Роль читателя: Исследования по семиотике текста

by Umberto Eco, Умберто Эко, Сергей Серебряный (Перевод)

... not merely interesting and novel, but also exceedingly provocative and heuristically fertile." --The Review of Metaphysics

... essential reading for anyone interesting in... the new reader-centered forms of criticism." --Library Journal

In this erudite and imaginative book, Umberto Eco sets forth a dialectic between 'open' and 'closed' texts.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Semiotics, Linguistics, Literary Criticism, Theory, Criticism

501 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.

Eco wrote prolifically throughout his life, with his output including children's books, translations from French and English, in addition to a twice-monthly newspaper column "La Bustina di Minerva" (Minerva's Matchbook) in the magazine L'Espresso beginning in 1985, with his last column (a critical appraisal of the Romantic paintings of Francesco Hayez) appearing 27 January 2016. At the time of his death, he was an Emeritus professor at the University of Bologna, where he taught for much of his life. In the 21st century, he has continued to gain recognition for his 1995 essay "Ur-Fascism", where Eco lists fourteen general properties he believes comprise fascist ideologies.

Reviews

[Mattia Ravasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bookchemist reads The Role of the Reader.
3.00 pm: I am reading The Role of the Reader by my main man Umberto Eco. I am intelligent.
3.02 pm: eheh that tree is yellow... whopsy! Back to work.
3.15 pm: All of this makes admirable sense.
3.16 pm: Woh, OK, that's an IKEA instruction sheet.
3.17 pm: And just like IKEA stuff, it's in a language I don't speak.
3.22 pm: Interesting topic, let me check the bibliogr- ops, nope, French again.
4.45 pm: OH COME ON THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE.
5.00 pm: Superman, at long last!
5.04 pm: ... Aaan it's as difficult as the others.

The Role of the Reader is an excellent essay on semiotics and the dynamics of reader's interpretation. It is wonderfully clear, until it isn't. I am still not sure whether Superman is bad for me.

[Valentina Vekovishcheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, Umberto Eco does not disappoint. I must admit that I have skipped the chepter about Charles Peirce, but everything else was exciting and felt like an adventure - and generated a new endless readlist for me...

[Bochra · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب ثورة نقدية لا فكاك لكل مهتم بالنقد والأدب من المرور به، إذ يقف بنا ايكو في هذه الدراسة عند المرحلة النقدية الأخيرة من سلّم الترقي التحليلي للنصوص والذي انطلق مع النّظريّات السّياقيّة كالمنهج النّفسي والمنهج التّاريخي، لتهتم المرحلة الثّانيّة بالنّصوص المنغلقة على نفسها وقد مثّلتها النّظريتين: البنيويّة والسّيميائيّة؛ ويصل ايكو إلى المرحلة الثالثة والهامة فيعلن نظريّة القراءة فإذ لم يعد معنى النّص محدّدا من قِبل المؤلّف ولا من قِبل النّص بل من قِبل القارئ، ولم يعد الاهتمام بالمعنى فقط إنّما تعدّى ذلك إلى البحث عن الدّلالة التي يحدّدها القارئ ويساهم في إنتاجها.

[Douglas Gorney]

I gave up on this, finally, and return it to the library after incurring $5.90 in overdue fines.

No reflection on Eco's seminal text; I'm just too busy to clear my mind and spend the many hours it was taking even to get through the 30-page Introduction. The intro felt like it pretty clearly encapsulated his Eco's post-structural approach—and was probably the only part of the book I had the intellectual background, to say nothing of the patience, to make my way through.

Eco's Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, which I found more lively, layman-ish and readable, is kind of a Cliff Notes version of The Role of the Reader. (I think. I mean I got far enough to suspect that, at least.) I found the former so provocative and foundational, or whatever the proper term is for something that provides the foundation ex post facto for everything you've read/learned up that point. Given that, and a few other brushes with critical theory that also pointed me to Eco in recent months, I look forward to returning to this (in a possibly mythical future) when I'm less harried and distracted.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don't know if it's because these concepts are well-aged by now or because it's too similar to things I already knew around semantics and processing, but I found this book difficult to read and unenlightening. I'll stick to his fiction, I guess.

[Bob Shadel]

long winded but very thorough exploration of the various roles of the reader -- how the reader might be able (or not correctly able) to interpret and de-code the writer... the essence of semiotics...

[John F · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could make an atheist religious again. Thank God that no famous author ever read this book. Umberto is one of my favorite persons, but I find a lot of this writing pure drudgery and it really serves no real purposes except to keep a printing plant busy for a while. Semiotics often impresses me like modern alchemy. It's not needed.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess some of the high-flown semiotics went over my head and I have a hard time paying attention when Eco starts using logical notation but this is a thrilling book nevertheless. Chapters on Superman and Bond and the finale in particular are some of the best stuff I’ve read on fiction.

[Siti Nastiti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, definition and exemplary achievement that cannot be ignored.

[Kirill Zheleznov · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you hated literature at school, cause you were supposed to understand what did author wanted to say, then this boos is perfect choice for you.
Written with crystal clear precision it is still fun and cool.

[Macalester Linguistics]

WL 7.0