My first encounter with this man was in solitary confinement. Right before entering I traded four top Ramen soup for Borges collection of fiction, for three weeks he was my only friend; while I walk in The Labyrinth of my mind he held my hand.
00:00 - The riddle of poetry 44:21 - The metaphor 1:31:01 - The telling of the tale 2:02:46 - Word music and translation 2:42:22 - Thought and poetry 3:23:06 - Poets creed
I was serving in the battle of Ramadi in 2006. One night we had to do inspections in some houses that were believed to host enemies, they were abandoned. In a closet I found a small book, in English, called The Aleph, with the face of this man. I don't know why but I took it and put it in my backpack, I thought no one would miss it. When there were surprise missions at night it made me feel very infortunate because they interrupted that reading. That book accompanied me every night, I reread it countless times, until I finished my service.
A man sets himself the task of portraying the world. Through the years he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that that patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his face.
I’ve listened to these lectures three times now, and this is the first time I’ve heard Borges laughing at his own jokes. I’m glad that he’s having fun in these lectures. He and his writings are modern treasures.
16:35 "What is a book? A miserable little pile of secrets!" Just joking, I'm argentinian and I've read Borges since I learned to read. In this moment of my life, that I can speak fluent english, listening to this Master of Literature that was born in the same country as me, speaking this amazing language, in his amazing cadency... it's just awesome.
Thank you for this. I'm reading the 2000 transcription version with my girlfriend as we hear this audio. It has been a memorable experience. "Every time I read a poem, the experience happens to occur. And that is poetry."
True. The impalpable takes form and can not be said but felt. A feeling, sensation, maybe that is experience. The being of that something impalpable is perhaps poetry.
@@lennydale92 *argentinian accent. His accent is different from a brazilian accent, or a colombian accent. I don't think it is accurate putting it simply as a south american accent.
Lectures to feed one's soul, the nourishment of an artist's spirit. Admiration is not strong enough a word, for my intentions border worship. Thank you.
7 лет назад
Finally, a complete version of this series, thanks so much for sharing! I believe this is the earliest record of Borge's on audio -- it would be great to know if anyone knows of any other.
I was in Utah in the 70's when Borges was roaming between S.L.C. and Provo. Looking for a history of the Mormon. This all in the way of mentioning an interview on PDF with Borges. Magic. Cheers.
Except for the very obvious, heavy Hispanic accent. So, no, you would never mistake him for a British aristocrat. His natural speaking of great Edwardian grammatical structures, however, is thanks to his upbringing and self-education.
@@lennydale92 Actually, yes. Exactly that. He is better spoken than you are, and if you can tell from the way he speaks, that only speaks about your ignorance.
Really insightful info. Since English was his first language it gives him a wonderful window in what is lost or gained from literal vs interpretive translations. Wish for the transcript though. Also…how did he do this lecture without notes?!? Amazing intellect.
i buy multiple copies of a great book ive already read... i guess i feel it makes me deeper because books are status symbols especially when only one person reads it every few generations...and then an arrival of importance requires intuition because the books are with no end....maybe the multiplicity is a fog dissipating. revel
Hey @Arnon Yaffe. Yeah his lecture was made into a book called 'This Craft Of Verse' published by Harvard university press (2000) and edited by Calin-Andrei Mihailescu.
@@valdomero738 Perhaps in the Spanish language. But definitely not in the English language. And considering how much Tolkein is more well known than Borges around the world I would say that is a better reflection of his academic quality than Borges. And therefore your personal belief doesn't reflect fact.
@@lennydale92 false, Borges is of course the best in Spanish Language, but Tolkien is not even in the same league. Only Kipling, Chesterton, Joyce and Shakespeare would be above Borges. funny how even Borges flexxes on tolkien on an interview with William F. Buckley. Tolkien oeuvre is just some elfs walking through trees, then a little fight, then walking through trees again, zzzzz. Perhaps great literature for 12 yo boys, a step above JK Rowling and Harry Potter.
