# Sad News: Umberto Eco died
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 20, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597 "2016-02-20T01:34:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/1 "2016-02-20T01:34:31Z")
[According to the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35620368)
I will always remember him as the writer of the adult version of the “Da Vinci Code” (aka Foucault’s Pendulum)
May he rest in peace.
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### Author:  [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/2 "2016-02-20T01:42:12Z")
He also wrote “In the Name of The Rose” which was an amazing book that was turned into a lousy movie (IMHO). Even though it starred Sean Connery!
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/3 "2016-02-20T01:53:41Z")
Looks like I was nine minutes ahead of you [with my thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=784610).
Maybe a Mod could merge the two?
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/4 "2016-02-20T01:53:46Z")
Damn. I took his class on semiotics at Yale back in the late '70s. Wonderful professor. And I loved the hell out of _Name of the Rose_ when it came out a few years later.
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### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/5 "2016-02-20T01:54:01Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#):
>
> [According to the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35620368)
> I will always remember him as the writer of the adult version of the “Da Vinci Code” (aka Foucault’s Pendulum)
That is a f\*kking strange novel. But I liked the first half or so…
(Haven’t read it since I was 25 or so. Maybe it’s time to read it again!)
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/6 "2016-02-20T01:55:38Z")
> [@Atomic\_Mama](#):
>
> He also wrote “In the Name of The Rose” which was an amazing book that was turned into a lousy movie (IMHO). Even though it starred Sean Connery!
It wasn’t _that_ bad. I still maintain that the scene where Sean and Christian get separated and lost in the library was the inspiration for the moving stairs in Hogwarts.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/7 "2016-02-20T02:08:40Z")
_Foucault’s Pendulum_ is one of my favorite books. I used to read it on a regular basis. I think it’s time to add it to my Kindle.
I loved Umberto Eco’s writing, and read several of his novels, but eventually they started to wear me out. I see there are a few recent ones that I haven’t looked at; I may seek them out.
Thanks for always making me think.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/8 "2016-02-20T02:20:59Z")
He is a very hard novelist to read, but he’s worth it. I should probably reread him now but I have Wikipedia; when I first read _Foucault’s Pendulum_ I had to keep running to reference books at the library, that ugh if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have learned what En Sof was or so many other great esoteric things.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/9 "2016-02-20T02:28:42Z")
He was one of the answers in Eugene Sheffer’s crossword puzzle today.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/10 "2016-02-20T02:45:16Z")
God fucking dammit! This year has been the _worst_!
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/11 "2016-02-20T06:21:45Z")
“Stop him! He’s eating Aristotle!”
R.I.P., Signor Eco.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/12 "2016-02-20T07:56:05Z")
He will be missed. I loved _The Name of The Rose_, even though it required my to read it with my Latin textbook always on hand.
Although I must admit, I keep getting him mixed up with Calvino in my head…
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### Author:  [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/13 "2016-02-20T10:13:11Z")
Very sad news, The Name of The Rose is still one of my all time favorite books I even quite like the film if I’m honest. His books of essays such as Mouse or Rat? and Serendipities are well worth a read too.
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### Author:  [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/14 "2016-02-20T11:48:26Z")
Very sad.
I asked for, and got, a hardback of **The Name of the Rose** for Christmas back in 1986 the year it came out in English and loved it. (I had admired it in the shops for weeks!) Bought _Foucault’s Pendulum_ the day it came out… That one took me a bit longer to get into!
When I heard of his death late last night I went looking fo my copy of _How to Travel with a Salmon_ but I’ve been rearranging things and couldn’t find it. Made do with reading a couple of the shorter essays from _Travels in Hyper-Reality_.
Back in November I read his latest book - maybe his final one, I suppose - _Numero Zero_ - and enjoyed it a lot. It was much slimmer than his early novels and almost seemed to be poking fun at the giant conspiracies in them.
I don’t know if I’ve got time to read anything substantial by him right now but I hope I can. He deserves it.
R.I.P. Signor Eco.
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/15 "2016-02-20T18:09:32Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> _Foucault’s Pendulum_ is one of my favorite books. I used to read it on a regular basis. I think it’s time to add it to my Kindle.
>
> I loved Umberto Eco’s writing, and read several of his novels, but eventually they started to wear me out. I see there are a few recent ones that I haven’t looked at; I may seek them out.
>
> Thanks for always making me think.
Mine, too. It hugely influenced the way I think about the world. Lia’s explanation of archetypes arising from the human body (and mind) made such obvious sense to me. And whenever I heard some grand conspiracy theory, I think “Yeah, and Col. Ardenti’s Great Templar World Domination Plan turned out to be a to-do list.”
_Foucault’s Pendulum_ is why I am now a skeptical secular humanist. _Molto grazie_ and _requiescat in pacem_, Professor Eco.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/16 "2016-02-20T23:09:52Z")
Damn it, I just finally finished \*The Prague Cemetery \* three days ago and was wondering if he’d be able to write another novel in his lifetime, and now these bad news. I read _The Name Of The Rose_ about thirty years ago and became an instant fan. I’ve read all his novels since then, plus some of his essay collections, and I liked them all though it was never an easy read and I cannot claim that I understood all of it, especially in _Foucault’s Pendulum_. But I like his style of cross-references, allusions, quotations and strange (mis-)directions, it inspires to explore the subjects further. Some of the motives in _Foucault’s Pendulum_ let’s you think of the WWW, especially the concept of hyperlinking, in 1988.
Arrivederci Signore Eco, you were a very wise man.
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### Author:  [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/17 "2016-02-21T20:18:05Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Damn. I took his class on semiotics at Yale back in the late '70s. Wonderful professor. And I loved the hell out of _Name of the Rose_ when it came out a few years later.
So… you knew him “before”?
Even if it had been “after”: I envy you!
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### Author:  [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/18 "2016-02-21T20:23:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> Looks like I was nine minutes ahead of you [with my thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=784610).
>
> Maybe a Mod could merge the two?
Sorry about that. I didn’t see it posted in this forum, so I went ahead and created this thread. Maybe they didn’t merge them because they are in different forums(?) ?
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/19 "2016-02-21T20:42:09Z")
I was very sorry when I heard about this. I enjoyed _Foucault’s Pendulum_ very much and have it and a some of his other novels on my shelves. When I was in library school circa 1990, _The Name of the Rose_ was extremely popular among the students; everybody was reading it and a bunch of us got together one night to watch the movie on VHS.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching an old episode of _Dark Shadows_ where one of the characters drugged another by putting some substance on the pages of a book the other was reading–years before _The Name of the Rose_, but of course it made me think of Eco. I’d even wondered if he’d seen the show. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-umberto-eco-died/746597/20 "2016-02-21T21:35:58Z")
I hadn’t even realized he was still alive.
And I couldn’t get through _Focault’s Pendulum_ (there’s only so much I can tolerate being inside a crazy man’s head), but I loved _The Name of the Rose_.
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