March 21, 2016: Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco, who died on February 19, 2016 at the age of 84, was one of the world’s leading semiologists, studying the relationship of signs and symbols to meaning and language. He was also a well-known and well respected novelist. The Name of the Rose, a detective novel set in the middle ages, became a surprise best-seller, On June 15, 2005, Richard Wolinsky sat down with Umberto Eco in the KPFA studios while the Italian writer was on tour for his latest novel, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. It would be the last time Umberto Eco reached the West Coast to speak about his work.