Editing Umberto Eco (section)

=== Medieval aesthetics and philosophy (1954–1968) ===
After graduating, Eco worked for the state broadcasting station [[RAI|Radiotelevisione Italiana]] (RAI) in Milan, producing a variety of cultural programming. Following the publication of his first book in 1956, he became an assistant lecturer at his alma mater. In 1958, Eco left RAI and the University of Turin to complete 18 months of compulsory military service in the [[Italian Army]].

In 1959, following his return to university teaching, Eco was approached by [[Valentino Bompiani]] to edit a series on "Idee nuove" (New Ideas) for his [[Bompiani|eponymous publishing house]] in Milan. According to the publisher, he became aware of Eco through his short pamphlet of cartoons and verse ''Filosofi in libertà'' (Philosophers in Freedom, or Liberated Philosophers), which had originally been published in a limited print run of 550 under the [[James Joyce]]-inspired pseudonym Daedalus.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bondanella|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1hINlpWgJIC&q=Bompiani+publishing+house&pg=PA19|title=Umberto Eco and the Open Text: Semiotics, Fiction, Popular Culture|date=20 October 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-02087-9|pages=17–18|language=en}}</ref>

That same year, Eco published his second book, ''Sviluppo dell'estetica medievale'' (''The Development of [[Medieval aesthetics|Medieval Aesthetics]]''), a scholarly monograph building on his work on Aquinas. Earning his [[Habilitation|libera docenza]] in aesthetics in 1961, Eco was promoted to the position of lecturer in the same subject in 1963, before leaving the University of Turin to take a position as lecturer in Architecture at the [[University of Milan]] in 1964.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Chevalier|first=Tracy|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryworl0000unse/page/158/mode/2up?q=umberto+eco|title=Contemporary World Writers|publisher=St. James Press|year=1993|location=Detroit|pages=158|isbn=9781558622005}}</ref>