Travels in HyperrealityA "scintillating collection" of essays on Disneyland, medieval times, and much more, from the author of Foucault's Pendulum (Los Angeles Times). Collected here are some of Umberto Eco's finest popular essays, recording the incisive and surprisingly entertaining observations of his restless intellectual mind. As the author puts it in the preface to the second edition: "In these pages, I try to interpret and to help others interpret some 'signs.' These signs are not only words, or images; they can also be forms of social behavior, political acts, artificial landscapes." From Disneyland to holography and wax museums, Eco explores America's obsession with artificial reality, suggesting that the craft of forgery has in certain cases exceeded reality itself. He examines Western culture's enduring fascination with the middle ages, proposing that our most pressing modern concerns began in that time. He delves into an array of topics, from sports to media to what he calls the crisis of reason. Throughout these travels—both physical and mental—Eco displays the same wit, learning, and lively intelligence that delighted readers of The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Translated by William Weaver |
Contents
| 59 | |
| 87 | |
4 Reports from the Global Village | 133 |
5 Reading Things | 181 |
6 De Consolatione Philosophiae | 219 |
7 De Interpretatione | 279 |
8 A Theory of Expositions | 289 |
Back Matter | 309 |
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Common terms and phrases
addressee aesthetic already American Antonioni architecture Aristotle audience become Candomble Casablanca castle century chatter Chinese comic communication copies crisis cult culture Disneyland display European everything example exist exposition fact fake feel film force Fortress of Solitude function Getty given language happens Hearst Castle human hyperrealistic hyperreality idea ideology invention Italian kitsch live look Madonna Inn Magic mass media McLuhan means medieval medium ment Middle Ages modus ponens movie multinationals mystical nature notion objects Orixa Oxossi pai-de-santo past pavilion perhaps phatic philosophy play political precisely problem production reality reason reconstruction Red Brigades relationship reproduction Rick rule Sedlmayr seems semiotics sense situation social society speak sport story Superman symbolic talk tell thing Thomas Thomism tion tragic Umbanda understand universe various visitor wax museums words