Magic & Madness in the Library : Protagonists Among the Stacks (Paperback)

~ Eric Graeber (Editor) "The word "library" can provoke a strong reflex reaction..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miss Copeland, Children's Library, British Museum (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Fiction on the unique experience and curious atmosphere of libraries around the world, across time, that have inspired writers to dream up magic and madness. Some of these libraries existed, some have been drawn from the imagination, but all share the charm and mystery that has always haunted writers. Among the authors: Cervantes, Swift, Verne, Voltaire, Wharton, Huxley, Woolf, Borges.

About the Author

Eric Graeber is Head Librarian of the General Society Library, one of the few remaining private lending libraries in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Birch Brook Press; 1 edition (April 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913559369
• ISBN-13: 978-0913559369
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,844,498 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Library - Through the Eyes of Great Writers, August 16, 2004

By	Michael Wischmeyer (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The title, Magic and Madness in the Library, is highly appropriate. Cervantes, Voltaire, Swift, Washington Irving, Jules Verne, Edward Bellamy, Edith Wharton, Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, Umberto Eco, Stephen King, and other writers have created fascinating portraits of fictional libraries - public libraries, private libraries, mythical libraries, magical libraries, and evil libraries.

Perhaps it is not surprising that this anthology begins with an humorous excerpt from what may be arguably the first European novel, the tale of Don Quixote (1605). This first entry details the well-intentioned destruction of Don Quixote's private library by the village priest, the local barber, the housekeeper, and Quixote's niece.

Jonathan Swift, the master of satire, describes a conflict between the ancient classics and modern literary upstarts in The Battle of the Books (1695). Another satire, Voltaire's Candide (1759), observes that the most esteemed literary critic is one that most readily finds fault with all writers, including Homer, Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Milton, as well as all German poets.

Jules Verne created the first submersible library in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1869). I was unfamiliar with Edmund Lester Pearson's haunting tale, The Library and the Librarian (1910), a story of imaginary books. The Library of Babel (1944) is among Jorge Luis Borges' finest stories. It begins with the observation: The Universe (which others call the library) is composed of an indefinite, and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries ...

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1932) is a Ray Bradbury classic. Umberto Eco's remarkable scholarly classic, The Name of the Rose (1981), is perhaps the most outstanding library-centric novel ever written. Overdue books are not trivial concerns in The Library Policeman (1990) by Stephen King.

Other selections include excerpts from The Mutability of Literature (1820) by Washington Irving, Looking Backward (1887) by Edward Bellamy, The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton, Crome Yellow (1922) by Aldous Huxley, Jacob's Room (1923) by Virginia Woolf, Hold for Arrival (1995) by Donald Olson, and The Giant's House (1996) by Elizabeth McCracken. This anthology ends with an excerpt from the narrative poem The Library (1838) by Rev. George Crabbe.

Hats off to the editor, Eric Graeber, head librarian at The General Society Library in New York City, for this entertaining and eclectic anthology. Magic and Madness in the Library belongs in your collection.