LFU:online

Learning Outcome: Knowledge of selected philosophical debates of the Middle Ages and their relation to contemporary philosophy; knowledge of literary forms of the Middle Ages and their reception in postmodernity; discussion and reflection of the relationship between literature and philosophy.

Umberto Eco's bestseller "The Name of the Rose" (1980) has sparked interest in the history of philosophy, literature and culture of the Middle Ages like hardly any other book and produced a wealth of secondary literature. Reason enough to take a close look at it again 40 years after its publication.

The work has been classified, among other things, as a thriller, a Gothic novel, a detective novel, a historical novel, a semiotic novel, a postmodern supermarket, a roman à clef and as narrated semiotics. We will enter this labyrinth through some of those manifold entrances. And together we will try to orient ourselves in it.

In this seminar, which oscillates between philosophy and literary studies, the Middle Ages and postmodernism are equally at the centre of our consideration. The following topics can be discussed: theory of signs, forms of references (intertextuality, quotation, allusion, parody), symbolism, (historical) factuality and fiction, narratology, questions of authorship, etc.

Reading and discussion.

Participation and seminar paper.

Umberto Eco. Der Name der Rose. Roman. Hanser 1982.

Please get the current edition from Hanser (hardback) so that we can refer to the same pagination.

Further literature will be announced in the seminar.

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