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Italian author Umberto Eco dies at 84

Xinhua, February 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Italian philosopher and author Umberto Eco died here at his home in Italy's Milan at the age of 84, Italian media reported on Saturday.

Eco, who had been suffering from cancer, reportedly died on Friday night. He was renowned as a writer, professor of semiotics and newspaper columnist, with an academic reputation as the author of a number of scholarly works.

The Name of the Rose, his first novel, a medieval murder mystery combining metaphysics and theology, published in 1980 when he was 48, propelled him to international stardom.

The book sold some 30 million copies and was translated into nearly 50 languages. In 1986 it was made into a film starring Sean Connery.

Eco's next two novels, Foucault's Pendulum published in 1988 and The Island of the Day Before published in 1994, were bestsellers too. His last novel, Numero Zero, was published at the beginning of 2015.

Italian authorities expressed grief over the death of the very much respected intellectual, who reportedly boasted some 30,000 volumes at his Milan apartment and 20,000 more at a country home in central Italy.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said the world has lost an "extraordinary example of European intellectual who combined a unique understanding of the past with an inexhaustible ability to anticipate the future."

Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini defined Eco as "a giant who has spread the Italian culture across the world."

Eco had made a recent public appearance at an international conference on culture held July 31 and Aug. 1 last year at the Expo Milano 2015, where he defined cultural exchange as a tool for safety.

"In a world dominated by military conflicts, the spread of culture and mutual understanding of the cultural assets of countries can be an element of safety for an ever more globalized planet," he said.

In 2010, Eco took the floor first in the first European Union (EU)-China High-Level Cultural Forum held in Brussels.

On that occasion, Eco said that communication between Europe and China had been fraught with misunderstandings and imbalance, and called for more Chinese texts to be translated into European languages. Endit