The Limits of Interpretation (Advances in Semiotics) - Softcover

Eco, Umberto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253208696 ISBN 13: 9780253208699

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1991

Synopsis

"Eco’s essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes.... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." ―George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books

"... a wealth of insight and instruction." ―J. O. Tate, National Review

"If anyone can make [semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco.... Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards." ―The New York Times

"The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters." ―Times Literary Supplement

"It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists." ―Diacritics

Umberto Eco focuses here on what he once called "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation"―that is, the belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This important book by a major international intellectual figure begins with four theoretical essays dealing with various aspects of interpretive theory. In this collection of essays, the author focuses on what he calls the limits of interpretation, or, as once noted in another context, 'the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation.' He states clearly at the outset his belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.

Review:

"Instead of that tone of constipated envy we associate with criticism, Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes. Try it, you'll like it, it's easy, you can understand it. He doesn't teach, he shares... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book. --George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books "... this book discourses brilliantly on Pirandello, on Joyce, on Borges, and rewards the attention paid to it with a wealth of insight and instruction." --J. O. Tate, National Review "Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes... Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books "If anyone can make [semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco... Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards." The New York Times "The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters." Times Literary Supplement "It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists." Diacritics

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0253208696
• ISBN 13: 9780253208699
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304