What if you had a library with an infinite amount of combinations between letters and numbers?This library would have the following information:
- The secret of the Universe;
- The day of your death. And everyone else's. Including people that already died. Or haven't even been born.
- Justification for all your sins;
-
EVERY FUCKING ANSWER FOR EVERY QUESTION IN OUR UNIVERSE. OR OTHER UNIVERSES, IF YOU ARE A MULTIVERSE BELIEVER.
- And a bunch of useless books, that would take forever to be distinguished from the useful ones because... well they're infinite, right?
- ... In English, French, Portuguese, Canton, Japanese and all the idioms known by men... and in the unknown too.
So this is what Borges accomplished with
The library of Babel:
- A great mind-blowing take on knowledge vs. languages vs. combinatorics. Nerds will approve.
- An almost-parody on how humans relate to the world;
- An almost-parody on how humans relate to the knowledge;
- An almost-parody on how humans relate to their own sense of fault;
- And religion;
IN THIRTEEN FUCKING PAGES.Really. The guy is a genius.