Though my first impressions of Borges have long since past, reading these stories in English is a slightly different experience. When reading them in Spanish, my main goal is to follow plot and understand characters. Since the word recognition is no longer an issue, it’s nice to be able to really focus on his thoughts and his theories. I had to read this story very slowly and really let the images and complex philosophies (since they are pretty radical) sink in. I found many of the common themes he is known for in this piece, such as labyrinths, chess, madness/paranoia, and unorthodox usage of time.
The world of Tlön reminds me of Invisible Cities in that naming things (using words to express thoughts or objects) does not do the world justice. Borges writes, “The mere act of giving it a name, that is of classifying it, implies a falsification of it” (25). I also loved the part that gave description of the schools and their different theories on time on page 25-26. One denied time and one said all of time has already happened and people are living by means of a distant memory.
Also- just as a side note, Michele and I are set to present on Friday, but isn’t Friday 3X?
it's 7x! they switched things around on us
ReplyDeletethey do that a lot
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