Umberto Eco
The exhibition, devoted to the 80th anniversary of the birth of Italian writer, Doctor of Philosophy, professor of semiotics of University of Bologna, honorable professor over 40 world universities Umberto Eco (1932). The exposition contains about 70 documents including novels, scientific and popular scientific works, essays, publicisms, and also works closely related to his creativity.
The main part of a book exposition "The Labyrinth of the Universe" is devoted to his debut work which made stunning success in author’s country and at one it became popular even abroad. The novel "The Name of the Rose"(1980) was a worldwide sensation in literature.
The novel tells about series events of mystery murders in a Benedictine monastery in the 14th century. The key symbols of this work are a library, manuscript and labyrinth which resemble the creativity of Argentina writer H.L. Borhesa. Umberto Eco respected this man whose works influenced on his owncreativity. This book was translated into many foreign languages. In 1981 the novel got the Strega Prize (the most prestigious Italian literary award) and the Prix Médicis(a French literary award) in 1982.
"The Name of the Rose" was made into a film in 1986 by talanted French film director Jean-Jacques Annaud who truly expressed the atmosphere of the Middle Ages. Sean Connery played the key role. In 1987 the film received a prestigious César Award.
On display this novel is presented by a number of editions beginning with an English-speaking variant of 1983 up to various editions in Russian, author’s notes to the novel, magazine publications of its fragments, literary articles and reviews to the best-seller. It is necessary to pay special attention to its editions by publishing houses "Knizhnaya Palata" (Book Chamber) in 1989 and "Symposium" in 1997 which in addition to the basic text and a glossary contain "Marginal notes of «the Name of the Rose »" U. Eco and the article of known Russian philosopher Y. Lotman "Vykhod iz labirinta" (Exit from a Labyrinth).
Umberto Eco’s second novel "Foucault’s Pendulum" is a conceptual "ringer" of the noticed novel, in spite of the fact that the action in a new work occurs in the 20th century. The novel "Foucault’s Pendulum" (Il pendolo di Foucault, 1988) is represented at the exhibition by Russian-speaking volumes of publishing houses "Symposium" (1998, 2005; translation by E.Kostyukovich), "ФІТА" (1995) and by French and English translations. Selection of reviews can be interesting because it includes a novel from Italian mass-media whichhave beenpublished in the magazine "Inostrannaya literature" (Foreign literature) and made by Elena Kostyukovich who is recognized to be the best translator of U. Eco’s works. Thoughtful reasonings of outstanding Russian scientist George Knabe about "The Pendulum..." are presented in his "Selected works" (Moscow, 2006).
U. Eco’s following postmodernist novel "The Island of the Day Before" (L’isola del giorno prima, 1994) is a next game with difficult and deep linguistic plot, contrived by the novelist. The work is represented by editions in Russian and English languages.
The novel "Baudolino" (Baudolino, 2000), which historical background contains crusades, a legend about the Christian Empire in the East, legends about Graal searches, was doomed to success. The novel is translated into many languages. The exposition includes the book in Russian of the publishing house "Symposium".
Umberto Eco as a researcher and publicist is represented at the exhibition by his well-known works "The Open work", "The Absent Structure. A Theory of Semiotics", "The Search for the Perfect Language", "Vertigo: the circulation of images, concepts, objects", "History of Beauty", "Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages", "The Middle Ages of James Joyce, The Aesthetics of Chaosmos", "Belief or Nonbelief?: A Dialogue", "Bustina Di Minerva", and etc. A. Usmanova’s monographie "Umberto Eco: paradoxes of interpretation" is devoted to his scientific creativity as a writer and a scientist.
