Can I publish a book based on the Library of Babel?

Question

So I want to write a fictional book based on Borges' Library of Babel idea. The only thing I would preserve is the setting.

However, I am unsure of the legality of it. Is the setting copyrightable? How does that work? I don't think you can copyright ideas, so if I called it something else would it be fine?

Note, I'm not trying to legally worm my way into stealing it, I plan to give full attribution as the inspiration; but I just want to know if it is legal or what the best course of action is.

This is in the United States.

Answer 1

As you noted, copyright does not protect ideas. Copyright protects the expression of an idea, that is, the exact words (and/or pictures and/or sounds) used to express an idea. As long as you write a description of the setting in your own words, you are not violating the original author's copyright.

A setting such as this example is an idea and cannot be copyrighted. (Again, along as you describe it in your own words.) The "setting" here really isn't a place per se but the idea of a collection of books meeting certain characteristics. An author cannot "own" such an idea. New writers on this and similar forums often worry about such scenarios: "I am writing a book where a young man and woman fall in love but their parents object and try to prevent them from getting married, and then I came across this other book that's also about a young man and women who fall in love but their parents object and try to prevent them from getting married. Am I accidentally violating copyright?" No, you're not. Copyright does not protect general ideas, only the specific expression of those ideas.

From a creative point of view, I'd advise against copying another writer's idea too closely. Readers will think you are unoriginal and unimaginative. Better to be inspired by another writer's ideas: Take his idea, but change it enough to make it truly yours. In this case you could easily take the essential idea -- a collection of all possible books of a given length -- and throw out the part about hexagonal rooms, change the number of pages, etc.

Answer 2

The idea that inspired you has a Wikipedia page!

Let me narrow down your question from (basically):

Can I take another author's idea and base a book on it?

to

Can I use a well-known setting and place my novel inside it?

You aren't using Borges' characters or plots. It's not like writing a story inside, say, the Harry Potter universe. You're still doing all the hard work. Lots of stories use settings from other authors.

Normally I'd say, go ask the author. But obviously this is impossible in this case. So yeah, I think you're on solid ground here.