For my last post I want to comment on two of Borges’s short stories “The Library of Babel” and “The Book of Sand”. I realize we didn’t read any Borges this semester, at least, I don’t think we did; but I do love his writings and think he is an extremely interesting modern writer. Reading up on him, I found he was part of the avant-garde Ultraist movement during the ‘20’s – a short lived literary movement which claimed to be anti-modern. A decade later phenomenology and existentialism was gaining great attention and Borges was even starting to deal with existential ponderings in his writing. However, Borges was critiqued as having next to nothing in common with the types of existentialism created by Sartre or Camus.
But back to the two short stories. A few years ago, for whatever reason, I happened to read these two short stories side by side, and they complement one another so well they seem eternally tied to one another in my mind. Both stories involve the infinite; “The Book of Sand” seemingly to be the answer to the question to which “The Library of Babel” does not ask. I will talk about this at the end, but for the majority of the post I will focus on what the Library of Babel is and what Borges maybe have been referring to throughout the story.
The Library of Babel is the library to contain all books; all books which exist, have been written and will be written. The library contains all information, and since the library contains all information the universe is justified because theoretically it can be fully understood if the contents of the library can be understood. Yet every book within the library is complete gibberish which nobody can comprehend or decipher. Different theories extend from different seekers of information within the library; such that a catalogue of catalogue exists that references each and every book within the library; meanings contained in the books corresponds to meaning in dreams or in one’s palm; that the books may correspond to past or remote languages; that each of the books is subject to cryptography; that the infinite nature of the library reflects the infinite nature of the universe or of god. All these ideas are pulled out of the short story and may give you a feel for the story as a whole, though it is so difficult to describe or define the story. The story consists of segmented ideas concerning the Library of Babel which should be able to be reworked into a coherent and logical fashion; however I am unable to do so.
Maybe this quote will put the story into context, that the overall dictum which best explains the library is that “the library is a sphere whose exact centre is [within] any one of its hexagon[al rooms] and whose circumference is inaccessible”. This can also be applied to the books to give an overall view of the books – each and every book contains all information but understanding of the information is inaccessible.
The librarian speaking to the audience about the library constantly makes references to true knowledge and god. That the library contains all knowledge, or knowing everything in the library can bring a person closer to divinity. This Library of Babel could be an extension of the Tower of Babel story, where instead of building the tower to god, humans have constructed a building to house all information on everything. Rather than destroying the library and changing all of human kind; god has opted to confuse the language within the library and extent the library infinitely to house slightly altered or falsified texts; all of which are unintelligible to humans.
Arguably, this story serves as an extension and more detailed version of the Gensis story, the Tower of Babel. Or maybe “The Library of Babel” is a modern interpretation of the Gensis story. Yet I wonder if Borges is instead using the Library of Babel as a critique on science. The Library of Babel was published in 1941, a time in which there was much greater understanding of time and space from the point of view of theoretical physics; communication was possible almost instantly and world-wide through the use of television, film and radio; and humans had must more control over health, life, and death through medical advances such as insulin and penicillin. Borges is witnessing quickly growing understanding of the world and the universe. Within a few decades, Borges has witnessed a massive expansion and change in literature, art, and science. He could be using the Library of Babel as an analogy to the capabilities of advances within society. The librarian within the Library of Babel postulates that there is a person within the library who is capable of decoding and knowing all that which the books contain, thus becoming like god. Society as a whole may have the abilities to advance to a point where it is capable of knowing all; though Borges’s librarian admits that this all encompassing knowledge is something which is hoped for, something which he will never fully realize or achieve.
There is also The Book of Sand I mentioned much earlier, a short story which seems to be the ultimate book of knowledge and is sought after within the Library of Babel. The Book of Sand is an infinite book with no beginning and no end which contains infinite information that the infinite pages never repeat. If the book of sand is the book of books which is sought after from the people within the Library of Babel; since the book of sand can never be finished, those who find it would have to dedicate their full existence to studying the book. The book would consume the owner thus rendering the infinite knowledge of the book useless to humans. Also, the creation of an infinite book is not possible by human hands which brings the ability of humans knowing all out of the realm of reality.
Sarah Lepp
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