About the book: 2000 / Umberto Eco (born in 1932) - Italian semiotician, philosopher, medievalist, writer, professor and head of the department of semiotics University of Bologna. This monograph, for the first time in Russian literature, conducts a study of the scientific work of Umberto Eco in the context of discussions about the essence of semiotics, its prospects as a scientific discipline and its role in modern humanities. The focus is on the problems of the relationship between the text and its reader, interpretation and hyperinterpretation, iconic codes and visual communication. The book is addressed to cultural scientists, philosophers, linguists, aestheticians and everyone interested in the problems of semiotics, communication theory and literary criticism.