Graveyard of Unwritten Books

The Graveyard of Unwritten Books, or Well of Locks, is a setting in Turkish writer Nedim Gürsel's 1990 work "Son Tramway" (His Tram).

It is described in "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places" as a vast complex of galleries under Hôtel de Sens in Paris. Visitors enter a courtyard at the back of the building, where a small passage opens in a mossy wall. This leads to a narrow, gloomy gallery which in turn leads to an inner, subterranean courtyard. In this courtyard stands a well; a rope ladder allows the visitor to descend into its depths. Upon reaching the bottom of the well, the visitor will find a vaulted gallery dripping with damp; this gallery must be followed to an iron door. Visitors must knock to be admitted inside what appears to be a vast storeroom for books. Uniformed attendants move about in all directions, securing books under lock and key.

Here, all books banned by authorities throughout the world are shut away. Some of these books were published and then forbidden; others were still born; many never reached the written page. Visitors are advised to bring a flashlight and not to be seen with a book in their hands.

References

*Manguel, Alberto and Gianni Guadalupi, "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places". Bloomsbury, 1980 revised 1999.