The "antilibrary." Umberto Eco's personal library. Notes on libraries and librarians and bookstores. And librarian's liberating "professional literature."
There's a bookshop not a million miles from where I live called Libreria, in which all the books are arranged by theme -- fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, poetry etc all mixed up. It's to facilitate serendipity.
Thanks for the shout out, Terry. The organization of knowledge is a good study. I recall Foucault's The Order of Things, and the very humorous taxonomy: "This passage quotes a 'certain Chinese encyclopedia' in which it is written that 'animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (1) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off” look like flies'. In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking that."
Hi Mark. Yes, I know that taxonomy from an story by Borges -- so tongue in cheek. I think you will love the library-related post I'm working on (or, to be more accurate, the library-related part of a long post etc).
So true what you say: we are how we order things. That definitely indicates our priorities.
I look forward to reading the article in that link, thank you for including the link.
I love this quote so much. The whole post, really, as it speaks so much to my relationship with bookstores and libraries. Rarely do I go in with purpose other than, “Find something.” The magic is in the unknown and what is yet to be discovered. Also about 15% of my home library is unread? Sigh.
I think part on (un)reading is what kinds of purposes I have with a book, and I've thought about this by focusing on a book that lots of people have in their libraries. The Bible. I have at least four of them (or at least four that I actually use). Others might be lurking, completely unread. One is a copy of the Vulgate. St. Jerome's Latin that I rarely consult but have on occasion. But, God forgive me, my Latin has become so rusty as to be nonexistent. Another is a two volume set, paperbacked, with one volume for the Old Testament and the other (much slimmer) for the New. It's actually a Norton edition of *The English Bible, King James Version* that I got because it has copious notes and interpretive/historical writings. Good for context. I also have an *Oxford Annotated English Bible*, also good for notes but also one I marked up quite a bit in graduate school. I have an Annotated Apocrypha, too, and I've read Tobit a few times just for laughs. And then, in my study closest to hand, a King James Version that could as well have been picked up in a motel. I have no idea which publisher.
These books serve different purposes and so are all in their own fashion unread and in other ways read. No one reads a dictionary, but nearly everyone has one (at least those who lived pre-fast Internet). Many people read and re-read their favorite novels ... saturating "read-ness."
This was an absolute treat to read Mark. There must be some uncanny parallels between the humble and yet immersive bookstore and the newfangled “metaverse” that has now become part of common parlance.
And you’re absolutely right that serendipity is a natural bedfellow to scholarship. For me, my library of unread books instills a sense of purpose, meaning and mystique. A true scholar knows the books to read and the ones to leave unread.
Great article. I'm working on a huge review round-up that will address some of this. In the meantime I mentioned this article in my own Substack: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/start-the-week-1
There's a bookshop not a million miles from where I live called Libreria, in which all the books are arranged by theme -- fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, poetry etc all mixed up. It's to facilitate serendipity.
Thanks for the shout out, Terry. The organization of knowledge is a good study. I recall Foucault's The Order of Things, and the very humorous taxonomy: "This passage quotes a 'certain Chinese encyclopedia' in which it is written that 'animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (1) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off” look like flies'. In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap, the thing that, by means of the fable, is demonstrated as the exotic charm of another system of thought, is the limitation of our own, the stark impossibility of thinking that."
We are, somehow, the way we order things.
A friend gave me a lead on the Eco library labyrinth, reported here: https://technocomplex.substack.com/p/links-fall-2022. I think it's the first item in the list.
Looking forward t seeing what you come up with!
Hi Mark. Yes, I know that taxonomy from an story by Borges -- so tongue in cheek. I think you will love the library-related post I'm working on (or, to be more accurate, the library-related part of a long post etc).
So true what you say: we are how we order things. That definitely indicates our priorities.
I look forward to reading the article in that link, thank you for including the link.
I shall return!
“Serendipity is a friend of good scholarship.”
I love this quote so much. The whole post, really, as it speaks so much to my relationship with bookstores and libraries. Rarely do I go in with purpose other than, “Find something.” The magic is in the unknown and what is yet to be discovered. Also about 15% of my home library is unread? Sigh.
I think part on (un)reading is what kinds of purposes I have with a book, and I've thought about this by focusing on a book that lots of people have in their libraries. The Bible. I have at least four of them (or at least four that I actually use). Others might be lurking, completely unread. One is a copy of the Vulgate. St. Jerome's Latin that I rarely consult but have on occasion. But, God forgive me, my Latin has become so rusty as to be nonexistent. Another is a two volume set, paperbacked, with one volume for the Old Testament and the other (much slimmer) for the New. It's actually a Norton edition of *The English Bible, King James Version* that I got because it has copious notes and interpretive/historical writings. Good for context. I also have an *Oxford Annotated English Bible*, also good for notes but also one I marked up quite a bit in graduate school. I have an Annotated Apocrypha, too, and I've read Tobit a few times just for laughs. And then, in my study closest to hand, a King James Version that could as well have been picked up in a motel. I have no idea which publisher.
These books serve different purposes and so are all in their own fashion unread and in other ways read. No one reads a dictionary, but nearly everyone has one (at least those who lived pre-fast Internet). Many people read and re-read their favorite novels ... saturating "read-ness."
This was an absolute treat to read Mark. There must be some uncanny parallels between the humble and yet immersive bookstore and the newfangled “metaverse” that has now become part of common parlance.
And you’re absolutely right that serendipity is a natural bedfellow to scholarship. For me, my library of unread books instills a sense of purpose, meaning and mystique. A true scholar knows the books to read and the ones to leave unread.