Limits of Interpretation by Umberto Eco

Limits of Interpretation by Umberto Eco

Eco's essays read like letters from a friend, trying to share something he loves with someone he likes. . . . Read this brilliant, enjoyable, and possibly revolutionary book. --George J. Leonard, San Francisco Review of Books

. . . a wealth of insight and instruction. --J. O. Tate, National Review

If anyone can make semiotics] clear, it's Professor Eco. . . . Professor Eco's theme deserves respect; language should be used to communicate more easily without literary border guards. --The New York Times

The limits of interpretation mark the limits of our world. Umberto Eco's new collection of essays touches deftly on such matters. --Times Literary Supplement

It is a careful and challenging collection of essays that broach topics rarely considered with any seriousness by literary theorists. --Diacritics

Umberto Eco focuses here on what he once called the cancer of uncontrolled interpretation--that is, the belief that many interpreters have gone too far in their domination of texts, thereby destroying meaning and the basis for communication.