Umberto Eco in conversation with Paul Holdengräber

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This conversation took place at Kensington Town Hall on 19th November 2011.
Speakers:
UMBERTO ECO: Italian semiotician, philosopher, literary critic and novelist
PAUL HOLDENGRÄBER: Director of LIVE from the New York Public Library where he has interviewed and hosted President Clinton, Norman Mailer, Spike Lee and Jay-Z
Event info:
CONSPIRACY, PARANOIA & THE NOVEL
A Conversation with Umberto Eco.
* Writing fiction about the real
* Exploring the persistence of conspiracies
* Adapting "The Name of the Rose" for the internet generation
* Grasping the infinity of lists
* Exploring the future of books
* Losing yourself in a 50,000-volume library
These are some of the topics Umberto Eco will be discussing with Paul Holdengräber, Director of LIVE at the New York Public Library.
Their wide-ranging conversation will in part focus on Eco's latest work of fiction, The Prague Cemetery. The book is an historical pseudo-reconstruction set in a 19th-century Europe teeming with secret service forgeries, Jesuit plots, murders and conspiracies, and covering everything from the unification of Italy, the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It has been criticised by both the Vatican-backed newspaper the Osservatore Romano and the Chief Rabbi of Rome.

[@ralam420]

"The Universal Conspiracy is a means by which we avoid our responsibilities". Brilliant. RIP Eco Sahib.

[@SuperNinag]

T être e terre têt TT de e et Hcxzgc CFF est est trop bien t tu

[@SuperNinag]

Réalité yéti thé vidéo yes sde tyy

[@carloscarlos5633]

“For every complex problem, theirs always a simple solution, and it’s wrong”

[@silviad1430]

It's Popper sentence that Eco uses giving credit

[@LiberApolion]

The first novel I enjoyed from Eco was The Name of the Rose; second was The Foucault's Pendulum and I was so fascinated that I didn't wanted to disturb my infatuation fearing his modern novels will destroyed that vision. Now I have to read The Cemetery of Prague.

[@yeedateresh4767]

Here I was imagining he was sitting somewhere in his yard, dictating to his assistant some other great work. Then I find he's left us. He was stranger, yes, but I followed his writing for so many years... it stings. He was a lovely and facinating person. RIP.

[@fatimakhammar5849]

Umberto was and is a national proud for us ! Thanks for this document.

[@ilpezkato]

Maravilloso!!!...mil gracias por compartirlo...extrañamos al maestro...RIP

[@tizianacallari7446]

pure genius observer and analysing the world from an amazing spot of view.

[@charlesrommel]

i truly admire this guy!!! he is one of my favourites writters!

[@thiscommentor2858]

He could speak English so well it is a shame we have only a few of his interviews.

[@MelancoliaI]

Possibly the best novelist alive, definitely the smartest.

[@ComradeAgopian]

MelancoliaI Agreed .

[@Alexis-hx3yd]

I agree whole heartedly ,his death is a huge loss on so many levels. See you in another universe Umberto.

[@raffaeleirlanda6966]

MelancoliaI Not only the smartest but he was also historically prepared so he did not made mistakes in mixing characters living in different centuries (any reference I made to a famous writer mad for Leonardo Da Vinci is not incidental)

[@doniolhaha]

[OFr < L secretus, pp. of secernere, to set apart < se-, apart (see SECEDE) + cernere, to sift, distinguish]

[@meio4744]

Those chairs look uncomfortable.

[@deriter64]

This interviewer represents a too common flaw in TV journalism. He has a most interesting guest but is just slavering to make his own opinions known. Why doesn't he interview a mirror?

[@jaodasaveiroprata2764]

Not an interview tho

[@plekkchand]

Agreed, and he's none too witty either.

[@plekkchand]

He is also demonstrating his own innate virtue by pretending not to understand the various evils discussed. Understanding is not assent.

[@silviad1430]

It's a conversation not an interview, they use questions as a starting point, then it evolves in many directions. Of course there's personal content, it is always like that. Everyone has an opinion, nothing wrong with it, Eco then gives his point of view, in an exchange. Not to have a personal opinion is very dangerous, that's one of the most important things they are telling in this video!

[@juliocesaryanezsantander5977]

Agreed. I’m out.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

As with the Italians, we Greeks have always been one another’s abiding enemies; but unlike the Italians, we most assuredly also have a perennial external Enemy - but I won’t say who it is: it’s a secret...

[@magouliana32]

There are not our enemy, we are their enemy.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

HellenicMind - Ακριβώς!

[@NoOne-tg9tk]

Turks

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

@@NoOne-tg9tk - The secret is out.

