Libraries of the Mind

by William Marx

How we build our invisible libraries

Erich Auerbach wrote his classic work Mimesis, a history of narrative from Homer to Proust, based largely on his memory of past reading. Having left his physical library behind when he fled to Istanbul to escape the Nazis, he was forced to rely on the invisible library of his mind. Each of us has such a library—if not as extensive as Auerbach’s—even if we are unaware of it. In this erudite and provocative book, William Marx explores our invisible libraries—how we build them and how we should expand them.

Libraries, Marx tells us, are mental realities, and, conversely, our minds are libraries. We never read books apart from other texts. We take them from mental shelves filled with a variety of works that help us understand what we are reading. And yet the libraries in our mind are not always what they should be. The selection on our mental shelves—often referred to as canon, heritage, patrimony, or tradition—needs to be modified and expanded. Our intangible libraries should incorporate what Marx calls the dark matter of the works that have been lost, that exist only in fragments, that have been repurposed by their authors, or were never written in the first place. Marx suggests methods for recovering this missing literature, but he also warns us that adding new titles to our libraries is not enough. We must also adopt a new attitude, one that honors the diversity and otherness of literary works. We must shed our preconceptions and build within ourselves a mental world library.

Genres: Nonfiction

200 pages, Hardcover

Published May 20, 2025

About the author

William Marx is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Paris Nanterre.

Reviews

[Lauren Crider · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I have already thought about the idea of mental libraries, I really liked Marx's thoughts. I don't totally agree with his view of literary criticism or a comparative reading of text, but this was worth the read. I'm currently in a literary theory class, so I was able to use my own metal library to compare this writing to other literary theorist he interacted with such as Barthes and Foucault and it enhanced my understanding of his philosophy.

[dika · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was such an interesting read and i learnt so much about the world of literature and its history. i love marx’s analysis of one’s mental library and how continuous reading expands this and how he juxtaposes how one’s personal prejudice influence how you interpret a book, similar to how physical library collections are influenced by the culture,society and era in which it’s made.

the end made me think about how i approach reading and texts in general. i’m usually of the firm belief that there’s bad ideas and bad ideas should never be entertained. marx in his conclusion doesn’t dispel this but rather encourages that in order to expand this “library of the mind” you need to strip yourself of any prejudice and allow yourself to be shocked and disturbed because in reality that’s all it can do (although i think you need to already have a good grasp over your mind because one can be so easily influenced by books as we’ve seen time and time again).

so glad i picked this up randomly. i don’t think the book changed me but i think it’s made me think a lot about my own personal prejudice towards certain literature and i think it’s for the better.

[Danny Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a short read, but a great read. This book helped re-instill in me the need for Public Libraries. They are humanity's greatest defender against sliding into barbarism. People need to slake their thirst for knowledge, and a library is a great place to do that. The ideas people take from the books that are read and formulate their thoughts about different things would be ensconced in their mental libraries. These help the brick and mortar libraries move beyond the physical confines of the structure. The evolution of the human race is a rough road, and public libraries help human beings traverse the terrain better.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed on StoryGraph.