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Epilogue
- University of Ottawa Press
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Epilogue "The Library of Babel" opensas follows: The universe (whichothers call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors. The distribution of the galleries is invariable. Twenty shelves, five long shelves per side, cover all the sides except two; their height, which is the distance from floor to ceiling, scarcely exceeds that of a normal bookcase. One of the free sides leads to a narrow hallway which opens onto another gallery, identical to the first and to all the rest. Tothe left and right of the hallway there are two very small closets. In the first, one may sleep standing up; in the other, satisfy one's fecal necessities. Also through here passes a spiral stairway, which sinks abysmally and soars upward to remote distances. In the hallway there is a mirror which faithfully duplicates all appearances . Men usually infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite (if it really were, why this illusory duplication?); I prefer to dream that its polished surfaces represent and promise the infinite.... Light is provided by some spherical fruit which bear the name of lamps. There are two, transversally placed, in each hexagon. The light they emit is insufficient , incessant.1 It would be impossibleto do justice here to the multiple meanings contained in Borges' story. I shall read it merely for what it has to say about our trip through the bends and recesses of the transcendental turn in philosophy . Perhaps the most strikingclue for such a reading comes a few lines later: The Library is a sphere whose exact center is any one of its hexagons and whose circumference is inaccessible. (466; 52) The sphere recalls Parmenides' conception of Being as well as Spinoza's substance, whose infinity lies, not in the fact that it is without limit, but 232 ADGE, AND EXPERIENCE rather that it is closed back upon itself, that it is self-limited.2 Within its confines the Library supports the continual speculation of philosophy and theology, from the soaring fantasies of idealism to the crassest materialisms . These speculations are grounded in the incessant presence of the light of reason, which is, however, insufficient to satisfy its pretensions . Nevertheless the illusion of satisfaction persists. This is because although each of us carries on the metaphysical search within the confines of the hexagon into which he has been thrown, each hexagon may be taken as the exact centre of the sphere, that is, as a view from nowhere that makes perfectly objective knowledgeabout the Library possible. Yet our truths become dogmas rather than absolute knowledge,since the circumference of the sphere, which might provide a truly objective view of its nature, is inaccessible to us. Reason nevertheless provides certain abstract truths. One is that the Library exists ah aeterno since "the universe, with its elegant endowment of shelves, of enigmatical volumes, of inexhaustible stairways for the traveler and latrines for the seated librarian, can only be the work of a god" (466; 52). Thus Borges parodies those empirical generalizations that Hume set forth and pilloried in the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. A second is that "In the vast Library there are no two identical books" (467; 54), which mimics Leibniz' principle of the identity of indiscernibles. Armed with the promise provided by such bold beginnings , certain inhabitants undertake the search for first truths. For the most part such journeys consist in looking for the book or books that would unlock the hidden totality of the Library. Thus some search for the crimson hexagon whose books are smaller in format, all-powerful, illustrated , and magical. Others search for the book of books, that bookwhich is the formula and perfect compendium for all the rest. But these books are never found. Hence our narrator ends with only a suggested solution to the problem of whether the Library is finite or infinite in scope: The Library is unlimited and cyclical. If an eternal traveler were to cross it in any direction, after centuries he would see that the same volumes were repeated in the same disorder (which, thus repeated, would be an order: the Order). (471; 58) Some thirty years later the book of books does in fact turn up, in "The Book of Sand," in a collection of stories with the same title. A seller of bibles visits the narrator...