Contemporary Italian novelist. Eco grew up under Mussolini's rule (See: OnFascism); its collapse heavily influenced him, as he realised that instead of one dominant form of discourse, there was a multiplicity of ways to view the world; "I discovered the meaning of plurality, democracy and freedom." Where Eco sees fascism as characterised by a rejection of diversity in discourse, his texts are characterised by their plurality of discourses and meanings. As an example, The Name of the Rose deals with the suppression of Aristotle's writings on comedy as a means of religious oppression, while Foucault's Pendulum deals with how misinterpretation of an invented conspriacy leads to its actual manifestation. More scholarly works have dealt with semiotics dealing with the ambiguity of language and meaning. As such, his work could be described as providing an ethics of misintepretation.
See other InterestingPeople, JorgeLuisBorges