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<p>This paper focuses on the main claim of Umberto Eco’s <italic>Open Work</italic>, according to which any work of art is an inherently ambiguous message, <italic>i.e.</italic> is inexhaustible, or in principle likely to be the object of an infinite number of interpretations. It does so, first, by restricting itself to the specific topic of the literary work of art, and, secondly, by making a detour, that Eco himself suggests, though he does not really explore it, <italic>via</italic> Sartre’s ontological phenomenology. This detour will eventually lead the reader from <italic>Being and Nothingness</italic> to <italic>What is Literature?</italic>; from Sartre’s “theory of the phenomenon” to his description of the poetic and prosaic attitude; and from a theory of literature <italic>qua</italic> ambiguity-inexhaustibility to that of openness <italic>qua</italic> esthetic phenomenon. Finally, it is the capacity of Sartre’s phenomenology to ultimately clarify, or provide a foundation to, Eco’s own theory, as well as the latter’s originality with regard to the former, that will be studied and accounted for.</p>
</abstract>

This paper focuses on the main claim of Umberto Eco’s Open Work, according to which any work of art is an inherently ambiguous message, i.e. is inexhaustible, or in principle likely to be the object of an infinite number of interpretations. It does so, first, by restricting itself to the specific topic of the literary work of art, and, secondly, by making a detour, that Eco himself suggests, though he does not really explore it, via Sartre’s ontological phenomenology. This detour will eventually lead the reader from Being and Nothingness to What is Literature?; from Sartre’s “theory of the phenomenon” to his description of the poetic and prosaic attitude; and from a theory of literature qua ambiguity-inexhaustibility to that of openness qua esthetic phenomenon. Finally, it is the capacity of Sartre’s phenomenology to ultimately clarify, or provide a foundation to, Eco’s own theory, as well as the latter’s originality with regard to the former, that will be studied and accounted for.

L’inépuisabilité de l’œuvre littéraire: Réflexion autour de L’œuvre ouverte de Umberto Eco

Phainomenon

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This paper focuses on the main claim of Umberto Eco’s Open Work, according to which any work of art is an inherently ambiguous message, i.e. is inexhaustible,...

L’inépuisabilité de l’œuvre littéraire: Réflexion autour de L’œuvre ouverte de Umberto Eco

Published Online: May 17, 2021

Page range: 119 - 163

Received: Aug 10, 2021

Accepted: Aug 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/phainomenon-2021-0016

Keywords
Eco, Sartre, phenomenology, literature, interpretation

© 2021 Aurélien Djian, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

L’inépuisabilité de l’œuvre littéraire: Réflexion autour de L’œuvre ouverte de Umberto Eco

Published Online: May 17, 2021

Page range: 119 - 163

Received: Aug 10, 2021

Accepted: Aug 22, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/phainomenon-2021-0016

KeywordsEco, Sartre, phenomenology, literature, interpretation

© 2021 Aurélien Djian, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Eco, Sartre, phenomenology, literature, interpretation