Authenticity

Authenticity is a major theme throughout this book, particularly in the first essay, "Travels in Hyperreality". Eco describes the creation and maintenance of "Fortresses of Solitude". The fortress was a place for Superman, whom Eco suggests is a good representation of an American, to go for solitude and to immerse himself in physical representations of his memories. The physical representations included robots that were so realistic they would easily be mistaken for being alive.

It is these physical representations that capture the interest of Eco. He is fascinated by the degree of effort that is put into copying life with such painstaking detail. The horrifying effect of this attention to detail is that life and non-life become indistinguishable. Eco shifts his attention to actual examples of Fortresses of Solitude that exist in America, including Hearst Castle, Disneyland, the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, and Ripley's wax museums.

He describes...