Not really an SF writer, not really a magic realist, nor really a fantasy writer, nonetheless Umberto Eco is the brilliant writer of an awful lot of Insane Shit which numerous members of OUSFG really like. For sheer batshit crazy nothing really beats 'Foucault's Pendulum', which really is not advised reading for those about to sit medieval history papers for finals. It should be noted that his most recent novel, 'Baudolino', does make use of the entire stock of a mythical medieval bestiary, and therefore gets as close to fantasy as any of his books. It's also dead good.
Umberto Eco has been known to lecture in Oxford, but these lectures generally tend to be packed out by goddamn English students. Agreed, tho' I did manage to get his autograph --TL
According to his author biog he learnt all the English he knows from 'Finnegan's Wake' and Marvel Comics. Which really makes me wish I'd made it to those lectures instead of the goddamn English students. Semiotics expressed purely in Irish-accented blasphemy and sound-effects. Powie!
Works by Umberto Eco rated by members of OUSFG, on a five-point scale:
His homepage: http://www.themodernword.com/eco
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