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One of my favorite writers. In his collection of short stories the two opposing math concepts are mentioned: The Aleph - A point in space through which the who

One of my favorite writers. In his collection of short stories the two opposing math concepts are mentioned: The Aleph - A point in space through which the whole universe can be seen and comprehended. The Zahir - An object that has the power to create an obsession in everyone who sees it, the obsession so strong that after a short period of time everything else disappears. The A and The Z. Infinity and Zero.

KineticLensman 7y ago
> the two opposing math concepts .... The Zahir - An object that has the power to create an obsession in everyone who sees it It's not immediately obvious the Zahir is a 'math concept'.
- macando 7y ago
  In the story the Zahir is a coin so I associated it with zero. That's my interpretation. It can be wider and more philosophical.
cambalache 7y ago
Mine too,one of the writers I (and many people) really resonate with.On a personal level I think I would have hate him, he was mildly racist and misogynist, kinda of a coward and made apologies for brutal dictatorships.He had good traits too of course. This only shows the apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person.
- fcsafsafsfvc 7y ago
  You're not wrong, but I think it's a bit unfair to judge him. "mildly racist and misogynist," Maybe by our standards. Quite the opposite by his era. "made apologies for brutal dictatorships." As did most Argentines when the bastards took over in the late 70s. "kinda of a coward" From what I hear like most Argentines who turned a blind eye. The Dirty War had few heroes. "...apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person." Agreed! I just don't think that we should be so harsh on Borges, already blind, old man during the dictatorship.How few among us have suffered the infamies that Borges suffered?
  - cambalache 7y ago
    Well I disagree, he was those things even considering his times, especially when you contrast his worldview with the position taken by some of his contemporaries (Sabato, Marechal and in a younger generation Cortazar). For a more drastic case see Celine. He was not only racist because of his times, he was a racist and fascist, period.Fantastic writer though. By the way I dont think he was a bad man for hating Peron, that does not bother me at all.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >On a personal level I think I would have hate him, he was mildly racist and misogynist, kinda of a coward and made apologies for brutal dictatorships That's the type of trite literary gossip that seldom has anything to do with a man (even if it's true) and their real character. Given access to thousands of pages of your writings and hundreds of interviews, plus several biographies with contributions from people you've known, people could say most of the same things for you. Especially if you were born in 1899, and weren't tell in advance the correct 2019-aligned ideologies to support. >This only shows the apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person. I'd separate some inconsequential opinions and diversions from the current mainstream from the person as well. Half of the "high society" in the US in 1930 were in favor of Hitler for example. And almost all of the "high society" in the South were in favor of slavery or quite racist well after the Civil War... Yet they could otherwise be very fine people, loyal to their friends, helpful when needed, charitable, and all that... People can't be judged summarily, nor outside of their times...
plants 7y ago
Borges loves exploring these extremes. He also looks at the concepts of singularity and infinity with regard to language in "Undr" and "The Library of Babel," respectively. In "Undr," the poetry of a society evolves over time to be just a single word that contains all of the meaning and feeling of the poetry that had previously existed in the culture. In this sense, the word is a singularity of meaning that encompasses everything that it aims to. It is superior to less compact representations. In "The Library of Babel," there is a (near) endless library full of 410-page books that contain every permutation of a standard set of letters on a standard page layout. Despite the glut of information, these books contain every truth of the universe (that could fit inside of one of these 410-page books). They also, however, simultaneously contain every possible version of untruth... I'm glad I opened this thread. I haven't read the Aleph or the Zahir, but I certainly will now. So much love for his short stories.

KineticLensman 7y ago

> the two opposing math concepts .... The Zahir - An object that has the power to create an obsession in everyone who sees it It's not immediately obvious the Zahir is a 'math concept'.

macando 7y ago
In the story the Zahir is a coin so I associated it with zero. That's my interpretation. It can be wider and more philosophical.

cambalache 7y ago

Mine too,one of the writers I (and many people) really resonate with.On a personal level I think I would have hate him, he was mildly racist and misogynist, kinda of a coward and made apologies for brutal dictatorships.He had good traits too of course. This only shows the apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person.

fcsafsafsfvc 7y ago
You're not wrong, but I think it's a bit unfair to judge him. "mildly racist and misogynist," Maybe by our standards. Quite the opposite by his era. "made apologies for brutal dictatorships." As did most Argentines when the bastards took over in the late 70s. "kinda of a coward" From what I hear like most Argentines who turned a blind eye. The Dirty War had few heroes. "...apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person." Agreed! I just don't think that we should be so harsh on Borges, already blind, old man during the dictatorship.How few among us have suffered the infamies that Borges suffered?
- cambalache 7y ago
  Well I disagree, he was those things even considering his times, especially when you contrast his worldview with the position taken by some of his contemporaries (Sabato, Marechal and in a younger generation Cortazar). For a more drastic case see Celine. He was not only racist because of his times, he was a racist and fascist, period.Fantastic writer though. By the way I dont think he was a bad man for hating Peron, that does not bother me at all.
coldtea 7y ago
>On a personal level I think I would have hate him, he was mildly racist and misogynist, kinda of a coward and made apologies for brutal dictatorships That's the type of trite literary gossip that seldom has anything to do with a man (even if it's true) and their real character. Given access to thousands of pages of your writings and hundreds of interviews, plus several biographies with contributions from people you've known, people could say most of the same things for you. Especially if you were born in 1899, and weren't tell in advance the correct 2019-aligned ideologies to support. >This only shows the apparently forgotten fact that you can separate the work from the person. I'd separate some inconsequential opinions and diversions from the current mainstream from the person as well. Half of the "high society" in the US in 1930 were in favor of Hitler for example. And almost all of the "high society" in the South were in favor of slavery or quite racist well after the Civil War... Yet they could otherwise be very fine people, loyal to their friends, helpful when needed, charitable, and all that... People can't be judged summarily, nor outside of their times...

plants 7y ago

Borges loves exploring these extremes. He also looks at the concepts of singularity and infinity with regard to language in "Undr" and "The Library of Babel," respectively. In "Undr," the poetry of a society evolves over time to be just a single word that contains all of the meaning and feeling of the poetry that had previously existed in the culture. In this sense, the word is a singularity of meaning that encompasses everything that it aims to. It is superior to less compact representations. In "The Library of Babel," there is a (near) endless library full of 410-page books that contain every permutation of a standard set of letters on a standard page layout. Despite the glut of information, these books contain every truth of the universe (that could fit inside of one of these 410-page books). They also, however, simultaneously contain every possible version of untruth... I'm glad I opened this thread. I haven't read the Aleph or the Zahir, but I certainly will now. So much love for his short stories.