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I majored in Spanish literature and philosophy. I wrote quite a bit on Borges and wanted to write my thesis on him (more specifically, how translation affected

I majored in Spanish literature and philosophy. I wrote quite a bit on Borges and wanted to write my thesis on him (more specifically, how translation affected his work and views--translation as art, if you will). I never went to graduate school, but I continued writing what was going to be my thesis. It's nowhere near finished but if I can make one book recommendation I would say read Ficciones. There are different layers to Borges and many, many, many ways to read him, but if I can give you one single reason why this writer is one of the greatest figures of all time, it is because he traces how a concept or thought was developed or created with the help of different minds (writers, philosophers, historical figures, literary figures, etc.). He doesn't always explicitly indicate who, but, as the article says, everything he wrote (and sometimes said) was a clue to what he was thinking. He was trying to make sense of an entire history and an entire world by organising how a particular concept was handed down from author to author and how it was mutated. Why is this of value to us? Because the act of developing a thought or a concept teaches us how to think critically and coherently, looking for how mistakes were done and seeing the bigger picture when linking two general thoughts together. Or it could all have been in jest.

616c 12y ago
Will definitely read your thesis, complete or not, if you choose to publish. Right now I am very much into Roberto Bolano, and he is the first South American author I have read at all. Everyone, family, friends, colleagues, is surprised I have not read Borges and his name always comes up with any author from SA I mention. So, that's it. Ficciones is the next book on my list. If his viewpoint is what you describe, I am going to love him. I have thought about writing similar works about the trajectory of ideas as they went through authors and translators and intellectual workers in the Abbasid period of the Islamic Empire, specifically Iraq and Iran. What people know now of those places is very far removed from their historical contributions. Now I need to learn to write, program, and everything else. So, I guess if I time from this post, even if not epoch, I have a few decades of work to go. UPDATE: Hilarious. Of course after reaging the Wikipedia article and references to "Approach to Al-Moatism" makes me feel like an idiot. I guess Borges beat me to this years ago. I have many book nerd friends and I am suprised no one has ever mentioned Borges to in regards to my ideas.
- kafkaesque 12y ago
  Keep in mind you might have to do some research as to what and where he refers to subjects. Borges loves allusions. Sometimes I got the sensation that he had already figured out concepts and historical characters so well that he then started playing with them, planting them in different (fake/fictional) scenarios and toying with their ideas and toying with the reader. This is why I say he might've done a lot of things in jest. It's hard to see where he drew that line. There's a good example of this, but I won't ruin it for you in case you read that short story. Anyway, I wanted to comment on something related to your friends not ever mentioning Borges to you. Of course, if your friends tell you they've read Borges, I have no evidence to suggest they are telling the truth or not. And you should probably believe them. However, there was a time (specifically in Argentina) when Borges was seen as the "in" thing to do. So, you'd get people saying, "Oh yeah, Borges is great, love his stuff". But Borges said most people never actually read his books, they were just a good Christmas gift. Most people I've met who tell me that have read Borges have really only read a story or two, which is great. This is not a competition. Reading Borges at face value is fun and entertaining. But there is another side to Borges that is extremely complex because of the many hidden references he makes. He almost verges on James Joyce and TS Eliot style of hidden allusions, where every other line is a reference to some esoteric concept that he read in one single out-of-print book. So, yes, I understand why people don't read a lot of him. It's fine. He can be a very difficult writer to read and he requires an infinite amount of patience. Some Latin American writers have stated that to read Borges, you really need an encylcopaedia by your side to fully appreciate what he is saying. While that might be true, you can still enjoy many of Borges's stories at face value. The only cautionary note I make is be wary of his goucho/cowboys-and-indians motifs. His mother helped him develop some of these ideas, because it is what she liked and wanted him to write. And, depending on your worldview, Borges's mother is arguably the most important figure in his life (in my very humble opinion), apart from Estela Canto (to whom he dedicated The Aleph). Have fun.

616c 12y ago

Will definitely read your thesis, complete or not, if you choose to publish. Right now I am very much into Roberto Bolano, and he is the first South American author I have read at all. Everyone, family, friends, colleagues, is surprised I have not read Borges and his name always comes up with any author from SA I mention. So, that's it. Ficciones is the next book on my list. If his viewpoint is what you describe, I am going to love him. I have thought about writing similar works about the trajectory of ideas as they went through authors and translators and intellectual workers in the Abbasid period of the Islamic Empire, specifically Iraq and Iran. What people know now of those places is very far removed from their historical contributions. Now I need to learn to write, program, and everything else. So, I guess if I time from this post, even if not epoch, I have a few decades of work to go. UPDATE: Hilarious. Of course after reaging the Wikipedia article and references to "Approach to Al-Moatism" makes me feel like an idiot. I guess Borges beat me to this years ago. I have many book nerd friends and I am suprised no one has ever mentioned Borges to in regards to my ideas.

kafkaesque 12y ago
Keep in mind you might have to do some research as to what and where he refers to subjects. Borges loves allusions. Sometimes I got the sensation that he had already figured out concepts and historical characters so well that he then started playing with them, planting them in different (fake/fictional) scenarios and toying with their ideas and toying with the reader. This is why I say he might've done a lot of things in jest. It's hard to see where he drew that line. There's a good example of this, but I won't ruin it for you in case you read that short story. Anyway, I wanted to comment on something related to your friends not ever mentioning Borges to you. Of course, if your friends tell you they've read Borges, I have no evidence to suggest they are telling the truth or not. And you should probably believe them. However, there was a time (specifically in Argentina) when Borges was seen as the "in" thing to do. So, you'd get people saying, "Oh yeah, Borges is great, love his stuff". But Borges said most people never actually read his books, they were just a good Christmas gift. Most people I've met who tell me that have read Borges have really only read a story or two, which is great. This is not a competition. Reading Borges at face value is fun and entertaining. But there is another side to Borges that is extremely complex because of the many hidden references he makes. He almost verges on James Joyce and TS Eliot style of hidden allusions, where every other line is a reference to some esoteric concept that he read in one single out-of-print book. So, yes, I understand why people don't read a lot of him. It's fine. He can be a very difficult writer to read and he requires an infinite amount of patience. Some Latin American writers have stated that to read Borges, you really need an encylcopaedia by your side to fully appreciate what he is saying. While that might be true, you can still enjoy many of Borges's stories at face value. The only cautionary note I make is be wary of his goucho/cowboys-and-indians motifs. His mother helped him develop some of these ideas, because it is what she liked and wanted him to write. And, depending on your worldview, Borges's mother is arguably the most important figure in his life (in my very humble opinion), apart from Estela Canto (to whom he dedicated The Aleph). Have fun.