Thresholds, boundaries, limits: Ideological analysis in the semiotics of Umberto Eco

This essay traces the evolution of Umberto Eco’s thinking from a particular point of view, that of his reflections on ideology and ideological discourse. The reason for this choice is that ideology is one of the themes that is associated with the mature phase of Eco’s work, generally regarded as beginning with the Trattato di semiotica generale (1975, A Theory of Semiotics). Moreover, by examining ideology it is possible to piece together a complex path of intellectual reconsiderations and redefinitions involving both the discipline of semiotics and the broader cultural context. To tackle this topic it is in fact necessary to refer both to the general ambit of Eco’s semiotics and the historic and cultural context in which these studies originated.