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🦋 Truth
...truth, whose mother is history, rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, exemplar and adviser to the present, and the future's counselor.
This catalog of attributes, written in the seventeenth century, and written by the "ingenious layman" Miguel de Cervantes, is mere rhetorical praise of history.-- "Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote" (Hurley's translation)
It was not until I was reading the Quixote this evening and happened on the quoted line (near the end of the ninth chapter) that I realized it is not a mere rhetorical flourish, that Borges is calling attention to the line for his own reasons. (Still not exactly sure what those reasons are...; but the line comes at the end of bit of meta-storytelling that sounds to my ear very Borgesian, about the discovery and translation of Benengeli's history. When I'm reading it now it sounds like Cervantes is being ironic about the truth-value of his story.)
posted evening of Sunday, July 18th, 2010
➳ More posts about Pierre Menard, author of the Quixote
➳ More posts about Jorge Luis Borges
➳ More posts about Readings
➳ More posts about Ficciones
➳ More posts about Short Stories
➳ More posts about Don Quixote
➳ More posts about Miguel de Cervantes
Nice. I just started DQ for a group readalong. Some hundred pages a week. I hope to stick to it. It's crackling with wit in every page.
Also found Di Giovanni's version of Menard online.
posted morning of July 25th, 2010 by Rise
Are you reading it in Grossman's translation?
posted afternoon of July 25th, 2010 by Jeremy
Nope, Jeremy. I have the one by John Rutherford which I got on the strength of Maragaret Jull Costa’s recommendation.
posted evening of July 25th, 2010 by Rise
Interesting -- thanks for the link! I had not even heard of the Rutherford translation. I certainly admire Jull Costa's work.
posted evening of July 25th, 2010 by Jeremy
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