"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? ...we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us."
-Kafka
Friday, September 16, 2011
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 39, Jorge Luis Borges
An interview Borges did for the Paris Review in 1966:
this is such a cool interview! it's cool to see how borges' personality in real life is very similar to the personality that he shows in his stories.
I think it's interesting how borges says that he is superstitious...i think that if we went back through the stories, we would find a lot of superstitious statements. It's not a topic that we really talked about in class, but i think it's something interesting to keep in mind as well.
he also talks about how coming up with new metaphors and new connections isn't necessarily a good thing, because the shock value that comes with something new doesn't last. most of the themes we talk about within his stories are common and as old as literature itself; he just expresses it in a slightly different way that makes it seem as if it were new.
i also love that borges said that he wants to be funny!
this is such a cool interview! it's cool to see how borges' personality in real life is very similar to the personality that he shows in his stories.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how borges says that he is superstitious...i think that if we went back through the stories, we would find a lot of superstitious statements. It's not a topic that we really talked about in class, but i think it's something interesting to keep in mind as well.
he also talks about how coming up with new metaphors and new connections isn't necessarily a good thing, because the shock value that comes with something new doesn't last. most of the themes we talk about within his stories are common and as old as literature itself; he just expresses it in a slightly different way that makes it seem as if it were new.
i also love that borges said that he wants to be funny!