Da James Joyce a John Assurbanipal Smith. La (de)legittimazione del comico Nell’opera di umberto eco

Abstract

This essay explores the role of humour and the treatment of the comic in the works of Umberto Eco, and in charting their evolution – from the earnest beginnings of Opera Aperta to the confident use of wit and parody in the more mature works – it seeks to highlight a contradiction: even as on the one hand he is willing to regard the comic as a legitimate object of critical attention, and
gives it a central thematic role in The Name of the Rose, Eco stops short of fully acknowledging its critical dimension and its potential to subvert traditional cultural hierarchies and roles.