Sad news this morning, as world-renowned Italian writer Umberto Eco dies at the age of 84.
The author was best known for his novel The name of the rose, published in 1980 and later filmed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, featuring Sean Connery in the lead role of Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, and a very young Christian Slater as his apprentice Adso de Melk.
Umberto Eco was virtually unknown outside Italian university circles until the publication of that book, his first. He was 48 at the time. The name of the rose’s unusual mix of murder mystery, scholar eruditeness, and religious themes won Eco international acclaim virtually overnight.
He would go on to publish several more novels, Foucault’s Pendulum and Numero Zero among them, with varied success.
Eco died peacefully at his home in Italy on Friday evening.