Eco’s Chaosmos: From the Middle Ages to Postmodernity

Focusing principally on how Eco’s scholarly background influenced his study of semiotics, the book analyzes The Name of the Rose in relation to William of Ockham’s epistemology, C.S. Peirce’s work on abduction, and Wittgenstein’s theory of language. It discusses Foucault’s Pendulum as an explicit comment on the modern debate on interpretation through a direct reference to Early Modern hermetic thought, investigates The Island of the Day Before as a postmodern mixture of science and superstition, and reviews Baudolino as a historical/fantastic novel that once again situates the Middle Ages in a postmodern context.