"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges

 

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."

                                                                                          

                                                                                          — Jorge Luis Borges

The Library of Babel is a prime example of Jorge's close examination of the concept of infinity. The short story taken from Ficciones is a grand metaphor for the universe, life, and mankind's endless pursuit of meaning.

The premise is so simple: Borges imagines that the universe is a library with identical hexagonal chambers stretching in all directions. The books in the library are a combination of 22 orthographical letters, the comma and the period. This means a great number of books will be complete gibberish, so the occupants of the library spend the entirety of their lives leafing the books for meaning.

I have to admit, the ten-page-long story was a challenge to read. I had to read two versions translated into English and another into my native Arabic. The used diction is detached and dry and a bit scholarly. Perhaps, it was precisely chosen to reflect the dominating atmosphere in the librarians' world, which is the complete opposite of paradise, a kind of Kafkaesque air that permeates the chambers, depressing and smothering.

It was an exhaustive--but also an entertaining--read. Through his dense metaphysical labyrinth, Borges manages to reduce the entirety of humanity's thirst to explain the world around them.