The Resume

(January 5, 1932-February 19, 2016)
Born in Alessandria, Italy
Italian author and professor
Best known in the United States as the author of 'The Name of the Rose' and 'Foucault's Pendulum'
Earned a doctorate from the University of Turin
Specialist in semiotics, the study of symbols
Promoted the idea of the open text, that is the reader should be able to take multiple meanings away from a text

Why he might be annoying:

Large (and critical) passages in 'The Name of the Rose' are in Latin, meaning you have to stop reading the book as it nears its climax and try to find a translation to continue.
When asked why he wrote The Name of the Rose, he answered that he felt like poisoning a monk.
He left the Catholic Church in his early twenties, but fifty years later he still seemed obsessed with it in his writings.
He didn't have email and disliked using the internet in his research because searches provide too many sources and he couldn't look at all of them.
He chain-smoked.
None of his writings, academic or popular received a major award.

Why he might not be annoying:

In addition to semiotics, he made major contributions to the study of aesthetics, anthropology and literary theory.
His personal libraries, split between his two homes contain over 50,000 volumes.
He was married over thirty years.
'The Name of the Rose' alone has sold 25 million copies.
'Foucault's Pendulum' has been called the thinking man's 'Da Vinci Code.'
He did his doctoral dissertation on aesthetics in Thomas Aquinas' writings.
He wrote children's books.
He taught at Oxford and Harvard.

Credit: tom_jeffords

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• BBC Big Read: The UK's Top 200 Novels [2003] (Ranked: 174)
• Celebrities Born on the Same Date [January] (Ranked: 1051932)
• Children's Book Authors
• Comb Overs
• Egg Heads
• Hook Noses
• Huge Eye Wear
• I am an Agnostic
• I am Religiously Ambiguous
• I Died in 2016 (Ranked: 84)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century [1999] (Ranked: 14)
• Liver Spots
• Look at Me, Hmmm, I'm Thinking
• Look at Me, I Don't Have a Neck
• Philosophers: 20th Century [1900-2000]
• Profiles 26501-26750 (Ranked: 26693)
• Silver Foxes [Gray and Don't Care]
• Teachers
• The Catholic League Doesn't Like Me
• Tom Jefford's Profiles [Series 02]
• Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time (Ranked: 23)
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 20160219)

Year In Review:

In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 15 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 155 Votes: 67.74% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 40 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 34 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 20 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 18 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 30 Votes: 56.67% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 52 Votes: 36.54% Annoying