READIN

🦋 El Libro

Of all the diverse tools of man, the most astonishing is, without a doubt, the book.

The first lesson is very engaging and fun -- he's talking about how people have looked at the book throughout history, what space it has occupied in cultures, with reference to classical philosophy and to the Old Testament; and to Spengler's Decline of the West. Some of this is over my head but Borges has composed it in such a way as to welcome inquiry -- he is not assuming his students will understand the references but rather that they will be prompted to investigate further.

Very nice to think about the aged author (in his 70s at the time he delivered these lectures) addressing the class. I am wondering now whether these lectures were ever recorded...

posted evening of Friday, February 20th, 2009
➳ More posts about Borges oral
➳ More posts about Jorge Luis Borges
➳ More posts about Readings

good find!

posted evening of February 20th, 2009 by badger

I saw a reference a while back to the "Immortality" lecture -- apparently Borges gave a version of this talk in Holland shortly before his death. Not sure where I saw that! but it put me on the lookout for this book. I don't believe it has been translated into English.

posted evening of February 20th, 2009 by Jeremy

(I notice "Immortality" and "The Detective Story" are translated in Selected Non-Fictions; though I think a slightly different version of "Immortality" was used. Another lecture series from around the same time has been translated, by Eliot Weinberger for New Directions, as Seven Nights.)

posted morning of February 23rd, 2009 by Jeremy

Respond:

Name:
E-mail: (will not be displayed)
Link:
Remember info	Send