Inspired by the process of creating
a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire, in France,
Alberto Manguel, the acclaimed writer on books and reading, has
taken up the subject of libraries. "Libraries," he says, "have
always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can
remember I've been seduced by their labyrinthine logic." In this
personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he
offers a captivating meditation on the meaning of libraries.
Manguel, a guide of irrepressible
enthusiasm, conducts a unique library tour that extends from his
childhood bookshelves to the "complete" libraries of the Internet,
from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Arab world, from China and
Rome to Google. He ponders the doomed library of Alexandria as well
as the personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges,
and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled
against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought-the Polish librarian
who smuggled books to safety as the Nazis began their destruction
of Jewish libraries; the Afghani bookseller who kept his store open
through decades of unrest. Oral "memory libraries" kept alive by
prisoners, libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of
Count Dracula, the library of books never written-Manguel
illuminates the mysteries of libraries as no other writer could.
With scores of wonderful images throughout, The Library at
Night is a fascinating voyage through Manguel's mind, memory,
and vast knowledge of books and civilizations.