A posthumous collection of essays about the modern world from one of Europe’s greatest, and best-selling, literary figures

Umberto Eco was an international cultural superstar. In this, his last collection, the celebrated essayist and novelist observes the changing world around him with irrepressible curiosity and profound wisdom. He sees with fresh eyes the upheaval in ideological values, the crises in politics, and the unbridled individualism that have become the backdrop of our lives—a “liquid” society in which it’s not easy to find a polestar, though stars and starlets abound.

In these pieces, written for his regular column in L’Espresso magazine, Eco brings his dazzling erudition and keen sense of the everyday to bear on topics such as popular culture and politics, being seen, conspiracies, the old and the young, new technologies, mass media, racism, and good manners. It is a final gift to his reader—astute, witty, and illuminating.

Umberto Eco 翁貝托·埃科（1932-2016）

歐洲重要的公共知識分子、小說傢、符號學傢、美學傢、史學傢、哲學傢。 齣生於意大利亞曆山德裏亞，博洛尼亞大學教授。著有大量小說和隨筆作品，如《玫瑰的名字》《傅科擺》《昨日之島》《波多裏諾》《洛阿娜女王的神秘火焰》《布拉格公墓》《試刊號》和《密涅瓦火柴盒》等。