MADreads

The library as idea

April 13th, 2009 Jon - Central Library

The books in our libraries say a lot about who we are. This goes for both our own personal libraries as well as our public libraries, and it applies whether we consciously try to build our identity with what we possess or whether what we’ve acquired at first seems haphazard.

“The Library as Identity” is just one of the essays in Alberto Manguel’s loving look at the libraries of the world, both ancient and modern, physical and virtual, real and imagined. Other topics in The Library at Night include “The Library as Order,” “The Library as Workshop,” and “The Library as Survival,” among many others. In each of the unnumbered, erudite sections Manguel moves elegantly around what must be his own library, stopping briefly with Walter Benjamin before moving on to Borges, gliding past Plutarch and Plato, and then spending time with Rabelais.

The tone of the essays are learned but friendly, covering more breadth than depth. If there is one overriding idea in the collection, it might be that our attempts at order-alphabetical or otherwise-are ultimately futile. Can the world be truly represented by the way we’ve ordered our books on our shelves? This can also be expressed in the contrast between the way our libraries seem during the day and how they really are-at night. During the day, our books sit on their shelves in their assigned places, but at night, we begin to wonder why two books are next to each other, and to doubt whether Dewey really knew anything, or not. Chaos enters our libraries under cover of darkness.

For Manguel, this is a welcome occasion, a fortunate fall. His book is an example of the good that can come from letting yourself wander among the stacks, letting your instincts guide you. In the end, The Library at Night is as much about the pleasures of reading as it is about the books themselves and the libraries where they are kept.

Entry Filed under: Nonfiction