Italian author Umberto Eco died at his Milan home Friday, his American publisher confirmed to The Associated Press. He was 84.
Eco was best known for The Name of the Rose, a bestselling historical novel made into a 1986 movie starring Sean Connery. The philosophical novelist also wrote children's books and literary criticism.
"It's only publishers and some journalists who believe that people want simple things," Eco told The Guardian in 2011. "People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged."
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