The final collection from the bestselling author of The Name of the Rose and one of the most influential, and entertaining, intellectuals of the last century--essays full of passion, curiosity, and obsession.

"Underscores the writer's profound erudition, lively wit, and passion for ideas of all shapes and sizes . . . Eco's pleasure in such explorations is obvious and contagious." --Booklist

The essays in Inventing the Enemy cover a wide range of topics on which Eco wrote and lectured, including a disquisition on the theme that runs through his novel The Prague Cemetery--every country needs an enemy, and if it doesn't have one, must invent it; a discussion of ideas that inspired his earlier novels (and in the process he takes us on an exploration of lost islands, mythical realms, and the medieval world); an examination of Saint Thomas Aquinas's notions about the soul of an unborn child; and censorship, violence, and WikiLeaks.

"True wit and wisdom coexist with fierce scholarship inside Umberto Eco, a writer who actually knows a thing or two about being truly human." --Buffalo News

"Thought provoking . . . nuanced . . . the collection amply shows off Eco's sophisticated, agile mind." --Publishers Weekly

Author: Umberto Eco
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harpervia
Published: 09/24/2013
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780544104686

About the Author
UMBERTO ECO is the author of The Prague Cemetery, The Name of the Rose, and numerous collections of essays. Formerly a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, he is now president of the Scuola Superiore de Studi Umanistici in Bologna.