Harper Lee and Umberto Eco in the same day. It's like when Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same day.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died the same day.
Umberto Eco has died
21–30 of 137 posts
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#22- This story claims it's a hoax: http://en.mediamass.net/people/umberto-eco/deathhoax.html "On Friday (February 19) the author's reps officially confirmed that Umberto Eco is not dead. “He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. He's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet,” they said." - Wikipedia reverted the notice of his death, saying it was a false rumo…
Mediamass is a terrible website. They flood their site with "X dying is a hoax", so they build high pagerank on that phrase, and when someone actually dies, they are first.
So like content farms, only with deaths.
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#23Foucault's Pendulum was maybe the most transformative book I've ever read - it changed how I think about literature (and of course the Knights Templar). Ah well, guess it's time to reread it. :(
It took me four months to get through that thing, what with its weird random digressions. One chapter would be talking about the Knights Templar building treasure-tunnels under France, and suddenly the next chapter would open with a paragraph explaining why a woman's physiology is better suited for playing pinball than a man's.
A compelling read, but I was never quite sure what facts would end up being important to the plot.
(FWIW, the pinball fact was not)
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#24Re: Umberto Eco has died
#25I started reading Numero Zero for the first time a few days ago, and decided to stop, because I had a feeling he might be dying soon. It's the last book of his I have left to read, and I wanted to make sure I had something to read of his after he passed. Sorry I don't have to wait.
RIP -- Mr. Eco. Your books instilled in me the love of reading when no one else could. I will always owe you one.
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#26Foucault's Pendulum was maybe the most transformative book I've ever read - it changed how I think about literature (and of course the Knights Templar). Ah well, guess it's time to reread it. :(
It took me four months to get through that thing, what with its weird random digressions. One chapter would be talking about the Knights Templar building treasure-tunnels under France, and suddenly the next chapter would open with a paragraph explaining why a woman's physiology is better suited for playing pinball than a man's. A compelling read, but I was never quite sure what facts would end up being important to t…
>A compelling read, but I was never quite sure what facts would end up being important to the plot.
The plot is seldom the main point in literature, especially good literature -- it's mostly a vehicle to convey thoughts and observations about life, the universe and everything as opposed to the end goal (as in a (common) detective story or a pulp thriller).
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#27One remarkable thing about The Name of the Rose is that the characters in it don't think and talk like modern people who happen to have been transported into the Middle Ages. They seem to think differently -- about what's possible, what people can expect from life, how you know things, what counts as an argument... Possibly my favorite part: "What you say is very fine, Adso, and I thank you. The order that our mind i…
Umber Eco was one of the greatest scholars of Middle Age's philosophy. It is a great delight for all of us that he decided to share his knowledge in the form of a Novel. I don't think you can find any other writer capable of translating the thinking of ordinary men from Middle Ages into a book like he did.
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#28Foucault's Pendulum was maybe the most transformative book I've ever read - it changed how I think about literature (and of course the Knights Templar). Ah well, guess it's time to reread it. :(
It took me four months to get through that thing, what with its weird random digressions. One chapter would be talking about the Knights Templar building treasure-tunnels under France, and suddenly the next chapter would open with a paragraph explaining why a woman's physiology is better suited for playing pinball than a man's. A compelling read, but I was never quite sure what facts would end up being important to t…
Well, yeah. Foucault's Pendulum is to me what Finnegan's Wake is apparently to many others - certainly not a casual read; more something to pick apart slowly and ponder the subtle mysteries of. But even underneath all the digressions and metaphysics, I still find the core story enjoyable as well.
Plus it's as brilliant a takedown of conspiracy-theory-thinking as ever the world will see.
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
A search engine tells me that Cervantes died on April 22nd and Shakespeare died on the 23rd (1616).
It's even worse than that... According to Wikipedia: "Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582, but England was still using the Julian calendar. Shakespeare's death on 23 April 1616 (Julian) was equivalent to 3 May 1616 (Gregorian). This was 10 days after Cervantes was buried and 11 days after he died."
You gotta admit, that's better than the other way 'round.
Re: Umberto Eco has died
#30- This story claims it's a hoax: http://en.mediamass.net/people/umberto-eco/deathhoax.html "On Friday (February 19) the author's reps officially confirmed that Umberto Eco is not dead. “He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. He's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet,” they said." - Wikipedia reverted the notice of his death, saying it was a false rumo…
Mediamass is a parody site, similar to The Onion but not as funny. If you look on any of their articles, they contain a disclaimer, "UPDATE: This story appears to be false," which links to a page[1] explaining that everything is made up.