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Continuing Library of Babel convo...

jhercher's picture

What I like about Borges's "Library of Babel" is idea of randomness and connectivity that permeates the story and the construction of the library.  In a real library, we organize everything based on their genre: fiction, travel writing, childrens stories, etc.  However, these are superficial relationships.  True connections between literature are much more random (maybe a writer of childrens literature found inspiration in a science textbook, like Lewis Carroll being influenced by mathematics and producing Alice in Wonderland.  Borges is an author who is very involved in genre, and the evolution of genre.  Part of what's great about the evolution of genre is that one must accept random connections beneath the surface, going across all the genres.  This makes me think of biological evolution, which similarly requires people to embrace a view of the world that seems devoid of "purpose" or "meaning." 

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