Steve responded to my off hand inquiry re: Umberto Eco. > I've read 'Name of the Rose' and 'Foucault's Pendulum', but the only > non-fiction is his essay/postscript about 'Name of the Rose.' Actually, I don't remember reading that. I'll have to dig it out. > I've got a very low opinion of the literary deconstruction movement; As does Eco, I think. Check out _Six Walks in the Fictional Woods_ and if you really get jazzed on it, _Interpretation and Overinterpretation_. _Six Walks_ is reasonably accessible whereas _I&O_ was a bit more academic. As it happens I&O was my first serious reading in lit.crit. BTW, unless you've studied the Philosophy of Language, I don't recommend picking up _Kant and the Platypus_ first. Some of his other nonfiction books are actually collections of his weekly columns in an Italian newspaper. They can be a real blast. Getting back to topic, I think that _Orca_ is one of the more carefully crafted examples of fiction that is itself aware of the author-narrator-audience tension. Paarfi and Brust jousting in the Khaavren romances, by comparison, only play with the concept. Casey