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Article: ONCE YOU DECIPHER ECO, IT'S WORTH THE EFFORT.(LIFE & LEISURE)
- Article from:
- Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)
- Article date:
- November 5, 1995
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Albany Times Union. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: STEVE COURTNEY
Umberto Eco is a professor who writes novels, and not just a literature or history professor but a professor of semiotics, which needs some explanation in itself. Semiotics involves the analysis of symbols, which is a pretty large field, running the gamut from the forms of written language to the rituals of Brazilian carnival to Wonder Woman comics. Symbols things that stand for other things play a large part in his novels, and ``The Island of the Day Before'' is no exception.
Eco's first novel, ``The Name of the Rose,'' a mystery set in a monastery, was as much a best-seller as anything by John Grisham but caused a lot of ...