So why call this blog “A Garden in a Library”? The short answer is I’m drawn to an image and idea that conflates two spaces in which I enjoy different kinds of work. The longer answer? It’s an image/idea that is a useful lens for what occupies much of my writing: borders and boundaries concerning place, landscape, work, class, and so on.
Let me (try to) explain.
A couple of decades ago, I stumbled over this “garden in a library” image in a passage by Cicero while doing research for an undergraduate essay in, yes, a university library. I know little about Cicero, and even less Latin, but those in the know state that in a letter to a friend Cicero counselled: “Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil”. Translated literally, this means “If you have a garden in your library, nothing is missing” or “… nothing is lacking” or “… everything will be complete”.
Translators often render this line as “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need”, which makes better semantic sense. However, again according to those in the know, Cicero intended the ‘fused image’ of the two spaces, expressing the core idea of a garden as a place in which to think and discuss and study.
Anyway, it’s an image and an idea that has stuck with me over the years. Surely both a garden and a library are built with design, research, and stillness just as much as much as they grow organically with connections, connotations, and creativity? So, for me, ‘A Garden in a Library’ is a space for exploration of a range of interests such as book reviews, garden diary entries, comments on culture and creativity. I’m sure there will be off-shoots, dead ends, fallen leaves, invasive weeds (I’ll stop now), but perhaps some posts will take root in other forms?