31–38 of 38 posts
It's not a labyrinth though!? Begin argument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth
The labyrinth symbol, as a decoration or motif in ancient Greek artifacts, isn't generally a maze, but the labyrinth of myth is. Theseus had to use thread, given to him by Ariadne, to find his way back out.
"House of Asterion" is Borges's main labyrinth story as far as I can remember. "Library of Babel", "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbits Tertius", "The Immortal" and "The Aleph" are my favorites. His collected works fit in a single book and is a great example of quality beats quantity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or chronologically, you may like Ted Chiang if you like Borges. I mean, who was there first?
This comes off as claiming that no one could possibly read Harry Potter if they haven't read The Illiad yet, nor the Illiad if they haven't read the Epic of Gilgamesh.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Q...
I love this book so much (Labyrinths, by Borges). I once calculated the number of books in The Library of Bable, and had to try a number of numerical libraries to do so. one after another they kept puking on the large integers. I also think of "the secret miracle" often.
Here is someone's attempt at calculating the volume of the library: https://canterburybookstore.com/new-content/2024/11/22/how-b... Spoilers: it's big. Vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big. You might think it's a long way across the diameter of the observable universe but that's just peanuts compared to the library. Also, a fun website: https://libraryofbabel.info/
"House of Asterion" is Borges's main labyrinth story as far as I can remember. "Library of Babel", "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbits Tertius", "The Immortal" and "The Aleph" are my favorites. His collected works fit in a single book and is a great example of quality beats quantity.
I suspect most would point to The Garden of Forking Paths as his "main labyrinth story" if he could be said to have such a thing. The Library of Babel is also a labyrinth of sorts. I recall another where a guy faked his own murder. He was really a labyrinthine guy.
I don't think I've come across anything related to Borges that hasn't been worth reading. I really need to investigate him more. My first introduction was the 'Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge'[0], from which I will never forget "those that tremble as if they were mad" And in rare scenarios I've found 'On Exactitude in Science'[1] to be pertinent. The thing itself is it's own map (maybe even: the code _is_…
I refer to Exactitude quite often, but more often to highlight that the code isn't the documentation, to use the same analogy. When we make a map, it is a purposeful abstraction. It disregards some things and exaggerates others. The map cannot explain everything – to do so it would need to be exactly the same size as the land beneath it. When you make a map, document code, present or listen to an argument etc. you ne…