Umberto Eco

(Newser) - Umberto Eco started working on a novel that set the world's imagination on fire "prodded by a seminal idea: I felt like poisoning a monk." The Italian author and academic who intrigued, puzzled, and delighted readers worldwide with his best-selling historical novel The Name of the Rose...

(Newser) - In a self-referential moment, the New York Times interviews its own reporter, Ian Fisher, about the nationwide soul-searching set off in Italy by Fisher's Dec. 13 article that depicts Italians as wallowing in a collective funk. Fisher's description of a dispirited national mood has prompted an impassioned response from all...