A library of straight angles suggests division into parts or subjects, consistent with the medieval notion of a compartmentalized and hierarchical universe; a circular library more generously allows the reader to imagine that every last page is also the first. Ideally, for many readers, a library would be a combination of both, and intersection of circle and rectangle or oval and square, like the ground floor of a basilica.
Last edited by Open Library Bot
December 3, 2010 | History
The Library at Night 9 editions
About the Book
"The Library at Night is a book of variations on the theme of libraries. The title of each of the fifteen chapters promises to reveal: 'The Library as ...'; the as then being everything from 'Myth' to 'Shape' to 'Survival' to 'Identity'.
The very bookish Manguel anchors The Library at Night in his own experience -- and his own library, which he built in France around the remnants of a fifteenth-century barn and began to fill with his (tens of thousands of) books in the summer of 2003. From the design of the structure to the placement and order of the books, as well as what kind of books they are, Manguel repeatedly finds points to start his ruminations in (and eventually return them to) his own library and experiences, but his great book-knowledge leads him far afield, too. So The Library at Night is a pleasant journey across times and places, Manguel exploring the history of book-collections and repositories and the people behind them, and the books in them." - source
Subjects
People
Excerpts
Page 138,
added by George.
Books, even after they have been given a shelf and a number, retain a mobility of their own. Left to their own devices, they assemble in unexpected formations; they follow secret rules of similarity, unchronicled genealogies, common interests and themes.
Page 163,
added by George.
Links (outside Open Library)
9 editions First published in 2003
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History Created October 15, 2009 · 7 revisions
| December 3, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Added subjects from MARC records. |
| December 3, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Added subjects from MARC records. |
| August 15, 2010 | Edited by Markus Bonnevier | Edited without comment. |
| April 28, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Linked existing covers to the work. |
| October 15, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |