“The nam-shub of Enki is both a story and an incantation,” the Librarian says. “A self-fulfilling fiction. Lagos believed that in its original form, which this translation only hints at, it actually did what it describes.” [0]
0. Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash: A Novel
Stephenson has Hiro state it more explicitly in Chapter 56.
“The nam-shub of Enki is both a story and an incantation,” the Librarian says. “A self-fulfilling fiction. Lagos believed that in its original form, which this translation only hints at, it actually did what it describes.” [0]
0. Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash: A Novel
Stephenson has Hiro state it more explicitly in Chapter 56.