The Limits of Interpretation - Paperback

by Umberto Eco (Author)

"Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes. . . . Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book." --George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books

" . . . a wealth of insight and instruction." --J. O. Tate, National Review

"If anyone can make [semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco. . . . Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards." --The New York Times

"The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters." --Times Literary Supplement

"It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists." --Diacritics

Umberto Eco focuses here on what he once called "the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation"--that is, the belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.

Back Jacket

This important book by a major international intellectual figure begins with four theoretical essays dealing with various aspects of interpretive theory. In this collection of essays, the author focuses on what he calls the limits of interpretation, or, as once noted in another context, 'the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation.' He states clearly at the outset his belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.