WRITER

Umberto Eco

1932 - 2016

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Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) 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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Umberto Eco is the 75th most popular writer (down from 65th in 2019), the 94th most popular biography from Italy (down from 59th in 2019) and the 7th most popular Italian Writer.

Umberto Eco is most famous for his novel "The Name of the Rose," which was a bestseller and sold over 20 million copies.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Umberto Eco ranks 75 out of 7,302. Before him are Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Frost, Romain Rolland, and Charles Perrault. After him are Giacomo Casanova, Sappho, Toni Morrison, George R. R. Martin, Lord Byron, and Nikolai Gogol.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1932, Umberto Eco ranks 1. After him are Manmohan Singh, Jacques Chirac, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Sheldon Lee Glashow, Andrei Tarkovsky, Omar Sharif, François Truffaut, Miloš Forman, Johnny Cash, and John Williams. Among people deceased in 2016, Umberto Eco ranks 4. Before him are Muhammad Ali, Fidel Castro, and Johan Cruyff. After him are Bhumibol Adulyadej, John Glenn, Bud Spencer, Shimon Peres, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Debbie Reynolds, and Alan Rickman.

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In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Umberto Eco ranks 94 out of 5,161. Before him are Pope Pius III (1439), Sophia Loren (1934), Florence Nightingale (1820), Luciano Pavarotti (1935), Enrico Fermi (1901), and Pope Benedict XIV (1675). After him are Pope Pius V (1504), Giacomo Casanova (1725), Pope Paul III (1468), Pope Linus (1), Saint Valentine (226), and Amedeo Modigliani (1884).

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Among WRITERS In Italy

Among writers born in Italy, Umberto Eco ranks 7. Before him are Dante Alighieri (1265), Virgil (-70), Ovid (-43), Petrarch (1304), Giovanni Boccaccio (1313), and Horace (-65). After him are Giacomo Casanova (1725), Giorgio Vasari (1511), Cato the Elder (-243), Carlo Collodi (1826), Plautus (-254), and Guillaume Apollinaire (1880).

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