Umberto Eco

From Philosopedia

Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 - )

Eco, President of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Umanistica at the University of Bologna, was born in the city of Alessandria in the region of Piedmont. His father, Giulio, was an accountant before the government called upon him to serve in three wars. During World War II, Umberto and his mother, Giovanna, moved to a small village in the Piedmontese mountainside. One of thirteen children, he received a Salesian education has made references to the order and its founder in his works and interviews.

His Curriculum Vitae contains a biography of his background, his education, his work as a writer of novels, his academic degrees, his academic and scientific appointments, and his literary awards and decorations.

His family name is supposedly an acronym of ex caelis oblatus (Latin: a gift from the heavens), which was given to his grandfather (a foundling) by a city official.

In September 1962, he married Renate Ramge, a German art teacher with whom he has a son and a daughter. He divides his time between an apartment in Milan and a vacation house near Rimini. He has a 30,000 volume library in the former and a 20,000 volume library in the latter.

An atheist who formerly was a Catholic, he is a laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. Also, he is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has received the French Legion of Honor.

In a filmed interview in German, Eco's views are discussed with Norbert Bischofberger.

(See entry for Legumes).