"By this art you may contemplate the variation of the 23 letters..."
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Thus is the warning that opens Jorge Luis Borges' famous short story: "The Library of Babel". First published in Spanish 1941 as "La biblioteca de Babel". Since then, the idea of the 'Total Library' has come to dominate the bibliographic imagination. A universal library equal parts (almost) infinite wisdom and endless nonsense. A typographic world were the ideas of infinity and zero intermix. It is no surprise then the internet has long sought after Borges notorious thought experiment. A totally sealed universe that may hold its own vindication, but can anyone ever find it?
Though, neither Borges nor the Internet were the first to conjure the overwhelming idea. While obscure, Borges acknowledged a long history behind the concept before he wrote "La biblioteca de Babel". The mystery of the library is the mystery of its own history. A history as old as humanity and one that will always exist in parallel with humanity. Jonathan Basile's website "Libraryofbabel.info" shows us the fruits of the library's platonic ideal. Humanity, even if digitally, can finally touch the surface of the library, but the library runs deep. A trench of both history and possibility.
While I'm not good at Math, I do known an overwhelming idea when I see one.
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Video Sources (Support the creators/uploaders):
-Library of Blabber: bit.ly/34EVVst
-Messages For The Future: bit.ly/2GD2PGw
-Printing: Platen Press Make Ready: bit.ly/3axpFtW
-Jorge Luis Borges - The Mirror Man: bit.ly/2GHMdh1
-Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: Borges: South America's Titan: bit.ly/33FUDhs
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Music:
Yakov Goldman - "Prelude" (00:00-03:94)
Frédéric Chopin - "Galop Marquis", preformed by Aya Higuchi (03:04-03:14)
South London HiFi - "Kamogawa Dreaming" (03:14-07:45)
Quincas Moreira - "Malandragem" (07:39-10:12)
Midnight North - "This is a Jazz Space" (10:09-12:44)
Ben Eliott - "Library 20" (12:42-14:21)
Ben Eliott - "William's Play" (14:20-15:29)
Ben Elliot - "Librams" (15:27-17:32)
Noir Et Blanc Vie - "AnalogueCabin" (17:32-19:46)
Ben Elliot - "Library 16" (19:44-20:05)
Ben Elliott - "Journey To Paris" (20:08-20:39)
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All copyrighted media, images, and music respective owner(s).
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Sources:
-Libraryofbabel.info: bit.ly/3jQok5a
-Borges, Jorge Luis. Borges: Selected Non-Fictions. Edited by Eliot Weinberger. Translated by Esther Allen, Penguin Books, 2000. "The Doctrine of Cycles", "Circular Time", and "The Total Library".
-De Giovanni, Norman Thomas, et al., editors. Borges on Writing. E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1973.
-Basile, Jonathan. Tar for Mortar: the Library of Babel and the Dream of Totality. Punctum Books, 2018. bit.ly/3dlDjBO
-Ammon, Theodore G. “A NOTE ON A NOTE IN ‘THE LIBRARY OF BABEL.’” Romance Notes, vol. 33, no. 3, 1993, pp. 265-269.
-Keiser, Graciela. “MODERNISM/POSTMODERNISM IN ‘THE LIBRARY OF BABEL’: JORGE LUIS BORGES'S FICTION AS BORDERLAND.” Hispanófila, no. 115, 1995, pp. 39-48.
-La biblioteca de Babel: Una modesta propuesta: bit.ly/3dfzn5s
-The Library of Babel: bit.ly/3dhKIlE
-The Universal Library by Kurd Lasswitz: bit.ly/2EKbYfz
-This Digital Library Contains Every Phrase That Could Ever Be Uttered: archive.is/Zp0nN
-Meet the Library of Babel: bit.ly/3ilMJOq
-Virtual Library of Babel makes Borges's infinite store of books a reality - almost: bit.ly/34bwE94
-The Library of Babel as Seen from Within: bit.ly/3ju9OzG
-Putting Borges' Infinite Library On the Internet: archive.vn/iz4K2
-The Library of Babel and the information explosion: bit.ly/36mh7Wr
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The Universe (Which Others Call The Library) Is Composed Of An Indefinite, Perhaps Infinite Number Of Thanks For Watching