The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay [Hardcover]

Umberto Eco (Author), Alastair McEwen (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2009

Best-selling author and philosopher Umberto Eco is currently resident at the Louvre, and his chosen theme of study is "the vertigo of lists." Reflecting on this enormous trove of human achievements, in his lyrical intellectual style he has embarked on an investigation of the phenomenon of cataloging and collecting. This book, featuring lavish reproductions of artworks from the Louvre and other world-famous collections, is a philosophical and artistic sequel to Eco’s recent acclaimed books, History of Beauty and On Ugliness, books in which he delved into the psychology, philosophy, history, and art of human forms. Eco is a modern-day Diderot, and here he examines the Western mind’s predilection for list-making and the encyclopedic. His central thesis is that in Western culture a passion for accumulation is recurring: lists of saints, catalogues of plants, collections of art. This impulse has recurred through the ages from music to literature to art. Eco refers to this obsession itself as a "giddiness of lists" but shows how in the right hands it can be a "poetics of catalogues." From medieval reliquaries to Andy Warhol’s compulsive collecting, Umberto Eco reflects in his inimitably inspiring way on how such catalogues mirror the spirit of their times.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Eco's short and often pithy chapter introductions, the gorgeous displays of exemplary art, and the generous experts from original texts are a tour de force of curation."
—ForeWord Magazine

"....a very beautifully produced illustrated volume from Rizzoli, and there’s a positively Millerian moment in it."
—National Review

"...a splendidly illustrated monograph, The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay (Rizzoli) ...is, in essence, a tour through art, literature, and music based on the theme of lists, an investigation of the phenomenon of cataloging and collecting. Additionally, Eco maintains that the impulse to accumulate, to collect, is a reoccurring passion in Western culture."
—The Morning News

About the Author

Umberto Eco, semiotician at the University of Bologna, is widely known as one of the finest living authors whose best-selling novels include The Name of the Rose, Foucault’s Pendulum, The Island of the Day Before, and Baudolino.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (November 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847832961
• ISBN-13: 978-0847832965
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > History > Historical Study > History of Ideas
  • #89 in Books > Arts & Photography > Museum Exhibition Catalogs

More About the Author

Umberto Eco (born 5 January 1932) is an Italian novelist, medievalist, semiotician, philosopher, and literary critic.

He is the author of several bestselling novels, The Name of The Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, The Island of The Day Before, and Baudolino. His collections of essays include Five Moral Pieces, Kant and the Platypus, Serendipities, Travels In Hyperreality, and How To Travel With a Salmon and Other Essays.

He has also written academic texts and children's books.


Photography (c) Università Reggio Calabria

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grad school revisited, December 8, 2010

By 

rags of light "RTT" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay (Hardcover)

This book, a birthday present, revived the literature I once knew well and have over the years let slip away. As an essay on the function of listing, it is extraordinary; as an anthology of Western literature it is invaluable, as an art book, it is beautiful, but as a review of what was once known and is now almost forgotten, it is priceless. Anyone who thinks great literature is out of date or corny, or thinks the day of real books is over, should hold this book in his or her hands for an hour. Its "weight," both physical and intellectual, makes a "kindle" seem flimsy and as ephemeral as an eight-track.

33 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eco's Latest Literary Trend, November 19, 2009

By 

Alex Broudy (State College, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay (Hardcover)

In 2007 Bompiani published a similar non-fiction work by Umberto Eco, "Dall'Albero al Labrinto: Studi Storici sul Segno e l'Interpretazione," that investigated the histories of sign and interpretation alongside the history of encyclopedistics. Its aim was to more fully examine organization as a human phenomenon. "The Infinity of Lists," I believe, continues this examination by identifying the nature of lists across time. In short, Eco appears to be following a particular trend with his recent research - one that explores our immense fascination with the organization of content and its many forms.

4.0 out of 5 stars ECCO AT HIS BEST, January 26, 2012

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J. craig - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay (Hardcover)

A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF TRIVIA AND PICTURES TO WANDER THROUGH..THIS IS A GREAT GIFT TO SOMEONE WHO LIKES TO EXPLORE THE FRINGES OF CULTURE..GOOD DENSITY AND A FUN TRIP THROUGH HISTORY..