Thursday, November 17, 2016

Faucher, Kane X. The Infinite Library (U.S.A.: Civil Coping Mechanisms, c2011) 510 p.
Faucher has taken Borges' “The Library of Babel” and expanded it into a novel. It starts with a scholar studying at the Vatican Library being recruited by a man named Castellemare to work in the infinite library. Castellemare calls himself a librarian. The infinite library comprises all possible books. Occasionally one of the books escapes into the real world and must be retrieved.
The scholar considers working for Castellemare.

Yes, I had considered becoming a librarian, but I love books too much to merely be a functionary who must fight a losing battle of maintaining order in a collection that constantly expands, and the gruff disrespect of the patrons who would wrongly re-shelf at will.” (p. 17).

The scholar explores the infinite library on his own and eventually meets another librarian named Jorge Luis Borges. He is friendly and explains the simple library rules.

don't be disruptive, keep the books in order, no smoking or eating, and no defacement. (p. 333).


There is an order of silent, hooded figures called Devorants who study in the library.

No comments:

Post a Comment