“There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past ("en me retraçant ces détails, j'en suis à me demander s'ils sont réels, ou bien si je les ai rêvés"). As I learned later from the delightful little book of the Abbé de Bucquoy, there are also visions of books as yet unwritten.”

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.