The Great Brain - Is Umberto Eco's new novel about memory really postmodern? By Robert Alter

In reference to the most recent post, I gather that Eco's most recent novel is about the discovery of one's self from recalling childhood pop culture. I guess I'm in good company. On the other hand Slate's review of the novel, The Great Brain - Is Umberto Eco's new novel about memory really postmodern? By Robert Alter, rightly points out this is really just a story we (Umberto and I) tell ourselves. Real psychologists with real science can tell us how memory and identity really work, this stuff about comic books is composed of speculative ruminations, and I still can't figure out what the point of those things are. That is, unless Aristotle is right and the the finest things are those that are done for their own sake alone. This would make reflecting on comic books a very fine thing to do indeed.