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Reality Is Perplexing Enough: An Interview with Jorge Luis Borges (1968)

102 points by keiferski 6y ago

every 6y ago
As luck would have it, I am currently revisiting The Book of Imaginary Beings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Imaginary_Beings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Imaginary_Beings
siraben 6y ago
One of my favorite short stories by Jorge Luis Borges is The Library of Babel[0], in which characters live in an infinite library that enumerates all possible strings of a certain length in book form. It even has an online version[1]! You can find the version of this post at[2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel [1] https://libraryofbabel.info/ https://libraryofbabel.info/ [2] https://libraryofbabel.info/book.cgi?c4rswwjyq92rx9b0t433js51ry1wdegmauv92ajrm5l58gtrzyfcd51zvn2tg5hvzom4poph6qaxp7xpjgq8a55kt3kpi8twtyehvit2m7jpiezkosbytgxz9h0i8bfj1yaah773c36ueoic5na39lhkowd2hqoqf29hb9i8erfaf8ygpj0vs49sddwv1gvljjybhiec1o3si2ux5houl9chnb6tlcoz1ok3b63hk1gqemihycn36c2kie0joz6zp2enpvspwu6y535541eeogjr2kd0ak276jsc9n7nx5hafs36g96rxbwydtcvvlkmw6qdeev1pa176cnc129d5dlxsbnhydwa3qkcts2lcmrvgziptrqe13qgvymkv7iyjwbrfbnoo5k2d507pjg4u2rtfdxwwwsh9ls9uezsakg7oqvv7evraoqc3zxeifem7t1vl0s3sj5idzu7fhwny0106ayr0k9nywhp7jl7far7bgqw67mclf5368884qqce8w1maoxvcj0y8p64ohsyt3jrjy08px1gp9cjqnsqi10indth7a78sgopl0nyhd84jqydkm556z0krp7tpxerk6pnmteexs4o3cv7w5ewnpki0msoizmb2i4uxyo08ixyf1au0thayn6e6p1clyzsa8qvvz9opmj7es5qgeikqv8jfsc7tq4o6bzcc9iofb44q1zczf0ddhgzf3hat1vq5xeu1jwd31ra0665x0c06j3p7k1lkm03itouq4qc0hx3mdgr3ndl162nd3tuon6pfc47a1pi4iqzvme6s0udu8dxq9bklxa0g2a8zbrs57ispinz4zoshptscfbuz0c1ebio5myea42yiuhjurzzd66htg0krukjaxan68dkycoxehv473412y3p8l31407ly0jnnzfvaplfowf0bco0a3iwv4qjbvdpjgtwnnzjg58vbr4vgzlrh0dv99evfpcgp6sfs6ayqksdep5ul5e4cl520ej65gqrrvbhxmgd07nrabpk2byej7ig2ike30tgdqe4t586rzligp75ldl89rdqm8w0anx56pk265q173nkcjkg4jnat8tp417596mxiifyxvxeelx54n78scpnqbcxweedpjnusps1euffh9un2xpevgnhep6ulvonkvilnagwip81qdgag7las9snm8n2bndc6g273rcuomnps20zq6cyf2wf8avf92h8evmsmrcpj32smu7as0q8f8tc47prfxyvyhxtf5xp8sqa6u9ylke8w6lzu0cpos82w502md8owsbqgwl25l69vrd0naf9xfdabjh9ntzopeqncl5r2mhzwml4k742aqolumdemphncx4udd3kkrst6cl8395bajgyg13u71gwzz0ci7z75lld09xo6oa1y3f4p7stxbg9rbo3lm2yqu89trg6fyahbwx5j6f2up3ffahku6tm2my37ozgbq5xgvl955k5l7ls87je3nln36j5pl30gjy1yk7c79wm2x9yda3u3ll01k0p0biv62l8mzrlyrfzeqbcraav8ox9tajm3vo7qulbjlq0mozghpfczos5e20i5twvm6i2izu93c3wzb3zoodj69y4dizc8led0twuhlic4ml67nkghxom36w0iff5fodm0h6lgmhqjgwc79ikhh641dt84iks3s5ssh2upqsn0bgih6u4hnbfi6y6z0xgwsagmtmfy8wpi8guy4ordwnlq4kxjqlqinvo2a3pzhq34oo4emfza5udrvlh5v6nraleb08ofkgvb3g75tm87yvujqa0uwfth83m45joqa4easmwmeycfvqihehky8tsdvnmu9y1qt4547e15cck09xcciqwfser6qsiaomvrwhpozsu2j3ehsm67noieyg104eljy2porkrq1dgexlgauhsrf5uzctaj6b6gr4whnl5v7fsyf16obi8ckuuf6azbghzhvdhc84d6zmw4sb677aykijgxdvhe2lhyt3osu49diyu93e8mty7by58elq38rxza2r343gldggz0cp9go2k1ao2b4je0l5ht4nqsj8nz07pkgi744ke3vpbh3j9ifvqersbbqzo5vg3cywgfkb75asxtyn6kszduvumqtjfs299k6sq6q54qir55h744de0or48alki8y680sw0e5lfzbl2wl0kpgb8ut60b7q6jgjlyp2ubn050ydmpfh5ue8kswhnz82nug4crh447aprv6r6xzmybhugl4ux6vso7gosu48k0d0sz8yu6f83c18ere8tn9o97yw0w8q0qjrckppbuzktirj0qcd5qqskbhhv4xonknvf4j07shwv6rhndzjdsejsv94e51kuhifq5sa9j80hn2v9zjgim56ycm145aghheforkb1l8y9cgue9qzvcfm27o9bh44act7l1z90hxxqqs0mhm33ibi3ypszh30idb23j0gcaeylap4e8hscppfk1qx8yf0i4sb3ec2vqod9ln9zthnt1kcmqh8y24juup3sqn75bz9dx4lu54a29mm3nug5p38zjgfigxzti5csahz5xj2nhxrbzzslm5nu282kmulmmpmn3jb4cv8om1hnzcefxfrn9r58aing5l6e9zjzso9jqjdzq8vrle5coo7ke4hom3zpy4udexsdavcpt41qubz5ig2ugzpg8zpia4mnkr7qg87dev9t1yb8q0t1nmi35frx4zidk956an5g3wutu2a9cr69qrys26xlg6kr2ilsu2o65i0mvdjv4a2lq662rmpw7vzbrepbmir9shoc9ypyl1nls3k8lidt9gebb49o5tch9a5qljf4t5nbqdbhv6fvdzv5q35gj8yyaja0cfehlbib6de6zh7ceuv7znytjjs68kmkqfvbc4ckgaz88s4llpjsopgpyvb2bjju2p61nhz3dqzhzgti08h8bggrusb2t6kgyip8yelpky7sx6aaa4t7914cpsxmohiyzzf58y2ry7ngp7ck592hoigm0lauutbiv9ky8oe9eaghf6a31hqfg2koq9sunfv3r39kln2ul24kpxhszky48dss35paky11fy4usdww2oilensyblhs1951yqiheev4pfs5evcqcn9pxver9zix0wemt6zrg3pqjfuzbnk5ybix57et4h744brm5a9zkjdvitett8rphbvplqe0mc74fhxcq6fbysktd57f-w3-s5-v03:388 https://libraryofbabel.info/book.cgi?c4rswwjyq92rx9b0t433js5...
- dcolkitt 6y ago
  "You who read me, are you sure you understand my language?”
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- glial 6y ago
  Agreed, it is wonderful. Funes the Memorious is also delightfully thought-provoking. It’s about an individual that remembers absolutely everything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious
keiferski 6y ago
Borges spoke English fluently, too, and there is a great lecture series by him on YouTube. https://youtu.be/YSLV7t9DvN8 https://youtu.be/YSLV7t9DvN8
- lioeters 6y ago
  Wow, what a treat! Thank you, I will enjoy this. > Jorge Luis Borges giving his 6 Norton Lectures in fall 1967 and spring 1968. > 1. The Riddle of Poetry > 2. The Metaphor > 3. The Telling of the Tale > 4. Word-Music and Translation > 5. Thought and Poetry > 6. A Poet's Creed
jorgenveisdal 6y ago
Check out the podcast ‘Very Bad Wizards’ and their episodes about Borges
BLKNSLVR 6y ago
My introduction to Borges was stumbling across this taxonomy of animals: those that belong to the Emperor, embalmed ones, those that are trained, suckling pigs, mermaids, fabulous ones, stray dogs, those included in the present classification, those that tremble as if they were mad, innumerable ones, those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, others, those that have just broken a flower vase, those that from a long way off look like flies. The mental boundaries that were broken as a result of this list... https://multicians.org/thvv/borges-animals.html https://multicians.org/thvv/borges-animals.html
zedakhtar 6y ago
This was refreshing. Thanks for sharing
jacksonkmarley 6y ago
Wow, thanks for posting that, what a great read! I always loved Theroux's more narrative article about Borges [0], but this one you can really feel where he's coming from directly. [0] https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/31/reviews/borges-theroux.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/31/r...