[@NoOne-tg9tk]

@@dorianphilotheates3769 😁

[@ifigeniaesprella7909]

Muchas gracias por el video. Él era maravillo y brillante. Saludos de Bolivia.

[@MrDanbloom]

Rip eco sensei

[@aab1221baa]

i can't imagine what it would be like...to watch a conversation between Eco and Hitchens. it's a pitty there hasn't been any...

[@grizhalm]

Umberto I bow to you!

[@Descalabro]

thanks for posting this video. Well, at least in my language, the Etymology of 'secret' guessed by the host was close to correct, except it is the other way around (it's 'secrete' that comes from 'secret': se·crete [si-kreet] verb (used with object), se·cret·ed, se·cret·ing. to discharge, generate, or release by the process of secretion The correspondant, in my language, comes from the Latin 'Secretus', and means 'to sever', 'to cast out', 'to expel'; metaphorically, to put in secret, to exile

[@MAKOBITE]

"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead". -- Benjamin Franklin. Deeply hating on Holdengräber, not just for citing Jefferson in a misquote but because that typifies his level of input to this "interview". Eco acquits himself by not engaging the stupidity and talking on his own level.

[@farinati]

This deeply irritated me too. The quote had the word secret in it, but other than that had nothing to do with what Eco was saying. Poor interviewer, brilliant interviewee.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

Ε, τι να κάνουμε; - they can’t all be brilliant.

[@user-ji8bq9jp9q]

he will never perish....

[@stephensharp3033]

He is fascinated by Casablanca. In this interview he says Reagan was supposed to star in it. On Desert Island Discs he took music from the film to the island.

[@elisopantskhava2425]

RIP :(

[@AAwildeone]

Gore Vidal SAID TOO....There ALWAYS must be a NEW ENEMY to keep eyes away from what they really should be focused upon...

[@dina2690]

GREAT MAN

[@ToxicTurtleIsMad]

Eco was a giant!

[@cravis123]

Mario in his intellectual form. :) Umberto Eco is one of a kind.

[@landgabriel]

This interviewer is John Malkovich right? I'm only on audio.

[@vallenif]

The face, the pose, the gesture, the endless first question, all indicate how fascinated the interviewer is with his own person, which is terribly boring. On the other hand, Umberto Eco is captivating in everything he says.

[@snarkyboots]

If it weren't for the interviewer, with all his faults, we would not have this interview. I say, Thank You!!!

[@snarkyboots]

I found myself mirroring the interviewer's face, pose and gesture, because he and I are riveted by what Eco is saying, tears coming to my eyes for the truth he speaks.

[@amenostalgique]

Un genio

[@DysprosiumJudas]

rip. good man, good book

[@pharmakeus62]

Unusually good interviewer

[@sorenaleksander2670]

"I am not a conspiracy THEORIST; I am a conspiracy ANALYST..." - Gore Vidal

[@oneisarang]

RIP ㅠ

[@bdschwa]

needs less holdengräber and more eco. with all due respect, and interesting etymologies aside, i came for eco, not holdengräber. btw, secret and secretion both derive at varying distances from L. secernere (to move apart), iirc. edit: i was too harsh on holdengräber.

[@rsr789]

Indeed. It's because the interviewer actually knows the subject matter, and is clearly eruditie, two traits oft lacking in interviewers.

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

1:00:00-1:01:00 - 😂

[@Dorian_sapiens]

These days, iqsquared wouldn't dream of platforming an anti-fascist like this.

[@dmonarredmonarre3076]

Nassim Taleb brought me here

[@UniFLetras]

RIP

[@strayCATchillspot]

26:26😂😂😂😂😂facts❤

[@spookybuk]

"Nice to see you..." hhahaha Umberto Eco is the Best. I don't know why they picked a comedian to host the interview, though. Makes no sense to me.

[@nuran7970]

He was a great intellectual!

[@silviad1430]

A real comedian has studied more literature than any other, now they hire actors just because they can perform well, but it used to be different. That's because literature describes all human feelings emotions expressions which they should portray on the screen. They also share French knowledge which is used to clarify things they cannot say with an English word.

A German discussing Ecco's book with Umberto, both speaking GLOBISH = LUDICROUS

[@mazzonepunitore]

for an Italian it is very complicated to translate their thoughts from Italian to English, because the lexical form and the grammar are different and simpler, for what it's worth Eco had a rather fluent English, for the accent there is nothing to do

@@mazzonepunitore Dear Alessio, he should have spoken Italian und get simultaneous translation. I read his books; which are so learned, and here he did not have the vocabulary to express his thoughts fully.

[@risingwindspress]

20:59 Lmao so based…

[@bostullahsulejmanovic9001]

uhhhh............

[@michaelmayen6240]

Qué horrible pronunciaba Eco el inglés. Parecía mexicano.