This series delves into a world of witty observations, literary parodies, and whimsical diversions. With a blend of humor and irony, it explores the peculiar aspects of everyday life and artistic endeavors. Each installment offers a collection of short, often absurd pieces that entertain while provoking thought. It's a playful literary experiment, embracing a spirit of lighthearted fun and unexpected insights.
This is a collection of parodies by the author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Professor Anouk Ooma of Prince Joseph's Land University addresses his colleagues on recent archaeological findings that shed light on the poetry of Italy before the Explosion, Columbus' landing in the New World is covered by TV reporters and structural analysis of the art of striptease as performed by Lilly Niagara of the Crazy Horse.
How to Travel with a Salmon is a highly engaging collection of what Umberto Eco calls his diario minimo - minimal diaries - after the magazine column in which he began "pursuing the pathways of parody.". These essays, written in the late eighties and early nineties, are his playful but unfailingly accurate takes on militarism, computer jargon, Westerns, art criticism, librarians, bureaucrats, meals on airplanes, Amtrak trains, bad coffee, maniacal taxi drivers, express mail, 33-function watches, fax machines and cellular phones, pornography, soccer fans, academia, and - last but definitely not least - the author's own self. How to Travel with a Salmon gives us Umberto Eco's acute vision of the absurdities of modern life.