In this collection of essays and addresses delivered over the course of his illustrious career, Umberto Eco seeks "to understand the chemistry of [his] passion" for the word. From musings on Ptolemy and "the force of the false" to reflections on the experimental writing of Borges and Joyce, Eco's luminous intelligence and encyclopedic knowledge are on dazzling display throughout. And when he reveals his own ambitions and superstitions, his authorial anxieties and fears, one feels like a secret sharer in the garden of literature to which he so often alludes. Remarkably accessible and unfailingly stimulating, this collection exhibits the diversity of interests and the depth of knowledge that have made Eco one of the world's leading writers. On some functions of literature—A reading of the Paradiso—On the style of The communist manifesto—The mists of the Valoi—Wilde : parados and aphorism—A portrait of the artist as bachelor—Between La Mancha and Babel—Borges and my anxiety of influence—On Camporesi : blood, body, life—On symbolism—On style—Les Semaphores sous la Pluie—The flaws in the form—Intertextual irony and levels of reading—The Poetics and us—The American myth in three anti-American generations—The power of falsehood—How I write