Travels in Hyperreality (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

by Umberto Eco (Author) "Two very beautiful naked girls are crouched facing each other..." (more)
Key Phrases: cogito interruptus, absolute fake, intertextual frames, Middle Ages, New York, Red Brigades (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
"This uneven collection reflects the Italian scholar's love of the Middle Ages--one essay compares American universities to monasteries, another focuses on Thomas Aquinas--though, for the most part, Eco relentlessly analyzes the present," reported PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This smorgasbord of 26 pieces ultimately focuses on the boundaries of realism as exemplified by the"hyper reality" of American phenomena like the Madonna Inn, wax museums, San Simeon, theme parks, etc. Though his tone is witty, Eco's purpose remains that of the semiologist. He is concerned about "the systems of signs that we use to describe the world and tell it to one another," and aims both to expose the "messages" of political and economic power and of "the entertainment industry and the revolution industry" and to show us how to analyze and criticize them. Though these essays are generally entertaining, they lack the originality and punch of Barthes's Mythologies and seem unlikely to find the same popular success as Eco's own The Name of the Rose . Richard Kuczkowski, Dir., Continuing Education, Dominican Coll., Blauvelt, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (May 27, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156913216
• ISBN-13: 978-0156913218
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #118,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is ficton/fantasy becoming fact or is fact becoming fiction?, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

With the recent releases of "The Truman Show", "Ed TV" and the like, and Neal Gabler's "Life the Movie" book--and politics in the bedroom and vice-versa, it would not hurt one iota to read and reread semiotician Umberto Eco's "Tales in Hyperreality". Gabler nothwithstanding, there are very few of our thinkers who forcasted that everyday life was fodder for fiction--indeed we use fiction to escape everyday life--and that our fiction should be ultra-real, like The Star Wars/ Star Trek entertainment empires. Eco's background in semiotics perhaps may have made certain passages too heavy-handed for the average joe schmoe like me, but I figure that if I can do it, so can you (underlying what Eco is delineating, anyway, is how we millenium-bound inhabitants in the free capitalist world are so easily bored, and so lazy that we prefer the easy way to exciting entertainment--why, for example, would we go to the hassle of travelling to Washington, DC, to the White House, to see the Oval Office when there's a replica of one somewhere close?). Anyway, I read the book once with difficulty, then I began to get a clearer picture with subsesequent readings. There are hundreds of websites that address the Fantasy is Reality theme, but you know what? This is the work that the current post-modern, post-structuralist theory of the theme has been developed. Many of the websites have that "I am Nostrodamus" feel to them, if you know what I mean. Eco's style, however, is personable and witty, particulary in passages he reminesces about his hometown and some of the old traditions. Also, for those of you who ponder trying to flesh out a Madison Ave. photocopy, read this book. It will have you questioning things for years to come.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does Disney Own The Planet?, January 31, 2003

By	Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) (Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Travels in hyper reality : essays

A deliriously funny trip through the mad places the earth's inhabitants call home. Eco skewers like "kitsch-ka-bob" the artificial pseudo paradises we have created with all our so-called modern conveniences. What have we turned our cities into, by the way? Do we really understand art?

If you've ever driven through rural Arkansas or Texas and wanted to capture with words the seemingly inexplicable, paradoxical sights along the way, it's been done for you and can be enjoyed in these side-splitting pages.

Lots of fun.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eco doing what Eco does best., June 28, 1997

By A Customer

Umberto Eco, profound social critic and novelist, does that voodoo that he does so well once again.

Don't let the title fool you. This is not the science fiction novel one might expect it to be. Rather, this collection of critical essays illucidates the theory underlying everyday life for us all.

Sometimes a touch on the scholarly side, in both language and focus. But I recommend wholeheartedly wading through the drier passages; I trust you'll find it's worth it