“A transposable aphorism is a malaise of the urge to be witty, or in other words, a maxim that is untroubled by the fact that the opposite of what it says is equally true so long as it appears to be funny.”

Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and commentator on political and social life. He is best known in English for his 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, which brought together historical mystery, semiotics, biblical analysis, medieval studies, and literary theory. He later wrote Foucault's Pendulum, published in 1988, a novel that explores the history of occultism and how it is interpreted in the modern age. His work moves across scholarship and fiction, often linking ideas about signs, texts, history, and culture.