The Limits of Interpretation

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. This important book by a major international intellectual figure begins with four theoretical essays dealing with various aspects of interpretive theory. Subsequent essays apply his theoretical approach to various types of material. Readers of Eco's other work will find here all the ingredients with which they have become familiar: vast learning, an agile and exciting mind, seriousness mixed with down-to-earth playfulness and good humor, and a brilliance of insight and association found in few other scholars.