Jackie: The Library of Babel

In the magical realism packet, Roh states, “Expressionism searches for a secret geometry” on page 27. In this story, expressionism can be in the form of the hexagonal rooms which are the necessary shape of absolute space. The geometry can be seen in the shape of these hexagonal shaped rooms which are the center of the sphere shaped library, but the secret or hidden geometry cannot be seen, because there is no circumference.

Roh states, “The intrinsic miniature is art produced by attempting to locate infinity in small things” on page 27. In this story, infinity can be found in these books that were smaller than natural books which were known as The Vindications. The knowledge in these books was infinite. They held prophesies, the future for every man and they told of all the actions and words that every person is doing or saying at any particular moment. Roh also writes, “The extent to which the miniature can express power all by itself can be explained by thinking of the greatest spectacle that nature offers us, a sight that contains the smallest units, almost simple units placed on the prodigious surface…” on page 29. The Vindications are of the “greatest spectacle” because of their uniqueness and the fact that they are irreplaceable. They are also “simple units placed on the prodigious surface,” because the book is so small, but it is placed in the prodigious library. Also, on page 29 Roh states, “In Grosz and Dix this miniaturism tries to present the horrible side of the world in the crudest manner and in all its minute detail.” The “horrible side” of the librarians is seen when they find out about this magical book. They mutter expletives, strangle one another, throw books around, and others went insane.

Flores writes, “Time exists in a kind of timeless fluidity and the unreal happens as part of reality” on page 115. Borges talks about everything being written down about our past so our existence was erased or our current existence is not real or is some kind of an illusion. Time is timeless, and the past life of these librarians is nothing and their present lives are unreal and are nothing but an illusion.

Magical realism has to deal with binaries and there are several binaries in this story. Borges states, “Let heaven exist, though my own place be hell,” on page 117. The binary in this case is heaven and hell. It is heaven, because this magical and infinite book exists, but it is also hell, because there is no way for this librarian to get to this book or be able to read it. Also, the binary of rationality and irrationality can be seen. All of the books within the library contain rational lines, statements and elements but for every rational line, element or statement there is irrationality. The irrationality exists because the books themselves have no meaning, are verbal nonsense or are incoherent. On page 112, Borges states, “The light they give is insufficient and unceasing.” The binary that can be seen here is ceasing light and unceasing light. The light is unceasing and will never stop providing light, but at the same time it is incapable of providing light.

The library resembles a labyrinth, because it is like maze full of books with many different passageways, but only one passageway will deliver you to The Vindications which is a destination that is reachable but indefinite in the eyes of the librarians. The soviet army is like a labyrinth, because it takes many secretive actions and does many secretive things in which innocent people get stuck in the middle of it and the only way for these innocent people to survive in this labyrinth is to reach a destination that results with Stalin standing at the end of it. In both cases, this labyrinth is convoluted in the library as well as in the Soviet Union and the destination at the end of this labyrinth does not bear good news or bad news, but an infinity of unpredictability where nothing is concrete but everything ambiguous.