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The first essay, "The Force of Falsity," discusses false documents with momentous repercussions, such as the letter of Prester John, which encouraged European explorers and conquerors to seek its supposed author, the Christian ruler of a distant and fantastically wealthy land. In the second essay, Eco considers Dante's relation to the idea of the perfect language. The third essay discusses early misinterpretations of Egyptian, Chinese, and Mexican ideograms. The Jesuit savant Athanasius Kircher, for example, devoted page upon page to mystical interpretations of a hieroglyph that later turned out to represent nothing more profound than the Greek letter lambda. The remaining two essays are devoted to single authors: "The Language of the Austral Land" concerns Gabriel de Foigny's instructive parody of contemporary attempts to devise the perfect language, while "The Linguistics of Joseph de Maistre" endeavors, with indifferent success, to make sense of the counterrevolutionary Savoyard's musings on the nature of language. --Glenn Branch
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In this work, Umberto Eco demonstrates how myths and lunacies can produce historical developments of no small significance. In Eco's words, "even errors can produce interesting side effects". This book shows how: believers in a flat earth helped Columbus accidentally discover America; how the medieval myth of Prester John, the Christian king in Asia, assisted the European drive eastward; and how the myth of the Rosicrucians affected the Masons, leading in turn to the widespread belief in a Jewish masonic plot to dominate the world and other forms of paranoid anti-Semitism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The extraordinary historical consequences of errors and fictional inventions. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780753808788
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780753808788
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. The extraordinary historical consequences of errors and fictional inventions. Seller Inventory # B9780753808788
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. new ed edition. 176 pages. 7.76x5.12x0.47 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0753808781
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Book Description Condition: New. 2002. 01st Edition. Paperback. The extraordinary historical consequences of errors and fictional inventions. Translator(s): Weaver, William. Num Pages: 176 pages, 8Col.ill. BIC Classification: CFB; DSA; JFCX; JFHF. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 195 x 131 x 14. Weight in Grams: 170. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780753808788
Book Description Condition: New. 2002. 01st Edition. Paperback. The extraordinary historical consequences of errors and fictional inventions. Translator(s): Weaver, William. Num Pages: 176 pages, 8Col.ill. BIC Classification: CFB; DSA; JFCX; JFHF. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 195 x 131 x 14. Weight in Grams: 170. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780753808788