Umberto Eco – författare

“Explodes with pyrotechnic inventions, literally as well as figuratively. Hold on till the end.”—New York Times

“Whether you're into Sherlock Holmes, Montaillou, Borges, the nouvelle critique, the Rule of St. Benedict, metaphysics, library design, or The Thing from the Crypt, you'll love it. Who can that miss out?”—Sunday Times (London)

Now available in a deluxe fortieth-anniversary paperback edition featuring never-before-seen illustrations by the author, the beloved internationally bestselling historical mystery about a brilliant monk called upon to solve a series of baffling murders in a fourteenth-century Italian abbey.

Italy, 1347. While Brother William of Baskerville is investigating accusations of heresy at a wealthy abbey, his inquiries are disrupted by a series of bizarre deaths. Turning his practiced detective skills to finding the killer, he relies on logic (Aristotle), theology (Thomas Aquinas), empirical insights (Roger Bacon), and his own wry humor and ferocious curiosity. With the aid of his young apprentice, William scours the abbey, from its stables to the labyrinthine library, piecing together evidence, and deciphering cryptic symbols and coded manuscripts to uncover the truth about this place where "the most interesting things happen at night."

First published in 1980, The Name of the Rose became an international sensation, beguiling readers around the world with its mix of history, humor, and intellectual heft. This beautifully designed modern edition, illustrated with exclusive original drawings created by Umberto Eco, will enchant a new generation of readers and entice old fans to fall under its spell once again.

En av världens mest lästa romaner i ny utgåva

Året är 1327, och den engelske franciskanermunken William av Baskerville anländer till ett välbärgat benediktinerkloster i norra Italien tillsammans med sin unge följeslagare, benediktinnovisen Adso av Melk. Officiellt är de där för att förbereda ett känsligt diplomatiskt möte mellan kejsarens sändebud och påvens sändebud från Avignon. Men ett mystiskt dödsfall ställer genast allt på ända. William, som är före detta inkvisitor, blir ombedd av abboten att utreda händelsen i tystnad. Men knappt hinner han börja förrän ytterligare dödsfall uppdagas under fasansfulla omständigheter. Snart inser William att morden är finstilt kopplade till klostrets magnifika men strikt bevakade bibliotek – en av kristenhetens största boksamlingar, utformad som en ogenomtränglig labyrint. Rosens namn publicerades 1980 och är Umberto Ecos debutroman. Med över 50 miljoner sålda exemplar är den en av tidernas mest lästa romaner. Den har tilldelats en rad litterära priser, däribland Premio Strega och Prix Médicis Étranger, och listats som en av 1900-talets bästa romaner. I översättning av Eva Alexanderson.

UMBERTO ECO [1932–2016], född i Piemonte, var en italiensk författare, filosof, historiker, litteraturvetare och medeltidsexpert. Han var professor i semiotik vid universitetet i Bologna samt hedersdoktor vid en rad europeiska universitet. Mest känd är han för den hyllade debutromanen Rosens namn [1980].

Tre förläggare på ett litet förlag i Milano börjar för skojs skull spinna ihop Planen: en allomfattande hemlig historia där tempelriddare, rosenkorsare, kabbala, hermetism och jordens leylinjer binds samman av dolda koder. Med hjälp av datorn Abulafia låter de textfragment tala med varandra – och snabbt uppstår ett mönster så elegant att det blir svårt att inte tro på. När verkliga ockultister får nys om Planen förvandlas intellektuell lek till livsfarligt allvar, med den svängande pendeln i Paris som gåtans mörka mitt. Foucaults pendel är Umberto Eco i full frihet: en erudit thriller och en satir över tolkningens hybris, där bibliotek, marginalanteckningar och hemliga sällskap blev 1900-talets mest mytomspunna stoff. Romanen fortsätter spåret från Rosens namn men vrider blicken mot vår egen tid: hur allt-hänger-ihop-tänkandet kan förvandla kulturhistoria till konspirationsmaskin. Resultatet är en berättelse som både rusar och resonerar – lika njutbar för textdetektiven som för spänningsläsaren.

I översättning av Eva Alexanderson.

UMBERTO ECO [1932–2016] var italiensk romanförfattare, semiotiker och idéhistoriker. Med verk som Rosens namn (1980) och Foucaults pendel (1988) gjorde han biblioteksmyten, gåtläsningen och intertexten till internationell underhållning – utan att kompromissa med intellektet.

Best-selling author Umberto Eco''s latest work unlocks the riddles of history in an exploration of the "linguistics of the lunatic," stories told by scholars, scientists, poets, fanatics, and ordinary people in order to make sense of the world. Exploring the "Force of the False," Eco uncovers layers of mistakes that have shaped human history, such as Columbus''s assumption that the world was much smaller than it is, leading him to seek out a quick route to the East via the West and thus fortuitously "discovering" America. The fictions that grew up around the cults of the Rosicrucians and Knights Templar were the result of a letter from a mysterious "Prester John"—undoubtedly a hoax—that provided fertile ground for a series of delusions and conspiracy theories based on religious, ethnic, and racial prejudices. While some false tales produce new knowledge (like Columbus''s discovery of America) and others create nothing but horror and shame (the Rosicrucian story wound up fueling European anti-Semitism) they are all powerfully persuasive.In a careful unraveling of the fabulous and the false, Eco shows us how serendipities—unanticipated truths—often spring from mistaken ideas. From Leibniz''s belief that the I Ching illustrated the principles of calculus to Marco Polo''s mistaking a rhinoceros for a unicorn, Eco tours the labyrinth of intellectual history, illuminating the ways in which we project the familiar onto the strange.Eco uncovers a rich history of linguistic endeavor—much of it ill-conceived—that sought to "heal the wound of Babel." Through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, and Egyptian were alternately proclaimed as the first language that God gave to Adam, while—in keeping with the colonial climate of the time—the complex language of the Amerindians in Mexico was viewed as crude and diabolical. In closing, Eco considers the erroneous notion of linguistic perfection and shrewdly observes that the dangers we face lie not in the rules we use to interpret other cultures but in our insistence on making these rules absolute.With the startling combination of erudition and wit, bewildering anecdotes and scholarly rigor that are Eco''s hallmarks, Serendipities is sure to entertain and enlighten any reader with a passion for the curious history of languages and ideas.

“An encyclopedic detective story . . . An intellectual triumph.”—Anthony Burgess

“Foucault's Pendulum is Eco's magical mystery tour of the Western mind. . . . With this book, Eco puts himself in the grand and acerbic tradition of Petronius, Rabelais, Swift, and Voltaire.”—Chicago Tribune

“Rich and witty.”—Newsweek

Infused with history and crackling suspense, Umberto Eco’s celebrated international bestseller—a cerebral classic, prescient of our own times, about a literary joke that goes terribly awry, unexpectedly plunging its creators into mortal danger.

A man named Colonel Ardenti tells three cynical book editors that he has discovered a coded message about a centuries-old Knights Templar plan to tap a mystic source of power greater than atomic energy. The editors, bored from tooling with manuscripts on the occult and inspired by the colonel’s outlandish claims, devise a literary prank for their own amusement. Using a computer, into which they enter bits of information on the Knights Templar, Satanic initiation rites, Rosicrucianism, the measurements of the Great Pyramid, and supernatural and occult phenomenon, they create a map indicating a point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located at Foucault's Pendulum in Paris.

The editors are convinced they’ve devised the ultimate literary joke, a game to consume conspiracy theorists, mystical buffs, and everyone else fool enough to play.

But their joke becomes all too terrifyingly real when people begin to disappear mysteriously, beginning with the Colonel. . . .