Abstract

Building upon the research initiated in Eco’s Affaire (2017-2018), this article provides additional textual evidence of a literary conversation between Leonardo Sciascia and Umberto Eco – a dialogue at distance, consisting of veiled citations, and taking advantage of the combinatory power of intertextuality. The article identifies the connection between the title Foucault’s Pendulum and Michel Foucault’s thought in Raymond Roussel’s work, and demonstrates how some topoi characteristic of Sciascia’s style, such as those relating to forgetful characters, are systematically reused, but unacknowledged in Eco’s works. In its conclusion, the article offers a hypothesis for what may have triggered the dialogue between the two authors.