Summary

In the rare manuscripts room, Aaron recalls the previous night in which he had browsed through some of Shakespeare’s sonnets as part of his dissertation notes. One sonnet had made him particularly angry; he could not understand Shakespeare, and why anyone would wish to be forgotten by a lover. Aaron thinks of Marisa and how she had erased him, and admits to himself that she does not love him. “The lone scratching of his pencil on the page livened the silence, humanized it, comforted him” (296).

Something about Aleph’s cross-written document bothers him: “the Hebrew words were taut and carefully chosen, as though each sentence had to arch around some invisible obstacle before setting down lightly on some delicate, all-important point” (296). According to Librarian Patricia, the document is being photographed in the conservation room. He attempts to flirt with Patricia for more information...