After taking questions, Eco chatted with audience members while signing copies of Baudolino which were on sale outside the lecture hall.
A crowd remained outside the door to the lecture hall for the first half of the speech, eager to hear the renowned author.
“I’ve been excited for the last week,” said W. Lucien Smith ’03, who secured a spot inside the lecture hall. “It’s the culmination of my Harvard career.”
“He’s a showman,” said Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Lino Pertile. “It was an enjoyable evening.”
Eco, who received his doctorate at age 22, now holds 23 honorary doctorates from universities around the world. He was the English department’s Norton Professor of Poetry for the 1992-3 academic year.
Eco’s talk was co-sponsored by the Harvard Book Store.