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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
On Literature by Umberto Eco
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 ...