The Book of Sand

February 7, 2002 2:52 PM

The Book of Sand - a hypertext puzzle (via the Garden of Forking Paths). "There are people who barely feel poetry, and they are generally dedicated to teaching it." Jorge Luis Borges.
posted by liam (9 comments total)

gracias, liam!
posted by vacapinta at 3:11 PM on February 7, 2002

Very curious. Thanks.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:52 PM on February 7, 2002

The design is beautiful; the puzzle intriguing. I could never understand how some people can look at literature without having read Borges, the reader's reader and the writer's writer. It looks so easy until you try it.

Cheers, liam, once again!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:58 PM on February 7, 2002

The Time Machine, a cool touring exhibition of Borges' manuscripts and related documents, photos and artworks, is currently on show at The Grolier Club in New York City. It will be in San Francisco at the Public Library in June, and then goes to Harvard, Penn, and John Hopkins Universities.
posted by liam at 4:03 PM on February 7, 2002

Wow. Fantastic link, Liam!
posted by dlewis at 5:41 PM on February 7, 2002

Groovy.
posted by dong_resin at 9:41 PM on February 7, 2002

Thanks, Liam - yet another Excellent Reason to Keep Visiting MeFI™.
posted by rory at 2:15 AM on February 8, 2002

Thank you, liam, for the link. Borges has been a favorite of mine for more than 25 years, and that was a very nice site. I enjoyed what the site designer said: "It is strange how many of Borges' stories seem like prophetic references to the dense, mazelike, abstract universe of the World Wide Web. The Garden of Forking Paths, with its labyrinth of possibilities, and The Library of Babel, with its infinite but chaotic collection of texts, are two of the more obvious ones."
posted by LeLiLo at 9:36 PM on February 8, 2002

You're welcome, all. Aside from Borges' greatness as a writer, I'm always interested in artists and philosophers whose work translates in some way to the workings of the web, and to sites which try to make use of this. Long ago, before I was aware of the internet, I was fascinated by work that transcended the basic linear or spatial rules of narrative. It's fun to watch the possibilities evolving.
posted by liam at 11:23 PM on February 8, 2002