The burden of its blueprint

· by · in dVerse, poetry. ·

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, sperhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries.
― Jorge Luis Borges, The library of Babel

“Until then I had thought each book spoke of the things, human or divine, that lie outside books. Now I realized that not infrequently books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves. In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring, an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

I still recall the photocopied pages
we passed and read, discussed
that first year at university, when
our minds grappled with calculus
in three dimensions and understood
how Borges’ metaphor made
sense of the subtle difference
between infinity and definite, the
universe that Borges named “the
library” – a labyrinth of both chaos
and a senseless order; later I read
Eco, understanding how we shared
the same impressions, but also
placed into the library a librarian,
but also how sometimes books
serves books, and even the best of
us are just a single comprehensible
sentence surrounded by volumes
of random gibberish, who are we
but randomness? just turmoil that
nature try in vain to discipline into
a modest semblance of structure,
and every one of us carry within
the burden of its vast blueprint.

From Erik Desmazières – La Bibliothèque de Babel 

Today Dora is guest hosting at dVerse Poetics and she asks us to write about a work by a dead poet or novelist that have talked especially strong to us, given that this is the season when we should remember the dead. I actually chose two authors very inspired by each other who in turn have inspired me.

October 31, 2023

35 responses to “The burden of its blueprint”

  1. The last two lines are weighty, but resonances of Borges and Eco impinge the whole: the marvel, the mystery, “a labyrinth of both chaos/and a senseless order.” I see now the air the librarian breathes.

  2. I can get lost in the library and its vast blueprint. A world on its own, both chaos and order.

    between infinity and definite, the
    universe that Borges named “the
    library” – a labyrinth of both chaos
    and a senseless order;

  3. Hi Björn. Thanks for dropping by my blog. I have edited my today post because the poem i wrote about the book i read, the author is still alive.
    So now i have put in a new poem about one of the books i read from George Eliot.
    Visit again.

    Much💛love

  4. We’re on the same infernal page, I think. There’s a repository for all those great voices, and late at night the library entertains such a choir!

  5. I love the idea that books are talking among themselves!

    I liked this…
    ,,,and even the best of
    us are just a single comprehensible
    sentence surrounded by volumes
    of random gibberish, who are we
    but randomness?

      • Makes me wonder how much original writing really exists. It all seems to build on what others have said before. Much like music copying lines from other musicians and making it their own.

  6. i love everything about this– the quotes, the image, and your beautiful contribution that pays tribute to both quoted authors. so. good.

  8. “just turmoil that
    nature try in vain to discipline into
    a modest semblance of structure,
    and every one of us carry within
    the burden of its vast blueprint.”

    I do relate to this – nature seems to never get me in line.

  9. I love that you chose two authors, Björn, especially two who were inspired by each other, the title, the idea that the universe is a library ‘of chaos and a senseless order’, and books speaking among themselves. These lines stood out for me:
    ‘… even the best of
    us are just a single comprehensible
    sentence surrounded by volumes
    of random gibberish, who are we
    but randomness?’

  10. the place of a long, centuries-old murmuring…

    This is more than a visit to the library… it’s an understanding that books have their own mycelium like trees…
    Ooh, I love it.

  11. even the best of
    us are just a single comprehensible
    sentence surrounded by volumes
    of random gibberish, who are we
    but randomness? – this is brilliant… and of course if the universe is the library and we are single sentences… the librarian is a matter to ponder over.

  12. Immediately I thought if your librarian, the universe as library is perfect, and is not Eco speaking of this library? Wow! Such a stimulating idea! And the books communing together foreshadows AI. Is it even possible for a human creation to NOT escape its origin? At once exciting and terrifying (and the only difference there is my attitude about it! Lol)

  13. It seems to me that people who work or create with words possibly accord them greater importance than they actually have. The weight of words on the world, has it ever been more than the evolution of trees, and in the end, the splitting of the atom?

  14. Who are we but randomness – life is full of random happenings and sometimes as hard as we try we cannot find the exact point of connection. Perhaps, in the library it is more a short story than a volume. Hmm just pondering

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