Umberto Eco, author of ‘The Name of the Rose,’ dies at 84

By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Umberto Eco started working a novel that set the world’s imagination on fire “prodded by a seminal idea: I felt like poisoning a monk.” Book cover photo courtesy of cosmopolitan.com The Italian author/academic who intrigued, puzzled and delighted readers worldwide with his best-selling historical novel “The Name of the Rose” died at home in Milan on Friday evening after a battle with cancer, according to a family member who asked not to be identified. His death was also confirmed by his American publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Author of a wide range of books, Eco was fascinated with the obscure and the mundane, and his books were both engaging narratives and philosophical and intellectual exercises. The bearded, heavy-set scholar, critic and novelist took on the esoteric theory of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols in language; took on popular culture icons like [...]