Imaginary Libraries

The new collection of essays by Spanish writer and critic Jorge Carrión (born 1976) is dedicated to the “square whose vertices are publishing houses, bookstores, private and public libraries.” As in his debut “Bookshops,” the author combines travel and cultural history into one narrative to embark on the “pursuit of literary topographies.” He investigates the history of Villa Malaparte, strolls through London with writer Ian Sinclair, converses with Alberto Manguel, the director of the National Library of Argentina, recalling his predecessor — Borges, debates new and antiquarian bookstores with essayist Luigi Amara, and gets caught up in the frenetic pace of life in Miami. As an indefatigable explorer of literary territory, Carrión sensitively registers its changes: digitization and the threat from marketplaces, new formats for stores, a new life for libraries, and a renaissance of bookish spaces of experience in South Korea and Japan. And, of course, he once again confesses his love for books, bookstores, and libraries — not only physical ones but also imaginary ones. Those gifted to us by renowned authors — Cervantes, Verne, Borges — in their works, and those that exist within each of us.