by Kate Moore
First published 2016
A translator works through Hal Foster's essay "Design and Crime," but the text keeps shifting as it passes through the conceptual framework of Jorge Luis Borges' Library of Babel. Each attempt to render Foster's arguments about design encounters the labyrinthine logic of Borges' imaginary library, where every possible text exists somewhere among infinite hexagonal rooms. The translator discovers that certain passages link to other sources in unexpected ways, creating a web of connections that Foster never intended. As the work progresses, the boundaries between Foster's critique and Borges' metaphysical speculation begin to blur. The translator must navigate between faithful translation and the strange new meanings that emerge when two brilliant minds collide across time and language.
Genres: literary-fiction, books-about-books, academic, alternate-universe
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: collision-of-ideas, unreliable-narrator
410 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform