This book provides a philosophical overview of Umberto Eco's historical and cultural
development as a unique internationally recognized public intellectual who communicates his
ideas to both an academic and a popular audience. It describes Eco's intellectual development
from his childhood during World War II and student involvement as a Catholic youth activist and
scholar of the Middle Ages to his early writings on the openness of modern works such as
Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Merrell also explores Eco's pioneering role in semiotics and his later
career as a novelist.
