Reading Response

“Library of Babel” Jorge Luis Borges

Borges describes the space he is in as the Universe (others call it the “Library”). The Library has been there for ever, and will continue to exist long past the death of its inhabitants. It is composed of, possibly infinite, hexagonal galleries, with 20 shelves (five shelves per side except two sides) and 35 books per shelf. All the books are the same; each have 410 pages, each page 40 lines, each line approximately 80 letters. The lines are not made up of coherent words. Instead it is a random combination of letters that are repeated over and over until the 410 pages are filled. Occasionally there is a sentence that is logical. Five hundred years ago a chief came across a book that held almost two whole pages of coherent sentences. This writing was translated and this translation allowed the librarians to establish the fundamental law of the library, as well as the fact that no two books are the same. This lead to the belief that the answers to every question (the consequences to every action) were held somewhere in the infinite library. People searched for years in hopes of finding the books with the answers, but no one was able to succeed. Eventually the librarians tried to put an end to the searches. However, people acquired credentials (mostly fake) and destroyed books that held no legible words. The library is infinite, and there will always be incoherent books on the shelves. There is also the legend of the Man of the Book, a man who discovered the formula of people and made all of the rest. A God-like figure who created the inhabitant of the library. Additionally, the library contains every conceivable combination of letters, somewhere in one of the millions of books.

In the library Borges is writing about the books are mainly all filled with a random combination of letters repeated for all 410 pages. However they do usually contain one or two logical sentences. Borges says that for “ every sensible line of straightforward statement, there are leagues of senseless cacophonies, verbal jumbles and incoherences” which I read as for every logical person/book/design, there are thousands of illogical people/books/designs.