SIX MEMOS FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM is the text to a series of lectures which became an obsession for Italo Calvino in the last year of his life. Drawing on the works of Lucretius, Ovid, Boccaccio, Falubert, Kundera, Perec and many more, he pinpoints the universal laws and indispensable literary values future generations might cherish -lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity. It is an eloquent and lively 'defence' of literature - a fitting gift for the next millennium.
Roberto Cotroneo schreibt in einem langen Brief an seinen Sohn über die Bücher, die ihn seit seiner Jugend begleiten. Er diskutiert Werke der Weltliteratur und deren Bedeutung, Struktur und Erzählweise. Cotroneo betont die Rolle von Phantasie und Kreativität als essentielle Lebenskräfte und erweitert seinen Brief um den Schreibprozess und dessen emotionale Aspekte.
Het is de laatste week van november 1327 in een welvarende abdij in het noorden van Italië. Broeder William van Baskerville, een geleerde franciscaner monnik uit Engeland, komt als speciaal gezant van de keizer met een delicate diplomatieke opdracht naar Italië. Hij moet een ontmoeting organiseren tussen de van ketterij verdachte franciscanen en afgevaardigden van de paus.
Holography, wax museums, the secret meaning of spectator sports, Superman and
the intellectual effects of over-tight jeans are just a few of the subjects
covered in this collection of witty, entertaining and thought-provoking
delights from Umberto Eco, celebrated author of The Name of the Rose.
Foucault's Pendulum is divided into ten segments represented by the ten Sefiroth. The novel is full of esoteric references to the Kabbalah. The title of the book refers to an actual pendulum designed by the French physicist Léon Foucault to demonstrate the rotation of the earth, which has symbolic significance within the novel. Bored with their work, and after reading too many manuscripts about occult conspiracy theories, three vanity publisher employees (Belbo, Diotallevi and Casaubon) invent their own conspiracy for fun. They call this satirical intellectual game "The Plan," a hoax that connects the medieval Knights Templar with other occult groups from ancient to modern times. This produces a map indicating the geographical point from which all the powers of the earth can be controlled—a point located in Paris, France, at Foucault’s Pendulum. But in a fateful turn the joke becomes all too real. The three become increasingly obsessed with The Plan, and sometimes forget that it's just a game. Worse still, other conspiracy theorists learn about The Plan, and take it seriously. Belbo finds himself the target of a real secret society that believes he possesses the key to the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. Orchestrating these and other diverse characters into his multilayered semioticadventure, Eco has created a superb cerebral entertainment.
Una sottile strategia di paura e mistero avvolge i preparativi del Palio. Ma quale Palio? Quello delle 17 contrade vive presenti nella piazza tra squilli di trombe e volteggiar di bandiere... o quello delle 6 contrade morte che oscuramente, beffardamente continuano a correre e vincere?
