completely plan on reading more of him, especially The Name of the Rose, and I also want to return to one essay I left unread about Gérard de Nerval, because I want to read the novella Sylvie first. For now, though, this anthology is marked as read.
iluxan's review against another edition
4.0
"On Literature" opened my eyes to the horizons of literary criticism. (Caveat: I knew nothing about lit-crit then, and still know next to nothing about it now.)
Eco combines several essays - each focused on one book (most of which I still haven't read) and on a particularly striking aspect of this book.
Reading "On Literature", you are led into the dark and imposing forest of literature and suddenly realize that it's not as tangled and incomprehensible as you imagined.
One of the essays explores the power of space and movement in a narrative. I did not realize that a skilled writer can use the word almost as a movie camera - moving it in space, zooming in or zooming out, changing the angle and the way the situation is presented. It was rather eye-opening for me.
Another very memorable essay exposes the sleight of hand that another writer uses to seemlessly move the narrative back and forth through time in a story. A very trivial thing, but picking it apart and seeing how it's done was an amazing learning experience for me.
In case you can't tell, I heartily recommend this book to any lit-crit virgins.
Eco combines several essays - each focused on one book (most of which I still haven't read) and on a particularly striking aspect of this book.
Reading "On Literature", you are led into the dark and imposing forest of literature and suddenly realize that it's not as tangled and incomprehensible as you imagined.
One of the essays explores the power of space and movement in a narrative. I did not realize that a skilled writer can use the word almost as a movie camera - moving it in space, zooming in or zooming out, changing the angle and the way the situation is presented. It was rather eye-opening for me.
Another very memorable essay exposes the sleight of hand that another writer uses to seemlessly move the narrative back and forth through time in a story. A very trivial thing, but picking it apart and seeing how it's done was an amazing learning experience for me.
In case you can't tell, I heartily recommend this book to any lit-crit virgins.
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