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7. The Library of Babel
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ficciones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Investigation and Knowledge
Language and Human Consciousness
Perspective, Authorship, and Subjectivity
Infinity
Reality vs. Illusion
Summary
Analysis
The story opens by saying that a book called A History of the World War states that a British offensive during World War I had to be postponed due to rain. However, an unnamed narrator now furnishes a deposition by Dr. Yu Tsun that calls A History of the World War’s explanation into question, casting new light on the chain of events leading to the offensive’s postponement.
Once again, Borges plays with the boundary between fact and fiction. The deposition he provides in this story is fictional, but it gives readers the sense that they’re actually learning something new about World War I—a war that, of course, really did take place. In turn, Borges manages to bring his readers into a fictional world that feels familiar and realistic, and this then makes some of the more extraordinary elements of Borges’s work easier to engage with.
Themes
Dr. Yu Tsun is a German spy operating in France during the war. His deposition begins with his realization that a British Captain named Richard Madden has just caught one of the German spies with whom Yu Tsun works. The other spy’s name is Viktor Runeberg, and Yu Tsun assumes that Madden has arrested him—however, a footnote specifies (in retrospect) that Madden actually killed Runeberg. Either way, it’s clear that Madden will come for Yu Tsun next.
Dr. Yu Tsun’s situation is clearly quite dangerous, and this feeling of danger infuses the story with a sense of urgency. What’s more, the fact that Yu Tsun is unaware of what really happened to Runeberg highlights the important role that the discovery and dissemination of information will play in this story.
Themes
Yu Tsun returns to his room and considers what to do about Madden. He remarks that it is incredible that this day, seemingly like all other days, may be the day of his own death. Yu Tsun considers the fact that one’s experience is limited only to the present and is limited to one’s own point of view, but his hatred for Madden puts a stop to his existential musings.
Though Yu Tsun is engaged in what is essentially a fight to the death between two sides, he has the empathetic capacity to recognize that he can only see his own point of view. This, however, doesn’t transcend his capacity for wartime animosity.
Themes
Yu Tsun also feels satisfaction at the fact that he, as a German spy, has discovered the location of the British army’s gathering of troops and in the fact that Madden has no idea that he possesses this information. He tries to figure out how to get the information to his chief. He empties his pockets and finds a pistol with a single bullet. Yu Tsun is motivated not by love for Germany or hatred for England but out of a desire to prove to the chief that a Chinese man could save his country.
Yu Tsun clearly takes pride in his work as a spy and, in a larger sense, the power that he holds as an individual in this conflict. Yu Tsun’s motivation to prove his own merit as a Chinese man, rather than to fight for Germany or destroy England, demonstrates that there are many reasons a person might take on a role in a larger world event.
Themes
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Yu Tsun goes to the train station and buys a ticket. Though he is going to the village of Ashgrove, he buys a ticket for a station further along the train line to cover his tracks. Yu Tsun sees Madden run after the train as it pulls away. At first, Yu Tsun is scared that Madden will discover him, but soon takes pleasure in the fact that he has beaten Madden in the first stage of this encounter.
Though Yu Tsun and Madden are involved in a much larger conflict, Yu Tsun takes this conflict down to a personal dimension through the minutiae of his encounter with Madden.
Themes
When the train arrives at the station, Yu Tsun asks some children if they are in Ashgrove. The children ask if he is going to Dr. Stephen Albert’s house, and they give him directions. He throws the children his last coin. He reflects that their directions to take every left turn remind him of a trick to get to the middle of a labyrinth. He thinks about his great-grandfather, Ts’ui Pên, who gave up an illustrious political career to write a novel and create a great labyrinth. However, after his death, the labyrinth was never found, and the novel did not receive praise. As he walks, Yu Tsun becomes lost in his thoughts.
Presumably, the children assume that Yu Tsun is going to Albert’s house because Yu Tsun is Chinese and Albert is a Sinologist (someone who studies China). In throwing the children his last coin, Yu Tsun shows that he knows fulfilling this mission may be the last thing he ever does. Yu Tsun’s thinking about Ts’ui Pên’s labyrinth demonstrates how deeply this familial legacy (or shame) is ingrained in his self-understanding.
Themes
In the distance, Yu Tsun hears Chinese music. He comes upon a Chinese-style pagoda, where Stephen Albert invites him in. Albert assumes that Yu Tsun is a consul named Hsi P’eng and has come to see the garden of forking paths. Albert relates his life story, including his dream to become a Sinologist. The men discuss Ts’ui Pên’s work. Albert comments on how strange a mission Ts’ui Pên took on, having been an accomplished man in many other fields. Yu Tsun tells him that Pên’s descendants still curse his novel for destroying his legacy.
Albert’s immersion in Chinese culture demonstrates his dedication to the subject matter. As he and Yu Tsun cross paths, their bonding over their shared interests builds a relationship between them, even though Yu Tsun knows that he plans on killing Albert.
Themes
Albert tells him that he has figured out the secret: Ts’ui Pên’s novel itself actually was the labyrinth. Albert explains that the word “time” never appears in the novel—thus, an examination of time is its purpose. This is also expressed through the novel’s creation of infinite timelines. Furthermore, in a letter from Ts’ui Pen, he writes “I leave to various future times, but not to all, my garden of forking paths” (the labyrinth). Therefore, Ts’ui Pên believed time was nonlinear and infinite.
The fact that the novel itself was the labyrinth throws a wrench in the assumption that a labyrinth has to be a physical labyrinth—rather, a labyrinth can be anything that takes the user through twists and turns.
Themes
As Albert turns around, Yu Tsun shoots him, and he instantly dies. Afterwards, Madden arrests Yu Tsun. In his deposition, though, Yu Tsun notes that he has fulfilled his original mission: because the newspapers reported on the mysterious murder of Albert, Yu Tsun was able to send a message to his chief—after all, Albert was the name of the town in France where the British soldiers were located. Yu Tsun himself will soon be executed, but he succeeded in his mission, as the Germans bombed Albert, France just yesterday. Although Yu Tsun has fulfilled his mission, he still feels guilty about the murder.
Yu Tsun assumed his superiors would understand that he killed a random man named Albert as a way of secretly communicating to them that their rival soldiers were stationed in the town of Albert, France—and this assumption, it appears, was correct, since Albert, France was subsequently bombed. Yu Tsun’s willingness to kill Albert even though they share and connect over a niche interest demonstrates the extent to which Yu Tsun is tied to his mission as part of the German war effort. However, his guilt about the murder coexists with his pride for fulfilling this mission; thus, Yu Tsun experiences the complexities of being both an individual and part of a larger cause.
Themes
