“Religion has nothing to do with God. It's a fundamental attitude of human beings, who ask about the origins of life and what happens after death. For many, the answer is a personal god. In my opinion, it's religion that produces God, not the other way round.”

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.