The Open Work
by Umberto Eco
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More than twenty years after its original appearance in Italian, The Open Work remains significant for its powerful concept of "openness"--the artist's decision to leave arrangements of some constituents of a work to the public or to chance--and for its striking anticipation of two major themes of contemporary literary theory: the element of multiplicity and plurality in art, and the insistence on literary response as an interactive process between reader and text. The questions Umberto Eco show more raises, and the answers he suggests, are intertwined in the continuing debate on literature, art, and culture in general. This entirely new edition, edited for the English-language audience with the approval of Eco himself, includes an authoritative introduction by David Robey that explores Eco's thought at the period of The Open Work, prior to his absorption in semiotics. The book now contains key essays on Eco's mentor Luigi Pareyson, on television and mass culture, and on the politics of art. Harvard University Press will publish separately and simultaneously the extended study of James Joyce that was originally part of The Open Work, entitled The Aesthetics of Chaosmos: The Middle Ages of James Joyce. The Open Work explores a set of issues in aesthetics that remain central to critical theory, and does so in a characteristically vivid style. Eco's convincing manner of presenting ideas and his instinct for the lively example are threaded compellingly throughout. This book is at once a major treatise in modern aesthetics and an excellent introduction to Eco's thought. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
First an admission: semiotics is one of those subjects I have to bootstrap my way into each time I try to read a book about it, then it all quickly goes out of my mind. I guess I should look for Semiotics for Dummies.
This book was a challenge to read, but worth it for the insights. Enjoyed his discussion of kitsch, and I found interesting his view that the production of a work is part of the work of art, as is the varied reception that the work receives after it is circulated (exhibited, published, etc.). Glad I stuck with it.
This book was a challenge to read, but worth it for the insights. Enjoyed his discussion of kitsch, and I found interesting his view that the production of a work is part of the work of art, as is the varied reception that the work receives after it is circulated (exhibited, published, etc.). Glad I stuck with it.
I can measure the time that I've been a fan of Umberto Eco in decades. I believe I own most all of his books. But I'd not yet read The Open Work, perhaps because I thought I knew what it was about--that the meaning of a text is in large part in the mind of the reader. "Every work of art, even though it is produced by following an explicit or implicit poetics of necessity, is effectively open to a virtually unlimited range of possible readings, each of which causes the work to acquire new vitality in terms of one particular taste, or perspective, or personal performance (21; italics as in text). Later, in both Interpretation and overinterpretation and The Limits of Interpretation, Eco realized that there are limits to that unlimited show more range of possible meanings. Stanley Fish can be said to have struck a definitive, logical middle ground with his Is There A Text In This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities.
This is not easy reading, but highly recommended for those interested in the development of 20th century literary criticism. show less
This is not easy reading, but highly recommended for those interested in the development of 20th century literary criticism. show less
Enfoque revolucionário e atual dos problemas da estética, da teoria da informação, da linguagem, é este livro uma leitura obrigatória para todo aquele que de algum modo se ocupa do teatro, da literatura, da critica, da publicidade, do industrial design e das artes plásticas
Jun 29, 2021Portuguese (Portugal)
Librería 5. Estante 4.
Dec 4, 2019Spanish
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504+ Works 115,299 Members
Umberto Eco was born in Alessandria, Italy on January 5, 1932. He received a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Turin in 1954. His first book, Il Problema Estetico in San Tommaso, was an extension of his doctoral thesis on St. Thomas Aquinas and was published in 1956. His first novel, The Name of the Rose, was published in 1980 and won show more the Premio Strega and the Premio Anghiar awards in 1981. In 1986, it was adapted into a movie starring Sean Connery. His other works include Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, Baudolino, The Prague Cemetery, and Numero Zero. He also wrote children's books and more than 20 nonfiction books including Serendipities: Language and Lunacy. He taught philosophy and then semiotics at the University of Bologna. He also wrote weekly columns on popular culture and politics for L'Espresso. He died from cancer on February 19, 2016 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Opera aperta
- Original publication date
- 1962
- Original language
- Italian
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- 571
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- Reviews
- 4
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- (3.86)
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- 12 — Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 39
- ASINs
- 9
