On Ugliness

'guaranteed to deliver all kinds of provocative and arcane delights. Like most of Eco's work, it defies ready classification, but is surely the better for that. Highly recommended' Historical Novels Review. * Historical Novels Review *

Umberto Eco's first novel, The Name of the Rose (1982), was a huge bestseller which brought him worldwide acclaim. With his subsequent works of fiction, philosophy, literary criticism and semiotics, he has been recognised as one of Europe's finest thinkers. He is currently President of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Humanistici and the University of Bologna. He is also known for his lavishly illustrated anthologies, On Beauty, On Ugliness, The Infinity of Lists and The Book of Legendary Lands.

Introduction. Ugliness in the Classical World: A World Dominated by Beauty?; The Greek World and Horror. Passion, Death, Martyrdom: The 'Pancalistic' View of the Universe; The Suffering of Christ; Martyrs, Hermits, Penitents; The Triumph of Death. The Apocalypse, Hell and the Devil: A Universe of Horrors; Hell; The Metamorphosis of the Devil. Monsters and Portents: Prodigies and Monsters; An Aesthetic of the Measureless; The Moralisation of Monsters; The Mirabilia; The Destiny of Monsters. The Ugly, the Comic, the Obscene; Priapus; Satires on the Peasantry and Carnival Festivities; The Renaissance and Liberation; Caricature. The Ugliness of Woman Between Antiquity and the Baroque Period: The Anti-female Tradition; Mannerism and the Baroque. The Devil in the Modern World: From Rebellious Satan to Poor Mephistopheles; The Demonisation of the Enemy. Witchcraft, Satanism, Sadism: The Witch; Satanism, Sadism and the Taste for Cruelty. Physica curiosa: Lunar Births and Disembowelled Corpses; Physiognomy. Romanticism and the Redemption of Ugliness: The Philosophies of Ugliness; Ugly and Damned; Ugly and Unhappy; Unhappy and Ill. The Uncanny. Iron Towers and Ivory Towers: Industrial Ugliness; Decadentism and the Licentiousness of the Ugly. The Avant-Garde and the Triumph of Ugliness. The Ugliness of Others, Kitsch and Camp: The Ugliness of Others; Kitsch; Camp. Ugliness Today. Essential Bibliography. Bibliographical References of Translations. Index of Authors and Other Sources. Index of Artists. Credits.