David Duffy wrote:
James Nicoll wrote:
Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/
"A while ago I witnessed a moment of magic: a bookish child encountering the Kitchener Public Library for the first time..."
"The child, as I said, in time discovers _The Book of Gold_. Then the librarians come -
like vampires, some say, but others say like the fairy godparents at a christening. They
speak to the child, and the child joins them. Henceforth he is in the library wherever
he may be, and soon his parents know him no more. I suppose it is much the same
among the torturers."
This is prefaced by Master Ultan, who is suspiciously like Borges, hesitating, as if "he feared that what he was about to say might cause
Cyby [his apprentice] pain". Given that several people think Cyby is
actually Gene Wolfe... early in _The Shadow of the Torturer_
Borges and _The Name of the Rose_
...Now we come to Jorge of Burgos, Eco's blind librarian (with the
perennial epithet of "venerable," as Homer's dawn is always "rosy-
fingered"). The character's name (hereafter Jorge) obviously
indicates Borges, with the further connection that he is Spanish.
Jorge is a master of the labyrinth and library which hold so many
Borgesian connections. This much is obvious. What, however, can be
gleaned from the fact that Eco chose to represent Borges, rather
than a Borges character, with his character Jorge of Burgos?
Although one could argue that Jorge represents the character from
"The Secret Miracle," it seems fairly clear that he's rather the man
Borges himself. As Eco writes in the Postscript, "library plus blind
man can only equal Borges." (515) This has become a fairly standard
device among the "School of Borges," as one could classify the
writers mentioned in the present study's introduction. ...
<
https://web.archive.org/web/20070814084440/http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_papers_ketzan.html>
Although an earlier thread posted mere months ago mentions more
momentous libraries:
<
https://rec.arts.sf.written.narkive.com/euMS1hJH/from-bag-end-to-babel-top-10-libraries-in-fiction>
it remains opportune to observe offbeat, obscure libraries.
Bradbury's heavily associated with libraries in real life. His fictional _Fahrenheit 451_ has human hillbillies blossom into walking, talking
books. And authors accompany each other on Mars in "The Exiles."
The Newberry Library in Chicago serves as a sporadic setting in
_The Time Traveler's Wife_ (Niffenegger).
The New York Public Library at 476 5th Avenue sometimes serves as a
setting as the Administrative Chambers in _Adjustment Bureau_ - the
Hollywood treatment for "Adjustment Team" (PKD).
Danke,
--
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tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.
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