Вавилонската библиотека на Монтен
Montaigne’s library of Babel

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a view on the creation of „Attempts” by Michel de Montaigne. It introduces the term „stream of citation” - a creative approach in which the use of a fragment of a book is of extreme importance. This fragment is considered as a reference note (according to Aristotle’s definition). The library has a crucial role in this approach as an effective fund of citations. This is the reason why Montaigne’s contribution to his own library is particularly. In this description Montagne’s library is compared to the Library of Babel from Borges’s work with the same name. We conclude that what is common between the two texts is the spirit of skepticism, due to the immeasurable increase of the number of books. We argue that there are two opposite tendencies. On the one hand, there is the ambition for each library to grow bigger collecting and systematizing (developing a catalogue for) the whole available information (books) to make it easily accessible and to answer all important questions of life. On the other hand, the natural result of the incontrollable increase of information (the books) is that it cannot subjected to systematization. In the immense number of books it is difficult to find the truth and the important questions remain without an answer. Although the study has historical parameters it suggests that we should discuss contemporary issues related to the information society, the excessive information in the digital world, the search in the field of systematization and the search for the information needed.

• Details
• Contents