"Inventing the Enemy" covers a wide range of topics on which Umberto Eco has written and lectured for the past ten years, from a disquisition on the theme that runs through his most recent novel, "The Prague Cemetery"--every country needs an enemy, and if it doesn't have one, must invent it--to a discussion of ideas that have inspired his earlier novels. Along the way, he takes us on an exploration of lost islands, mythical realms, and the medieval world. Eco also sheds light on the indignant reviews of James Joyce's "Ulysses "by fascist journalists of the 1920s and 1930s, and provides a lively examination of Saint Thomas Aquinas's notions about the soul of an unborn child, censorship, violence, and WikiLeaks. These are essays full of passion, curiosity, and obsessions by one of the world's most esteemed scholars and critically acclaimed, best-selling novelists.
Record details
ISBN:9780547640976
ISBN:0547640978
Physical Description:print xi, 222 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Edition:1st American ed.
Publisher:Boston, MA : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:
Inventing the enemy -- Absolute and relative -- The beauty of the flame -- Treasure hunting -- Fermented delights -- No embryos in paradise -- Hugo, Hľas!: the poetics of excess -- Censorship and silence -- Imaginary astronomies -- Living by proverbs -- I am Edmond Dants̈ -- Ulysses: that's all we needed -- Why the island is never found -- Thoughts on WikiLeaks.
Book
