Inventing the Enemy

Description

The final collection of essays from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of The Name of the Rose and The Prague Cemetery, on the subjects of art and culture. The final collection of essays from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of The Name of the Rose and The Prague Cemetery, on the subjects of art and culture. In this collection of essays we find Umberto Eco's perennial areas of interest explored in a lively and engaging style, accompanied by beautiful reproductions of the art he discusses. In these wide-ranging pieces he explores the roots of our civilization, changing ideas of beauty, our obsession with conspiracies and the emblematic heroes of the great narrative, amongst other fascinating topics. Umberto Eco was one of the most influential, and entertaining, intellectuals of the last century, as well as being a critically acclaimed and bestselling writer of both fiction and non-fiction.

Umberto Eco (1932-2016) wrote fiction, literary criticism and philosophy. His first novel, The Name of the Rose, was a major international bestseller. His other works include Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, The Prague Cemetery and Numero Zero along with many brilliant collections of essays.

Whether discussing the relationship between our knowledge and God, abortion, stem cells, embryos, the right to life, or reviews of James Joyce's Ulysses by fascist journalists of the 1920s and 1930s, this collection gleams with clarity, depth and wisdom * The Good Book Guide * For the sheer depth and clarity of his learning and wisdom, Eco has no living rival * Harpers Baazar * [A] philosophical football match that encompasses myth, literature and history... Discursive, grandiose, witty stuff from the quintessential savvy professor * Monocle * Eco's greatest virtue might be said to lie in his ability to clarify the exact nature of our present perplexities...lucid, logical and always firmly on the side of civilisation * TLS * Eco's writing has a unique ability to dance on the page and to resonate in the mind * Daily Telegraph *