 |
|
AJ your way: headlines | front page | classic | previous days | rss
ideas
Umberto Eco Considers The Nature Of Lists
The author sees lists as falling into two (very Eco-ist) categories: "those that evidence the 'poetics of 'everything included'' and those that express the 'poetics of the 'etcetera'." The former covers a finite number of items (as with a phone book) and aims for completeness; the latter (as with a medieval writer's list of devils) "is limited only by the imagination's disinclination to invent more." Bookforum Dec/Jan 2010
The author sees lists as falling into two (very Eco-ist) categories: "those that evidence the 'poetics of 'everything included'' and those that express the 'poetics of the 'etcetera'." The former covers a finite number of items (as with a phone book) and aims for completeness; the latter (as with a medieval writer's list of devils) "is limited only by the imagination's disinclination to invent more." Bookforum Dec/Jan 2010
Posted November 18, 2009 10:03 PM
Email to a Friend