Borges - Labyrinths (1641)

[Corpsey]

I picked up "The Aleph" in a Kensington book shop on the way back from the V&A yesterday

Read "The Immortal" and "Deutsches Requiem".

The Immortal is really good. Deutsches Requiem less so.

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[Corpsey]

http://users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/KafkaKierkegaardBible/BorgesTheCircularRuins.pdf

I was going to quote the concluding paragraph of this story because it's the Borges-bit that always haunts me, but I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it. I don't think it's in Labyrinths.

The Immortal has several bits like this in it, where the "reality" of the story is radically reconfigured and undermined, and this extends out of the story into your own life.

It's a lovely feeling like vertigo.

 

[luka]

thats weird i was reading the aleph with my morning coffee yesterday

 

[luka]

i read ibn hakkan al-bokhari and i read the approach to al-mu'tasim and i read the dead man

 

[Corpsey]

I put that one off because of the long Arabic name I can't be bothered to learn to pronounce even internally

 

[luka]

they're reaally good ones, just call him 'dave'

 

[Corpsey]

Immortal by Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges Solomon saith: There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Solomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty …

matiane.wordpress.com

Solomon saith: There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Solomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.

 

[version]

One of his best stories.

 

[Corpsey]

i read ibn hakkan al-bokhari and i read the approach to al-mu'tasim and i read the dead man

I read the first and third one

"The dead man" I didn't really get much out of

I liked "Ibn Hakkan Al-Bokhari", the twist (that didn't happen, because none of it happened, i guess the 'point' is that the mystery is more compelling than the explanation...)

 

[Corpsey]

In translation they're beautifully written, and the feeling you have reading them is uncanny and (first time around I suppose) rapt with expectation, and then afterwards they stick with you, the ideas they raise stick with you

I should read them on acid

 

[Corpsey]

I like how they feel like stories by H.g Welles, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. along with the classical philosophy and historical erudition and the self-referentiality...

 

[Benny Bunter]

In translation they're beautifully written, and the feeling you have reading them is uncanny and (first time around I suppose) rapt with expectation, and then afterwards they stick with you, the ideas they raise stick with you

I should read them on acid

It's funny that a lot of people (well, just academics I suppose) have complained about the fidelity of the English translations, whereas Borges himself, ever the Anglophile, reckoned they improved upon the originals.

I've only read him in Spanish so I wouldn't really know, but I wouldn't say it's the quality of his prose that really shines, it's all about the ideas, so Borges was probably right.

 

[luka]

he also said english is an infinitely superior language to spanish. good lad.

 

[Benny Bunter]

I like how they feel like stories by H.g Welles, Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. along with the classical philosophy and historical erudition and the self-referentiality...

Been checking out Kipling inspired by Borges's worship of him, just the Jungle Book and the poems so far, but I really want to read the short stories and Kim now. You get put off Kipling cos of all the 'problematic' aspects of him, but he really was a mega genius.

 

[version]

Been checking out Kipling inspired by Borges's worship of him, just the Jungle Book and the poems so far, but I really want to read the short stories and Kim now. You get put off Kipling cos of all the 'problematic' aspects of him, but he really was a mega genius.

Exceedingly good cakes.

 

[Benny Bunter]

he also said english is an infinitely superior language to spanish. good lad.

I can't argue with this really, but I would say Spanish is the second best language, after English.

 

[version]

I can't argue with this really, but I would say Spanish is the second best language, after English.

Corpsey's learning Japanese.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Been checking out Kipling inspired by Borges's worship of him, just the Jungle Book and the poems so far, but I really want to read the short stories and Kim now. You get put off Kipling cos of all the 'problematic' aspects of him, but he really was a mega genius.

I read Kim a few years ago, it's pretty great. A proper Adventure Story with plenty of pre-007 secret agent action (and Russian baddies!).

 

[Benny Bunter]

Exceedingly good cakes.

You've spent far too much time around Mr Tea and Mixed Biscuits

 

[Mr. Tea]

Corpsey's learning Japanese.

Learning, or turning?