A collection of Borges's metaphysical short fiction and essays — including the title story's infinite library of every possible book, an essay on the nature of Hell, and the labyrinthine parables "The Circular Ruins" and "The Babylonian Lottery."
Books mentioned in The Library of Babel and Other Stories (6)
Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw: “the hell of Bernard Shaw (Man and Superman, pages 86-137), which vainly distracts eternity with the artifices of luxury, art, erotica and fame”
The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton: Epigraph to "The Library of Babel": "By this art you may contemplate the variation of the 23 letters..." — THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, Part 2, Sect. II, Mem. IV.
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: Epigraph to "The Circular Ruins": "And if he left off dreaming about you..." — THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, VI.
Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte by Richard Whately: “One of its propagators was Whately, the author of that famous unforgettable pamphlet: Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Bonaparte”
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan: “"God did not play in tempting me...wherefore I may not play in relating them..." (Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners; The Preface)”
De Spectaculis by Tertullian: “"Do spectacles please you? then expect a greater one, the Final Judgment..." (De spectaculis, 30; citation and version from Gibbon.)”