Game Theory and The Name of the Rose
Eco thinks of a novel as a "game" played between an author and a reader. The detective story, as a literary genre, probably influenced his thinking about this, since a good detective story lends itself to analysis as a game in which the author provides clues that should enable an ideal reader to solve a mystery before the solution is revealed at the end. Eco almost certainly is influenced by Jorge Luis Borges in this regard. But Eco's game-playing goes beyond this: he plants clues that relate to meaning, and it is up to the reader to create valid interpretations based on these clues--without wandering off into invalid interpretations. An author working on this topic would need to explore "game theory" in general, beginning with Johann Huizinga's Homo Ludens.
[Game Theory and The Name of the Rose]
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