August 06, 2009
Jorge Luis Borges: The Mirror Man
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"This program examines the life and literary career of the charismatic Argentine writer, as well as the thematic, symbolic, and mythological underpinnings of his works.
If you can't get the ubu link or want it in You Tube episodes, here you are, Episodes 1 - 6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Some Borges' poems
This wondermus post came to me right outta the Blue. Thanks, vronsky
Archival interviews with Borges; his mother, Leonor Acevedo de Borges; his second wife, Maria Kodama; and collaborator Adolfo Bioy Casares provide insights into the private Borges, while readings from The Mirrors, Dreamtigers, The Plot, The South, The Aleph, and other landmarks of Latin American fiction demonstrate his virtuosity as a transformer of experiences."
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To A Cat Jorge Luis Borges Mirrors are not more silent nor the creeping dawn more secretive; in the moonlight, you are that panther we catch sight of from afar. By the inexplicable workings of a divine law, we look for you in vain; More remote, even, than the Ganges or the setting sun, yours is the solitude, yours the secret. Your haunch allows the lingering caress of my hand. You have accepted, since that long forgotten past, the love of the distrustful hand. You belong to another time. You are lord of a place bounded like a dream. Here's where some of the mirrors come in...
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I think something that illustrated how great Borges is for me was comparing his account of Wilkins' encyclopaedic language with Umberto Eco's. Eco had many advantages - he'd actually got access to Wilkins' original text and any other books he wanted, whereas Borges had only got the second-hand account which was all the Buenos Aires library could provide back then. Eco is a serious intellectual and a gifted popular writer, and yet: it's Borges' account that's fascinating, stimulating, deeply memorable, to the point where you want to quote it and re-read it over and over. Eco's version, far more detailed and authoritative, never rises above the merely interesting.
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The Book of Sand - A Hypertext Puzzle
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Way cool, islander!
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Mirror Man
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Thanks for the Borges' link, BlueHorse. Always like this from his 'Instantes': If I were able to live my life anew, In the next I would try to commit more errors. I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more. I would be more foolish than I've been, In fact, I would take few things seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would run more risks, take more vacations, contemplate more sunsets, climb more mountains, swim more rivers. I would go to more places where I've never been, I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans, I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.