About literature

This collection of texts by the famous Italian writer and semiotician can be seen as a sequel to his Six Walks in the Fictional Woods. Written occasionally over the past two decades, these essays are aimed at a relatively wide audience and share a common theme: literature and its function. Eco focuses on authors he knows intimately, such as Nerval, Joyce, Borges, Dante and Wilde, but also frequently uses his own work to illustrate and prompt his reflections. He x-rays literature from every possible angle, examining the influence of literary texts on historical events, intertextual irony, the verbal depiction of space, the nature of possible fictional worlds, and the issue of literary models, inspiration and the anxiety of influence. Although written independently and diverse in theme, Eco's texts reveal a clear continuity in his interests. His use of the same literary and non-literary examples in different contexts proves that his reflections on literature draw from a single, enduring and powerful source of inspiration.