In Conversation with Umberto Eco

At 7pm on Wednesday, November 9, Politics & Prose will host Umberto Eco at Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, DC for the release of his newest novel The Prague Cemetery.  I am pleased to be introducing Eco and discussing the novel with him in this public program.

Nineteenth-century Europe—from Turin to Prague to Paris—abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate Black Masses at night. Every nation has its own secret service, perpetrating forgeries, plots, and massacres.

From the unification of Italy to the Paris Commune to the Dreyfus Affair to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Europe is in tumult and everyone needs a scapegoat. But what if, behind all of these conspiracies both real and imagined, lay one lone man? What if that evil genius created its most infamous document?

The Prague Cemetery is an unforgettable journey through the underbelly of world-shattering events. Eco is the author of five bestselling novels and numerous collections of essays. He lives in Italy and is a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna.

Two free tickets will be provided with each purchase of the book ($27) from P&P. Additional tickets are $12 (or $15 the day of the event).