History Literature / TheLibraryOfBabel

* {{Infinite}}: Averted as it is explicitly stated that the library contains books of a certain format (410 pages, 40 lines on each page, 80 characters in each line with 25 available symbols (including the blank space) and every permutation thereof. While the number of permutations is mindboggingly vast (410x40x80 = 1,312,000 characters in every book, hence the number of permutations is 25^1,312,000 which is roughly 2x10^1,834.097 book; assuming standard dimensions for each book, the library is at least a million orders of magnitudes bigger than the observable universe we live in) it is not infinite. [[TakeAThirdOption Though the narrator does briefly speculate at one point that his universe might]] WrapAround.

* {{Deism}}: The narrator readily acknowledges that a universe like his could ''only'' exist as a direct creation of some sort of Deity, but within the story itself, said Deity is nowhere to be seen.

* {{Infinite}}: Averted as it is explicitly stated that the library contains books of a certain format (410 pages, 40 lines on each page, 80 characters in each line with 25 available symbols (including the blank space) and every permutation thereof. While the number of permutations is mindboggingly vast (410x40x80 = 1,312,000 characters in every book, hence the number of permutations is 25^1,312,000 which is roughly 2x10^1,834.097 book; assuming standard dimensions for each book, the library is at least a million orders of magnitudes bigger than the observable universe we live in) it is not infinite.

** This also applies to [[Creator/KurdLasswitz Kurd Laßwitz]]' short story "The Universal Library" (''Die Universalbibliothek'', 1901), on which Borges based his work, although here the Universal Library is merely discussed and analysed as a hypothetical possibility in a conversation between a professor and his friends.

* WorldShapes: The narrator initially believes, like most people, that the Library is infinite, though he later believes the world wraps around, making it either spherical or toroid. The world itself consists of a impossibly large area of hexagonal rooms, which are either library rooms, air shafts, or staircases.

* Defictionalization: There now exists a website called The Library of Babel. It can be found here: https://libraryofbabel.info/

* {{Defictionalization}}: Twice, [[DownplayedTrope to an extent.]] There is a [[https://libraryofbabel.info/ website]] and [[http://nothke.itch.io/library-of-blabber a game]] that both more or less recreate the library.

It describes a vast library of tomes that contain all possible permutations of letters as well as its inhabitants who try to make sense of the immense amount of unintelligible gibberish. The thought transpired that, since the library contains every possible permutation, it must contain every conceivable book and every story that will ever be written, including one's own life story (and several ''untrue'' versions of the same story) and the answers to any and all questions. However, as this precious information is buried somewhere within the depths of the library, it drives the people living in it mad.

* AkashicRecords: Taken to its most literal extreme. The library contains every possible arrangement of letters, spaces, and punctuation that will fit in a 410-page book[[note]]Including any 410-page excerpts from a longer work.[[/note]]. Unfortunately, too much information is just as bad as no information at all.

* AkashicRecords: Taken to its most literal extreme. The library contains every possible arrangement of letters, spaces, and punctuation that will fit in a 410-page book. Unfortunately, too much information is just as bad as no information at all.

* {{Infinite}}: Averted as it is explicitly stated that the library contains books of a certain format (410 pages, 40 lines on each page, 80 characters in each line with 25 available symbols (including the blank space) and every permutation thereof. While the number of permutations is mindboggingly vast (410x40x80 = 1.312.000 characters in every book, hence the number of permutations is 25^1.312.000 which is roughly 2x10^1.834,097 book; assuming standard dimensions for each book, the library is at least a million orders of magnitudes bigger than the observable universe we live in) it is not infinite.

* BookBurning: The Pilgrim destroy books by throwing down airshafts.

* WorldShapes: The narrator initially believes, like most people, that the Library is infinite, though he later believes the world wraps around, making it either spherical or toroid.

It describes a vast library of tomes that contain all possible permutations of letters as well as its inhabitants who try to make sense of the immense amount of unintelligible gibberish. The thought transpired that, since the library contains every possible permutation, it must contain every conceivable book and every story that will ever be written, including one's own life story and the answers to any and all questions. However, as this precious information is buried somewhere within the depths of the library, it drives the people living in it mad.

It describes a vast library of tomes that contain all possible permutations of letters as well as its inhabitants who try to make sense of the immense amount of unintelligible gibberish. The thought transpired that, since the library contain every possible permutation, it must contain every conceivable book and every story that will ever be written ever, including one's own life story as well as the answers to any and all questions. However, as this precious information is buried somewhere within the depths of the library, it drives the people living in it mad.

''The Library of Babel'' is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer {{Jorge Luis Borges}}.

The story provides examples of the following tropes:

* {{Great Big Library of Everything}}, obviously
* {{Infinite}} Averted as it is explicitly stated that the library contains books of a certain format (410 pages, 40 lines on each page, 80 characters in each line with 25 available symbols (including the blank space)) and every permutation thereof. While the number of permutations is mindboggingly vast (410x40x80 = 1.312.000 characters in every book, hence the number of permutations is 25^1.312.000 which is roughly 2x10^1.834,097 book; assuming standard dimensions for each book, the library is at least a million orders of magnitudes bigger than the observable universe we live in) it is not infinite.

* {{Great Big Library of Everything}}, obviously

''The Library of Babel'' is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer {{Jorge Luis Borges}}. It describes a vast library of tomes that contain all possible permutations of letters as well as its inhabitants who try to make sense of the immense amount of unintelligible gibberish. The thought transpired that, since the library contain every possible permutation, it must contain every conceivable book and every story that will ever be written ever, including one's own life story as well as the answers to any and all questions. However, as this precious information is buried somewhere within the depths of the library, it drives the people living in it mad.

The Library of Babel is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It describes a vast library of tomes that contain all possible permutations of letters as well as its inhabitants who try to make sense of the immense amount of unintelligible gibberish. The thought transpired that, since the library contain every possible permutation, it must contain every conceivable book and every story that will ever be written ever, including one's own life story as well as the answers to any and all questions. However, as this precious information is buried somewhere within the depths of the library, it drives the people living in it mad.