On Mirrors and Other Stories. Realistic Illusion. Book 1

Observational skills, sharpness of vision, and extraordinary erudition of Umberto Eco make his texts, including those that are quite complex, incredibly captivating even for an unprepared, but thoughtful reader. For this collection, published for the first time in Russian, Professor Eco personally selected texts from his scientific and journalistic articles and speeches at conferences from 1972 to 1985. All these materials are united by the author's original observations on the interplay of artistic and scientific imagination. From illusion and fantasy to their embodiment in word, sign, and image — this is the path that writers and artists traverse in their work.
And Umberto Eco invites the reader to embark on an exciting journey into the world of art and culture, where reality and fiction intertwine, creating new "galaxies".