I am creating this blog from almost nothing, and that does not make me God or a god. I have a few dollars to pay a hosting fee, a weak knowledge of posting anything on the internet, and a habit of reading, but apart from these, I have nothing.
I aspire to share my reading, and my thinking about my reading, hoping to provoke thought and discussion, encourage other readers, and introduce my audience to thinkers and writers unknown to them in an informal, non-scholarly format.
One of my favorite thinkers, and a writer whom I re-read often, is Jorge Luis Borges. This blog is not limited to Borges or a paean to him. However, he is the inspiration for its title, and his metaphor of the Universe as a vast library is a conceit for this blog. He describes Man as “el imperfecto bibliocario”, and I am assuming the role of the imperfect librarian. (Borges 79-88).
In that role, I read, think, and write. I believe that my reading enhances my thinking, and my thinking improves my writing. In my first year of university, I had to read “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, and later I made my students read it. Orwell posits that the English language “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts”– something akin to a theory of linguistic relativity or linguistic determinism. (Orwell 253). I do not know the answer to the question of which causes which: our foolish thoughts or the slovenliness of our language, but I would like to think more and think cogent thoughts. We don’t all aspire to write, but we all must think.
In the process, I am recording a list of my reading– what Borges might call a “true catalogue”. I make this record to ensure that I am transparent about what writers and topics I am reading and to lead by example. I might read something that encourages others to read it or something that provokes new and broader thinking. My reading list from 2018 to date appears in the Reading section of this site.
With these considerations in mind and since this is my first blog, I will describe my intended format. It loosely follows Borges’ metaphorical Library of Babel in which each page of each book has forty lines. My cursory research suggests that one page in Microsoft Word, with one-inch margins of single-spaced text in twelve-point font, is slightly more than forty lines or slightly less than five hundred words. I intend to keep those approximate line and word limits. This format will not address any topic in a thorough or scholarly manner, but with this limited scope, I will try to publish once a week as a poet instructs: “If you’re going to try, go all the way.” (Bukowski 408).
Please share my blog, challenge my thinking, and improve my writing.
Sincerely,
I. Librarian
Works Cited:
Borges, Jorge L. Ficciones. Grove Press, 1962.
Bukowski, Charles. “Roll the Dice.” What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk through the Fire. Black Sparrow Press, 1999.
Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” The Orwell Foundation, www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language.
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