About this Event
A novelist, semiotician, philosopher, and cultural critic, Umberto Eco (1932-2016) was one of the most influential intellectuals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He is best known for the international bestseller The Name of the Rose and for essays such as Travels in Hyperreality and Ur-Fascism.
Semiotics, conspiracies, fake news, popular culture, and medieval murders: these are only some of the key words that can shed light on Eco’s fiction and non-fiction, which achieved global resonance across fields and borders.
Eco’s work enters into dialogue with world-wide intellectuals and writers such as Anthony Burgess, Italo Calvino, Jacques Lacan, and Susan Sontag. The year 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of his death. Several initiatives, conferences, and publications will celebrate and critically discuss his legacy during this year.
Our event in Manchester will explore how Eco interacted with British literature, thought, media, and intellectual traditions. More broadly, it will focus on the special relation Eco entertained with Britain and British culture.
The keynote address will be delivered by a world-renowned expert in translation studies and literature, Susan Bassnett, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Warwick and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow.
Additional speakers and contributions will be confirmed nearer the date.
The event is FREE and open to all.
If you are interested in taking part in this event, please register via Eventbrite.
Whether you have reading Eco for a while, or are completely new to his work; whether you are passionate about cross-cultural connections between Italy and the UK, or simply interested in one of the numerous fields he worked on -- fiction, semiotics, philosophy, cultural studies -- you are warmly invited to attend this stimulating discussion.
15.00 – 15.10 Opening remarks
15.10-15.30 Introduction: ‘Eco and British culture’ (Andrea Brondino, University of Manchester)
15.30 – 16.10 Video presentation on Foucault’s Pendulum
16.10 – 16.30 Film discussion/Q&A
16.30 – 16.50 Interview with Richard Dixon, British translator of several works by Eco (recorded)
17.00 – 17.40 Susan Bassnett’s keynote speech
17.40– 18.00 Q&A
18.00 Refreshments
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
