Travels in Hyper Reality

This first English translation of Umberto Eco's brilliant essay collection brings the Italian semiotician and novelist's incisive cultural criticism to American readers. Translated by the distinguished William Weaver, these essays showcase Eco's remarkable ability to decode contemporary culture, from Disneyland to medieval philosophy. The titular essay on "hyper reality" examines American culture's fascination with replicas, simulations, and enhanced experiences—observations that proved remarkably prescient in our current digital age.

Published three years after The Name of the Rose made Eco an international literary celebrity, this collection reveals the intellectual depth underlying his fiction. As the first English edition, this volume marks an important moment in bringing European cultural theory to broader American audiences and remains essential reading for understanding postmodern culture.