Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries

Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.

https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 2/6/2024 10:18 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>
> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/

In the Discworld books, the Library of the Unseen University is notable.

Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End" is very library-centric, and has the
underground order of "Librarians Militant".

pt

On Feb 6, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
(in article <uptik1$tr$1@reader1.panix.com>):

> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>
> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-powe
> r-of-libraries/

Hmm. Adele Mundy, Librarian At Arms. Any library she’s in is perilous.

On 2/6/24 7:28 PM, WolfFan wrote:
> On Feb 6, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
> (in article <uptik1$tr$1@reader1.panix.com>):
>
>> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>>
>> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-powe
>> r-of-libraries/
>
> Hmm. Adele Mundy, Librarian At Arms. Any library she’s in is perilous.
>

Yes! How could I have forgotten Adele?

Some others that come to mind:
The Library at Mount Char, though I think they are refused entry for a
lot of the book.

In the 3rd (I think) Silence Leigh volume, she procures permission to
regularly access non-restricted areas of a library, to her great advantage.

The Drood family library figures prominently in at least two of Simon R
Green's Secret Histories (I've only read the first 4-5.)

Hermione (especially) benefits from the library at numerous points in
the Harry Potter series.

In article <0001HW.2B730622044B90BD70000909238F@news.eternal-september.org>,
WolfFan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
>On Feb 6, 2024, James Nicoll wrote
>(in article <uptik1$tr$1@reader1.panix.com>):
>
>> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>>
>> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-powe
>> r-of-libraries/
>
>Hmm. Adele Mundy, Librarian At Arms. Any library she’s in is perilous.
>

Libraries & Librarians are deadly dangerous in Nightvale (but then, what
isn't?)
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

In real life, while we haven't managed a time machine to let us
visit the Library of Alexandria in its heyday, modern tomography
and AI technology have joined forces to permit reading the first
of many books found in a private book collection in Pompeii that
had been charred into unreadable and fragile objects.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/trio-wins-700k-vesuvius-challenge-grand-prize-for-deciphering-ancient-scroll/

While I'm not optimistic that any of the most ardently desired
lost books of antiquity will be found here, none the less, no doubt
many previously unknown works will come to life, from which we
will learn much, at least, about life and literature in ancient Rome,
if not about their knowledge of mathematics and science.

John Savard

In article <64ac1ac6-6757-4f37-bcfb-f0ddd5926204n@googlegroups.com>,
Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

> In real life, while we haven't managed a time machine to let us
> visit the Library of Alexandria in its heyday, modern tomography
> and AI technology have joined forces to permit reading the first
> of many books found in a private book collection in Pompeii that
> had been charred into unreadable and fragile objects.
>
> https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/trio-wins-700k-vesuvius-challenge-gran
> d-prize-for-deciphering-ancient-scroll/
>

Well, if you had actually read more than the headline, you would have
seen that the book collection was in Herculaneum.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>
> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/

"A while ago I witnessed a moment of magic: a bookish child encountering the
Kitchener Public Library for the first time..."

"The child, as I said, in time discovers _The Book of Gold_. Then the librarians come -
like vampires, some say, but others say like the fairy godparents at a christening. They
speak to the child, and the child joins them. Henceforth he is in the library wherever
he may be, and soon his parents know him no more. I suppose it is much the same
among the torturers."

This is prefaced by Master Ultan, who is suspiciously like Borges,
hesitating, as if "he feared that what he was about to say might cause
Cyby [his apprentice] pain". Given that several people think Cyby is
actually Gene Wolfe... early in _The Shadow of the Torturer_

Cheers, David Duffy.

David Duffy wrote:
> James Nicoll wrote:
>> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>>
>> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/
>
> "A while ago I witnessed a moment of magic: a bookish child encountering the
> Kitchener Public Library for the first time..."
>
> "The child, as I said, in time discovers _The Book of Gold_. Then the librarians come -
> like vampires, some say, but others say like the fairy godparents at a christening. They
> speak to the child, and the child joins them. Henceforth he is in the library wherever
> he may be, and soon his parents know him no more. I suppose it is much the same
> among the torturers."
>
> This is prefaced by Master Ultan, who is suspiciously like Borges,
> hesitating, as if "he feared that what he was about to say might cause
> Cyby [his apprentice] pain". Given that several people think Cyby is
> actually Gene Wolfe... early in _The Shadow of the Torturer_

Borges and _The Name of the Rose_

...Now we come to Jorge of Burgos, Eco's blind librarian (with the
perennial epithet of "venerable," as Homer's dawn is always "rosy-
fingered"). The character's name (hereafter Jorge) obviously
indicates Borges, with the further connection that he is Spanish.
Jorge is a master of the labyrinth and library which hold so many
Borgesian connections. This much is obvious. What, however, can be
gleaned from the fact that Eco chose to represent Borges, rather
than a Borges character, with his character Jorge of Burgos?
Although one could argue that Jorge represents the character from
"The Secret Miracle," it seems fairly clear that he's rather the man
Borges himself. As Eco writes in the Postscript, "library plus blind
man can only equal Borges." (515) This has become a fairly standard
device among the "School of Borges," as one could classify the
writers mentioned in the present study's introduction. ...

<https://web.archive.org/web/20070814084440/http://www.themodernword.com/borges/borges_papers_ketzan.html>

Although an earlier thread posted mere months ago mentions more
momentous libraries:

<https://rec.arts.sf.written.narkive.com/euMS1hJH/from-bag-end-to-babel-top-10-libraries-in-fiction>

it remains opportune to observe offbeat, obscure libraries.

Bradbury's heavily associated with libraries in real life. His fictional
_Fahrenheit 451_ has human hillbillies blossom into walking, talking
books. And authors accompany each other on Mars in "The Exiles."

The Newberry Library in Chicago serves as a sporadic setting in
_The Time Traveler's Wife_ (Niffenegger).

The New York Public Library at 476 5th Avenue sometimes serves as a
setting as the Administrative Chambers in _Adjustment Bureau_ - the
Hollywood treatment for "Adjustment Team" (PKD).

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

On Tue, 6 Feb 2024 15:18:25 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

> Five SFF Works That Explore the (Sometimes Perilous) Power of Libraries
>
> Knowledge is power, and with great power comes... well, you know.
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-works-that-explore-the-sometimes-perilous-power-of-libraries/

In reading _Down These Dark Spaceways_ (2005, Mike Resnick), I have
just gotten to the scene in "City of Cries" where Major Bhajan
realizes that the palace library has undermined the prince's adorable
ignorance.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/