Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the Rose, dies aged 84

Feb 20, 2016, 19:14

The Name of The Rose author Umberto Eco has died aged 84.

"Umberto Eco is dead".

Umberto Eco died at 22:30 (21:30 GMT) on Friday at his home, the newspaper said, providing no further details.

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Eco started in journalism in the 1950s, working for Italian state-owned television RAI.

Eco's contribution to Italian literature was lauded by political and cultural figures alike. It was an unlikely blockbuster; a historical mystery set in the 14th-century in which a friar investigates a series of murders at a monastery.

It was adapted for the big screen by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 1986, starring Sean Connery as the detective monk William of Baskerville and Christian Slater as his young assistant, Adso of Melk. And even after he published novels, he said "I am a philosopher..." Themes which have also been explored in newer medieval and fantasy novels such as "A Song Of Ice And Fire" by George R.R. Martin. "When we consider a book we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means", Eco had said once.

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"I am a philosopher; I write novels only on the weekends", Eco told Britain's Guardian newspaper past year.

Eco was born in Alessandria, northern Italy, in 1932. The son of an accountant who wanted him to become a lawyer.

Eco was the recipient of the Premio Strega, Italy's most prestigious literary award, was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government, and is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, according to his publisher.

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"Every author has two dreams. Translation as Negotiation." A year later he wrote a novel, "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana", about an antiquarian book dealer who loses his memory. "I think an author should write what the reader does not expect".