Umberto Eco and the Echoes of Adamic Language

• Authors: Parry David

Title variants

PL

Umberto Eco i echa Języka Adamowego

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Many early modern writers were fascinated by the notion of the Adamic language in which Adam named the animals, a language that many believed could express the essence of things perfectly. Umberto Eco has displayed a recurrent interest in Adamic language in both his scholarship and his fiction, and this article pays tribute to Eco through placing his work in conversation with a number of scholarly fields in which the idea of Adamic language occurs, including studies of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the Qur’an and Islamic tradition, the history of science, and early Mormonism. The article concludes by challenging some of the theoretical assumptions made about Adamic language, both by Eco and in early modern discussions, through a rereading of Adam’s speech in Genesis 2.

PL

Wielu wczesnych nowoczesnych pisarzy było zafascynowanych pojęciem języka Adamowego, w którym to biblijny Adam nazwał zwierząta - języka, którym można wyrazić istotę rzeczy doskonałych. Umberto Eco wykazuje niegasnące zainteresowanie językiem Adamowym zarówno w swojej pracy naukowej, jak i pisarskiej. Artykuł ten składa hołd Eco poprzez umieszczenie jego rozważań w kontekście wielu dziedzin naukowych, w których pojawia się idea języka Adamowego, w tym u Johna Miltona w Raju utraconym, Koranie i tradycji islamskiej, historii nauki i wczesnym Mormonizmie. Artykuł kończy podważenie niektórych teoretycznych założeń dotyczących języka Adamowego (autorstwa Eco i dyskusji wczesnej nowoczesności, poprzez nowe od-czytanie słów Adama z Księgi Rodzaju.

Keywords

EN

Umberto Eco; Adamic language; Edenic speech; Genesis; John Milton

PL

Umberto Eco; Język Adamowy; rajska mowa,; Genesis; John Milton

• Publisher: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Stowarzyszenie
• Journal: Zagadnienia Rodzajów Literackich
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 58/116 z. 2
• Pages: 13-28

Dates

published

2015

Contributors

author

Parry David

• University of Cambridge

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Identifiers

ISSN

0084-4446