Semiotics“The good of a book lies in it being read. A Book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in turn speak of things.”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose Online Resources"Encyclopedia of Semiotics" Edited by Paul Bouissac
Reference text of terms and concepts involved in the study of the field. "Signs in Use: An Introduction to Semiotics" by Jørgen Dines Johansen and Svend Erik Larsen Introductory text with general information and history on the subject. Print resources"Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics" by Thomas A. Sebeok
Introductory textbook to the field. "Visible signs: an introduction to semiotics in the visual arts" by David Crow Introductory text with a focus on relation to images and the arts. |
Postmodernism“The order that our mind imagines is like a net, or like a ladder, built to attain something. But afterward you must throw the ladder away, because you discover that, even if it was useful, it was meaningless.”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose Resources"Littered with meaning: the problem of sign pollution in postmodern, post-structuralist and ecocritical thought" by Will Slocombe
A critical essay on the issue of postmodernism as it relates to discussion on semiotics and the muddying of literary allusion and exposition. "Defining Literary Postmodernism for the Twenty-First Century" by Matthias Stephan |
Within the novel, these concepts are most obviously represented by a building which also acts as a sort of central character: the Aedificium, or "edifice". The Aedificium is the abbey's famed library, which scholars come to visit but cannot directly access- the ideas within are considered dangerous and precious knowledge and are guarded by the fact that the building itself is a labyrinth, which can only be navigated with closely guarded knowledge of its secrets. Only one monk at any one time has this knowledge, to which the book's title alludes.
“A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements and clumsy hands. so the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
“A book is a fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, it fears rodents, the elements and clumsy hands. so the librarian protects the books not only against mankind but also against nature and devotes his life to this war with the forces of oblivion.”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose