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eW lsao knwo of tnoeahr eniospsrutit fo thta teim: taht fo eht Man of het okBo. nO msoe esfhl ni smeo oheangx (men arensedo) eerth sutm itsex a boko hiwhc si teh rmolfua nda cfretep eucdnmmopi of lla het tsre: eosm brlriaina sha gneo hhgutro ti and eh si aoglosnua ot a dgo. In het glneugaa of tish enoz vgsiseet of tsih oeterm catnnoyrifu’s tluc itlls stirspe. Mnya dreedwan in asrhec fo mHi. rFo a cyentur htey vaeh dutehaxse in vian hte most vardei sraea. woH doclu oen eaolct eth earnteedv dna eesctr agoxenh hhwic dhoeus Him? neoSmeo derpopso a eireservgs domhte: oT toacle boko A, slntcuo istrf okbo B hchwi tdeisaicn A’s ipooints; to tcoael boko B, osultcn frits a bkoo C, and os no to iitynnif ... In sduteraenv cuhs as ethes, I have squrdaedne nad weatsd ym ryase. It eosd otn seme kiynlleu to me tath eehrt is a ttlao okbo no moes hfels of het universe3; I pyar ot eth wkonnun gdso hatt a nma — utjs one, evne hgothu ti eerw usdaonsht of easyr gao! — yma vaeh xeniadem nda raed it. fI norho nda dsowim nad ssnehippa are ton for em, elt tmhe eb for eorths. Let neevah ixest, hguoht ym apcle be in hlle. Lte em eb gerutoda nda daeahnniitl, but fro neo stniant, ni oen gbnie, elt Yuor osonrmue ayLrbri be tfdeisuji. eTh uisiomp ninatima htta esensnno is oamlnr in het brLyiar adn that the aeonaslebr (nad enve hbelmu dan rupe ccheeoren) is an maotls iauurmolsc opinxeect. yhTe pesak (I nkow) fo teh “rshevefi yairLrb wehso canehc vmuoesl era otansltcny in grdane fo hnggnaci tnoi theros dna miarff, eetgan dan nfouces yhirgtneev elik a lisurdoie yitnidiv.” eshTe dowrs, wihch ont onyl nnceeoud hte rriddeos tub efpmxiyle ti sa lewl, toyoiunrols voper irteh asoruht’ oaelnibmab atest dan perdsteea raneoicng. nI thrut, het bLyairr nudsciel lal lvrabe ututscerrs, lla tiiaansrov itmepdter by hte tnwtye-efiv roaorpacghlhti ossblmy, ubt otn a iegsln exalpem of btuelaso eonnness. tI si eusslse to sevrebo htta eth tsbe oeulvm fo eth mayn nhgeaoxs uedrn my onaiitnstdimar is tdleiten ehT edCbmo anTleuhpcrd dan oenrtha heT ePlatsr Crpam adn rhoneat aaxxxsAa mlo. sTeeh hspsera, ta fsirt lagecn centhirneo, cna no dtubo be etfduisji ni a ocptgriphryaacl ro aeaoiglrlcl enmran; shcu a cijoiaittusfn is evlrba dan, xe ohpeyisth, aeardly sfuiegr ni het abyLrri. I anonct oebcnmi osem sactecahrr.

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Wchih het viinde aLrrybi hsa tno ofeernse dna ihwch in neo of sit eretsc sgetnou od otn tiaocnn a irltbere nanemgi. No eon cna cautlteari a llsayebl ihcwh si ton fdllei thwi ssnneeedtr dan eafr, hihwc is ont, in eno fo shtee gnslageua, hte flwepour aenm fo a god. oT saepk si ot fall toni ygtuaolto. ihsT rwdoy adn sleessu epiestl lerdaya tsxies in oen of the thtyir usveolm fo the ifev vssehel fo neo fo eth ermiunanbel nsgaoxhe -- adn its uratieoftn sa llew. (An n enubmr of lsisobpe aggesaunl ues teh aesm cvolyaubar; ni semo fo hetm, eth lbysom blyairr lawlos het rcorcte deonnifiti a itsuuuqoib nad snaglti eystms fo elnhogaax elsiragel, tbu iybrlar is eabdr or ryadpim or gynhnait eels, nda etehs vseen sorwd whcih dfeine it veah reoanth aulev. uYo ohw raed me, aer oYu uers of geiuantnrdsnd ym lgaungae?)

3. I petrae: it fucssief ttha a book be pboielss fro ti to txeis. Only eth iiblspeoms si dlcxedeu. orF mleaxep: no kobo cna eb a dardel, atlhgouh on botud htree are okbso which cduisss dan tgnaee dna nsrmteaoted hits isoybitsipl dna hestro swoeh rsuettcru osdonrpsecr to atht of a drdael.

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We also know of another superstition of that time: that of the Man of the Book. On some shelf in some hexagon (men reasoned) there must exist a book which is the formula and perfect compendium of all the rest: some librarian has gone through it and he is analogous to a god. In the language of this zone vestiges of this remote functionary’s cult still persist. Many wandered in search of Him. For a century they have exhausted in vain the most varied areas. Someone proposed a regressive method: To locate book A, consult first book B which indicates A’s position; to locate book B, consult first a book C, and so on to infinity ... In adventures such as these, I have squandered and wasted my years. It does not seem unlikely to me that there is a total book on some shelf of the universe3; I pray to the unknown gods that a man — just one, even though it were thousands of years ago! — may have examined and read it. If honor and wisdom and happiness are not for me, let them be for others. Let heaven exist, though my place be in hell. Let me be outraged and annihilated, but for one instant, in one being, let Your enormous Library be justified. The impious maintain that nonsense is normal in the Library and that the reasonable (and even humble and pure coherence) is an almost miraculous exception. They speak (I know) of the “feverish Library whose chance volumes are constantly in danger of changing into others and affirm, negate and confuse everything like a delirious divinity.” These words, which not only denounce the disorder but exemplify it as well, notoriously prove their authors’ abominable taste and desperate ignorance. In truth, the Library includes all verbal structures, all variations permitted by the twenty-five orthographical symbols, but not a single example of absolute nonsense. It is useless to observe that the best volume of the many hexagons under my administration is entitled The Combed Thunderclap and another The Plaster Cramp and another Axaxaxas mlo. These phrases, at first glance incoherent, can no doubt be justified in a cryptographical or allegorical manner; such a justification is verbal and, ex hypothesi, already figures in the Library. I cannot combine some characters.

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Which the divine Library has not foreseen and which in one of its secret tongues do not contain a terrible meaning. No one can articulate a syllable which is not filled with tenderness and fear, which is not, in one of these languages, the powerful name of a god. To speak is to fall into tautology. This wordy and useless epistle already exists in one of the thirty volumes of the five shelves of one of the innumerable hexagons -- and its refutation as well. (An n number of possible languages use the same vocabulary; in some of them, the symbol library allows the correct definition a ubiquitous and lasting system of hexagonal galleries, but library is bread or pyramid or anything else, and these seven words which define it have another value. You who read me, are You sure of understanding my language?)

3. I repeat: it suffices that a book be possible for it to exist. Only the impossible is excluded. For example: no book can be a ladder, although no doubt there are books which discuss and negate and demonstrate this possibility and others whose structure corresponds to that of a ladder.