The list, says Eco, “turns up again in the Middle Ages…and especially in the modern and post-modern world a sign that we are subject to the infinity of lists for many diverse reasons.” Their names, their numbers, and their chiefs I sing.Īnd so Homer will, for another 350 verses. What crowded armies, from what climes they bring, To count them all, demands a thousand tongues,ĭaughters of Jove, assist! inspired by you Or milk-white swans in Asius’ watery plains… Not less their number than the embodied cranes, So from the polish’d arms, and brazen shields,Ī gleamy splendour flash’d along the fields. The notion that infinity can continue beyond the frame, says Eco, first appeared in Western literature in Homer’s catalogue of ships, and the way to achieve infinity is to suggest that the list does not end. How can a list-the naming of objects or qualities-engage outside its frame? How can a list be infinite and still be something that fits on a page or a canvas?

According to Eco, literature is at its best when it resonates with context, rather than closing itself down to a single, unalterable meaning. But the list form seems, from a casual glance, outside Eco’s preference toward literary texts that are open and encourage a connection between the reader and society at large. Now, readers of Eco’s novels can hardly help noticing that the man has a predilection for listing. The topic was open to his discretion, and without hesitation, he chose the list. This latest venture is a byproduct of a series of conferences and exhibitions he was asked to organize at the Louvre.

“When The Name of the Rose came out, so difficult and full of Latin quotations…” Still, he is “content.” The book has sold more than fifty million copies. Eco, however, confessed in an interview in 1996 that The Name of the Rose may be a book more unread that read. His best-known novels are The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum. A frequent contributor to the popular press, Eco has written two children’s books, and is a successful novelist and essayist. Umberto Eco is a world renowned medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, literary critic, and currently the president of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Umanistici, University of Bologna.

Umberto eco the infinity of lists