BOOKSHELF: Umberto Eco

 

Ramesh Kumar from Greater Noida

I owe it to Jatin Vakhani of Indian Post who introduced me to this excellent Italian author. In 1988, he suggested that I read The Name of the Rose. I did. Subsequently, I saw the film version too, featuring Sean Connery. It is an excellent book and well done in the movie form.

Subsequently I read several of his books. Including two huge volumes on Beauty and Ugliness. 

Recently I read this interview in The Paris Review.

Here's an interesting passage...

Is comedy a specifically human invention?

Yes, since it seems that animals are bereft of humor. We know that the have a sense of play, they feel sorry, they weep, they suffer. 

we have proof that they are happy, when they are playing with us, but not that they have comic feelings. It is a typical human experience...

I have a suspicion that it is linked with the fact that we are the only animals who know we must die. They other animals don't know it.

They understand it only on the spot, in the moment that they die. They are unable to articulate anything like the statement: all men are mortal. We are able to do it, an that is probably why there are religions, rituals and what have you.