The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts - Paperback

by Umberto Eco (Author)

" . . . 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.

Back Jacket

In this collection of nine essays, Umberto Eco sets forth a dialectic between 'open' and 'closed' texts, between a work of art that actively involves the 'addressee' in its production and one that holds the 'addressee' at bay and seeks to evoke a limited and predetermined response. He investigates the contributions of contemporary semantics to the study of narrative, and connects the modalities of textual interpretation with the problem of possible worlds.