The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts

umberto eco

... not merely interesting and novel, but also exceedingly provocative and heuristically fertile." --The Review of Metaphysics

... essential reading for anyone interesting in... the new reader-centered forms of criticism." --Library Journal

In this erudite and imaginative book, Umberto Eco sets forth a dialectic between 'open' and 'closed' texts.

Genres philosophynonfictionsemioticslinguisticsliterary criticismcriticismtheoryliteratureacademiclit crit

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1979

This edition

Format: 288 pages, Paperback
Published: July 22, 1979 by Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253203182
ASIN: 025320318X
Language: English

About the author

umberto eco

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.
Eco wrote prolifically throughout his life, with his output including children's books, translations from French and English, in addition to a twice-monthly newspaper column "La Bustina di Minerva" (Minerva's Matchbook) in the magazine L'Espresso beginning in 1985, with his last column (a critical appraisal of the Romantic paintings of Francesco Hayez) appearing 27 January 2016. At the time of his death, he was an Emeritus professor at the University of Bologna, where he taught for much of his life. In the 21st century, he has continued to gain recognition for his 1995 essay "Ur-Fascism", where Eco lists fourteen general properties he believes comprise fascist ideologies.