Review: Sugli specchi e altri saggi. Il segno, la rappresentazione, l'illusione, l'immagine

Sugli specchi e altri saggi. Il segno, la rappresentazione, l'illusione, l'immagine by Umberto Eco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this age of online shock-value headlines, conspiracy theories and general lack of critical thinking, it's a breath of fresh air to read essays by Umberto Eco, which provide the opposite.

I must say, however, that while the first essay on mirrors was excellent, some of the others dragged on a bit and were a tad repetitive (which makes sense, being a collection of articles, essays, etc.). I also enjoyed his thoughts on Dumas' Count of Montecristo (I had no idea he had been paid by the word).


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Review: Dire quasi la stessa cosa: Esperienze di traduzione

Dire quasi la stessa cosa: Esperienze di traduzione by Umberto Eco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent collection of essays. Many of these were repeats for me, since they were featured (in English) in "Mouse or Rat". Still, either one of these books should be required reading for any literary translator. 

The arguments about how people who speak different languages view words differently depending on masculine and feminine (Sun is masculine in Italian, Spanish and French, while moon is feminine, but this is the opposite in German, so when Hoffman said The sun invited the moon to dinner, the imagery is very different. Likewise, Ingmar Bergman's death might seem weird to an Italian/Spanish/French speaker, since death is feminine in those languages (and seen as the feminine "sweet death" in ancient literature). Although sometimes this talk veers a bit too much into Sapir-Whorf territory. 

Also interesting is Sol Worth's quote "Pictures can't say ain't". In other words, people can interpret a piece of art to be anything they wish it to be. When Magritte wanted to specify it wasn't a pipe he literally had to write it. 

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Review: Il fascismo eterno

Il fascismo eterno by Umberto Eco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent essay on fascism in all its guises. Particularly handy was the list of 14 points that all Fascist states will have in common (available here: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_fascismo_eterno). 

Now read through that list and see which countries you think they apply to (these days, definitely to Russia, and I can think of a couple others). 

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Review: Non sperate di liberarvi dei libri

Non sperate di liberarvi dei libri by Umberto Eco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent collection of essays regarding books (and movies) by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere. The Italian version seems to have been translated from French. Another reviewer said this is "perfect between-book fodder", and I agree wholeheartedly. 

I enjoyed the section that repeated the argument from Foucault's Pendulum re: all humans being either cretins, fools, morons or lunatics. Although his example for the fool wasn't Murat, but Chateaubriand, saying of Napoleon: "He won all his battles, but aside from this there was nothing that made him a good general". 

Some of my notes:

We always think the new technology is here to stay while the old (books) will die out. But you can simply pick up a book from 1498 and read what it says, depending on the font and the spelling mistakes. But if you have a cassette from 30 years ago, a VHS from 20 years ago, or even a DVD from 10 years ago, you probably can't play it without acquiring the right machinery. 

Reading certain books might not always be worth it, since then you have to have an opinion (and defend it). Someone who reads Shakespeare now will have a very different experience as compared to someone who read it right when it was published. 

Just as Cervantes likely influenced Kafka, so Kafka influences Cervantes, in that people today read one knowing of the other. 

Collecting books is basically "masturbatory" (sic). No one else will share your exact preferences. People might come to admire your art collection. Much less so your collection of books. This is why most collections are then donated once the owner dies. 

We book collectors don't have to worry about thieves. We are protected by their ignorance. 

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Review: Mouse or Rat?: Translation as Negotiation

Mouse or Rat?: Translation as Negotiation by Umberto Eco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this for my translation book club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TranslationBooks/), so here are some discussion points/questions I jotted down for discussion:

I retried his Altavista experiment from Chapter 1:
The works of Shakespeare - Le opere di Shakespeare - Shakespeare's works
Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies - Presidente della Camera dei deputati - President of the Chamber of Deputies
Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce - Studi nella logica di Charles Sanders Peirce - Studien in der Logik von Charles Sanders Peirce - Studies in the logic of Charles Sanders Peirce

Translation and Reference (Chapter 3)
It was very interesting to see how closely he works with his translators, at least in the languages he mentions (English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan). I wonder if it is the same for all languages. It must be so much work to go over all these points with translators in every language.

Chapter 4:
I liked the anecdote about how he disagreed with his English translator (William Weaver), and so Weaver consulted with Eco's wife in order to get a consensus. And she said Eco was wrong!

5: The idea of double-coding, and how much Eco put in his novels, was intriguing. I'm embarrassed to say I caught none of the ones he mentioned from The Island of the Day Before.

6: I confess this was the most intense chapter for me, so I'm not sure how much was over my head. What did you guys think of it?

7: Was I the only one who didn't read Monterroso novel as Eco did? He gives 2 possible scenarios, but neither of them was how I understood it:
"Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavia estaba allì". (When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there).
I understood it to mean that, when the dinosaur woke up, he noticed he was still existing. Did anyone else get that? Would that even make sense in the Spanish version?
Eco said that someone else woke up, and saw that the dinosaur was still there next to him.

8: The discussion on colors reminded me of Guy Deutscher's book "Through the Language Glass", where he discusses how the ancient people didn't seem to have a word for Blue. And in fact, from Eco's discussions it seems like it was an odd color out. I wonder why. I know there's a theory that we have evolved since then to see blue, but apparently that was debunked.

4 stars, but 5 stars if you're a translator because it's pretty much a must-read

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Review: Six Walks in the Fictional Woods

Six Walks in the Fictional Woods by Umberto Eco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Always an immense pleasure to read Eco's essays, or in this case apparently speeches. Originally in English, these 6 essays are an easy read. Highly recommended for anyone interested in narrative, languages, writing, storytelling, or Umberto Eco.

Some of my highlights:
There is no imperfect tense in English
"a flashback seems to make up for something the author has forgotten, whereas the flashforward is a manifestation of narrative impatience"
Poe said "a literary work should be short enough to read at one sitting, for it two sittings be required, the affairs of the world interfere"
Whenever I'm asked what book I would take with me to a desert island, I reply, "The phone book: with all those characters, I could invent an infinite number of stories"
In a work with obscenity, if discourse time coincides with story time, then it is pornography.
(Re: The Three Musketeers): If he is on the street that today we call Servandoni, he must know that he is on the rue des Fossoyeurs, the street on which he lives. So how can he think that it is another street, the one on which Aramis lives?
Casablanca was shot day by day without anyone knowing how the story would end.

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