Umberto Eco, known to the world as the author of novels such as The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum, has died. Obituaries have appeared in mamy outlets (e.g., New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, The Telegraph). Eco was also an academic, working in philosophy and semiotics. He’s quoted in several articles as saying, “I am a philosopher. I write novels only on the weekends.” His dissertation, which he wrote as a student at Turin, was on Aquinas, and his nonfiction writing includes The Open Work and The Limits of Interpretation (see a review of it in Noûs). Here’s an essay of his on the ontology of fictional characters.

His academic work is not getting much attention in the popular press; those in the know are especially welcome to speak to it in the comments.