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YOUR MOVE/Readers Write: The Return of the Elegant Hedgehog

The Return of the Elegant Hedgehog: “I suppose that by now, everyone knows that in the recent best selling book The Elegance of the Hedgehog there is a mention of the game go as well as Hikaru No Go and The Girl Who Played Go,” writes None Redmond. Though we did report this previously (GO SPOTTING: The Elegance of the Hedgehog 5/4/2010), it’s worth noting again. The mention is on pages 112-114 of Muriel Barberry’s captivating, lovely and philosophical novel, and includes this passage: “Any game where the goal is to build territory has to be beautiful. There may be phases of combat, but they are only the means to an end, to allow your territory to survive. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the game of go is that it has been proven that in order to win, you must live, but you must also allow the other player to live. Players who are too greedy will lose; it’s a subtle game of equilibrium, where you have to get ahead without crushing the other player. In the end, life and death are only the consequences of how well or poorly you’ve made your construction. This is what one of Taniguchi’s characters says: you live, you die, these are consequences. It’s a proverb for playing go, and for life.”