Umberto Eco

Umberto Eco (1932–2016) was a writer, philosopher, columnist and semiotician. After studying law, philosophy and literature, he earned a doctorate in Turin in 1954 and initially worked as a cultural editor. He later taught in Florence and Milan; from 1971, he was professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna. Eco wrote numerous works on cultural studies and literary theory, including The Open Work (1962). He became internationally known for his novel The Name of the Rose (1980). His other novels include Foucault’s Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, The Prague Cemetery and Numero Zero.