102 points by keiferski 6y ago

As luck would have it, I am currently revisiting The Book of Imaginary Beings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Imaginary_Beings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Imaginary_Beings

siraben 6y ago

One of my favorite short stories by Jorge Luis Borges is The Library of Babel[0], in which characters live in an infinite library that enumerates all possible strings of a certain length in book form. It even has an online version[1]! You can find the version of this post at[2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel [1] https://libraryofbabel.info/ https://libraryofbabel.info/ [2] https://libraryofbabel.info/book.cgi?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-w3-s5-v03:388 https://libraryofbabel.info/book.cgi?c4rswwjyq92rx9b0t433js5...

dcolkitt 6y ago
"You who read me, are you sure you understand my language?”
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
glial 6y ago
Agreed, it is wonderful. Funes the Memorious is also delightfully thought-provoking. It’s about an individual that remembers absolutely everything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious

keiferski 6y ago

Borges spoke English fluently, too, and there is a great lecture series by him on YouTube. https://youtu.be/YSLV7t9DvN8 https://youtu.be/YSLV7t9DvN8

lioeters 6y ago
Wow, what a treat! Thank you, I will enjoy this. > Jorge Luis Borges giving his 6 Norton Lectures in fall 1967 and spring 1968. > 1. The Riddle of Poetry > 2. The Metaphor > 3. The Telling of the Tale > 4. Word-Music and Translation > 5. Thought and Poetry > 6. A Poet's Creed

jorgenveisdal 6y ago

Check out the podcast ‘Very Bad Wizards’ and their episodes about Borges

BLKNSLVR 6y ago

My introduction to Borges was stumbling across this taxonomy of animals: those that belong to the Emperor, embalmed ones, those that are trained, suckling pigs, mermaids, fabulous ones, stray dogs, those included in the present classification, those that tremble as if they were mad, innumerable ones, those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, others, those that have just broken a flower vase, those that from a long way off look like flies. The mental boundaries that were broken as a result of this list... https://multicians.org/thvv/borges-animals.html https://multicians.org/thvv/borges-animals.html

zedakhtar 6y ago

This was refreshing. Thanks for sharing

jacksonkmarley 6y ago

Wow, thanks for posting that, what a great read! I always loved Theroux's more narrative article about Borges [0], but this one you can really feel where he's coming from directly. [0] https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/31/reviews/borges-theroux.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/31/r...