In Ficciones, libraries and books (and even the general act of writing) symbolize both humanity’s search for knowledge and the desire to further the creation of knowledge. In “The Library of Babel,” the librarian describes an infinite library, which is his whole “universe.” Thus, this library represents the universe at large, full of information and requiring infinite time to understand its mysteries. Furthermore, the fact that a life lived in the library represents real life ultimately highlights the daily search for knowledge and understanding that each person undergoes in the real world. To that end, many of the characters in Ficciones are fictional authors. This focus on writing highlights intellectual pursuit and the creation of art as a central aspect of life. For example, Pierre Menard compares writing to “breathing,” thus positioning it as something that is integral to human survival and existence itself.
The Library and Books Quotes in Ficciones
Like all men of the Library, I have traveled in my youth. I have journeyed in search of a book, perhaps of the catalogue of catalogues; now that my eyes can scarcely decipher what I write, I am preparing to die a few leagues from the hexagon in which I was born.
To me it does not seem unlikely that on some shelf of the universe there lies a total book…. If honor and wisdom and happiness are not for me, let them be for others. May heaven exist, though my place be in hell. Let me be outraged and annihilated, but may Thy enormous Library be justified, for one instant, in one being.
The Library and Books Symbol Timeline in Ficciones