I agree that poetry theories are not very helpful, but saying it's all mysterious is also unhelpful. Neuroscience and statistics are probably the right way to go, but many people in humanities will get very defensive if someone tries to demystify art.
Neuroscience and statistics are reductionist and unhelpful in their own way. There are mysteries of life that cannot be adequately explained by any science, including philosophy, psychology, any system or theory. I would be very interested in the neuroscience of poetry and of meaning ,however, as there can be found just as much fascinating and beautiful theorization in true science as in the esoteric and confused sciences of Leibnitz and Hegel. - I wrote this like borges.
As someone who studies humanities, it's not some irrational 'defensiveness' that you've encountered. There is actually a significant push for using neuroscience and AI tools in study of literature, by humanities scholars themselves! The problem is, as the commenter above me pointed out, that it's reductionist. I don't agree with the rest of what he said though. It's not that there are 'mysteries of life' that cannot be explained. It's just that the discourse itself meditates what is beautiful and meaningful in art. And it must always be explained in the context of that discourse. Neuroscience can do nothing else, except point to a chemical reaction inside the brain, and say "that is the feeling of beauty, or sublime!". Yes? So what? This tells us nothing of why it is beautiful. And it tells us nothing of why a 19th century peasant would find different things producing this neurochemical reaction of beauty, than a contemporary person. The only thing it gives us insight on is what happens in the brain. It might be helpful in scientifically mapping out what schemas produce feelings of profundity, or meaning, but even schemas are abstractions, not a lump of brain cells. They are no different from abstractions such as 'truth', or 'righteousness'. Can you point to an area of the brain, and say 'that is beauty'? And point to another and say 'that is justice'? That's not how any of this works. Neuroscience deals in mechanisms, literary studies deals with what mediates with those mechanisms on a cultural and diacursive level. I have nothing against statistics, or neuroscience being used in the study of art, as long as this does not lead to people making unjustified claims, under a veneer of infallible objectivity and 'scientism', when the realm you are dealing with, is fundamentally in flux, and abstract.
That doesn't sound interesting or elucidating. Poetry isn't meant to be demystified, if you may excuse my woo-woo for a moment, precisely because it is an arm of the Divine, reaching straight out of the unconscious world and into us. There's nothing there.
i think he was blind by this stage and must have memorized the whole speech, so he's recalling it all in his head without notes & without having seen anything written down in the first place
For Every blank page, I feel I have to rediscover Literature, for myself English writer dreamer Thomas de Quincy To rediscover a new problem Quite as important as Discovering the solution of an old one Can only offer you time honeroed reflexities History of philosophy preplexities Hindus greeksbBarkley Hume Schopenhauer Life isbmade out of poetry Lurking from the corner Homer, divine comedy Frès luis Luis helion(who? ) Macbeth Thibkvstudying poetry, but books are only Occasions Emerson a library is a kind of magic, full of deadmen, can be brought back, into life, when you open their pages Poetry is a passion and a joy, not only a languange-mefium of communication. I felt dth was happening to me to my flesh & blood On first looking Chapman's Wonder if John Keetz felt, gone through illyads & Odyssey "I think the first reading of a poem is a true one" We delude selves into beleif: sensation, impression is repeated But it may be 1mere loyalty 2 trick of a memory 3 Confusion Between our passion & passion we once felt This loetry a new experience everytime Us painter whessler in cafe du Paris People on influence of heredity He said: "Art Happens" Art happen everytime we read a new poem Books migh always find beauty Greek Most teachers aren't writers by speakers Pythagoras Christ Socrates Plato : the dramatist invented Socrates like evangelists invented jesus "a book a picture like a living being, then we see it is dead, He invented happily the platonic dialogue" After Socrates now what would Socrates have said about it Voice master loved he wrote Plato dramatized many moods Some come to no conclusion He was thinking Letting his mind wonder dramatizing it into Many People Socrates was still with him
