The Marriage of Heaven and Hell



The George Peabody Library in Baltimore is widely regarded as one of the most breath-taking libraries in the world.  In the digital age, the most pressing problem facing libraries is lack of space.  The solution to this problem is to get rid of the books and replace them with social spaces like coffee shops or lounges.  Libraries are no longer places to receive knowledge they are spaces for wedding receptions.  If you hope to come in from the cold and read a newspaper, you better have $5 for that latte to warm up.

Blake's vision of the printing shop in hell has been replaced by the library as hell.

http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=mhh



The new library as utopia is all about social networking, the book that matters is Facebook.  So much for the solitary pursuit of knowledge.  Hell is other people.

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