I thoroughly enjoyed your lecture! I am a Spanish teacher and Borges is definitely an integral part of my passionate research of Latin American literature!
Thank you for posting this. I never listened to a lecture about Borges until today. I ran into the ideas behind a few of Borges' short stories a while ago and read a lot of his material. The idea of the Library of Babbel really interests me a lot for several reasons. Before I read the book, I imagined a single image that contains all images: a lot of the image is random noise, but contained within this image is every single thing you will ever see in your entire life: essentially all of existence is in this image. The Library of Babbel takes a similar approach: in the library is every book you can ever imagine... mostly noisy letters on pages but somewhere in the library exists every single literary work ever made in past, present and future... even in all possible languages. It's a truly amazing idea when you explore it.
Magical Realism is associated to 60s Latin american literature, what was called "The Boom" of LA literature (Garcia Marquez, Vargas LLosa, COrtazar, etc.). . Borges work started 30 years earlier
if you like tlon uqbar orbis tertuis, you must must must must read Ebassytown by China Mieville. it is a very smart notgimmicky novel about humans trying to communicate with aliens who have the opposite problem - the aliens can only speak/think as realists. they can't lie, cant imagine, cant speculate, etc. the story takes place a few centuries after first contact, so us and the aliens have worked out a "system". But its a very long and detailed and thought out novel that operationalizes what it would really be like, navigating existing without idealism at all
One posible interpretation if you belive in the dead of the Author, is the way latinoamerican writers were bulding their own literature and thus bulding their own world, their own philosophy and the cultural independence from the spanish empire. In the same way a british encyclopedia appears in the 100 years, and in the same way as to Borges and Bioy the encyclopedia is different from the way it was remembered. Also... Before getting in to his traveling life, argentina got back in to democracy and overthrew peron. Borges was asigned as director of the national library, and the his 50s he became blind just as two previous directors of the argentinean National library. (Maybe they needed better ilumination, who knows). He never used the word curse, but said -something that can´t be named with the word random (hazard) governs these things, in one of the great poems of spanish letters.
Garden of forking paths is happening entirely during ww1. Tsingtao was a german colony. Germany was obviously a principle belligerent in ww1. I can see where the confusion would arise given the nature of the plot.
Of course I don't understand a lot of his stories out of ignorance and a lack of perspicacy from my part, but one story that puzzles me a lot and I cant find a lot about in the internet is: the god's script (or the writing of the god, as of an alternate translation) i've only read the thing in spanish, so I dont know if the self referential sentences are lost in translation. Do you have any material on the subject? if you do, i'd love to watch/read it. thanks a lot.
The last remark in the lecture, that the bombing occurred before the bombers had read about the murder in the papers, does not follow from the stated facts in the story. For example, the murderer could have had a trial/execution process that took a few days, hence the papers would be discussing the incident during that time. On one of those days, the bombing occurred. So in this scenario, the bombing happened after the murder had been first mentioned in the papers. In fact, the story is ambiguous with regard to the timing of the murder and the bombing: "Ayer la bombardearon; lo leí en los mismos periódicos que propusieron a Inglaterra el enigma de que el sabio sinólogo Stephen Albert muriera asesinado por un desconocido, Yu Tsun." ("Yesterday they bombed it; I read this in the same papers that proposed to England the mystery of the sinologist Stephen Albert who was assassinated by an unknown, Yu Tsun.")
Mazlow's Hierarchy of needs can be a Hierarchy of Phenomena. The Physical, the Biological, the Social, The Intellectual. Conditions out of tune on one level effect the others. We measure Qualities in stratified levels of static order that become static order in the mind. But, language and habit make for personal differences in apriori attitudes.
28:23 "Borges is not making a mistake here". All the references from Borges fiction into our real world are ultimately wrong. Either the author is real but there is no such book, or the book is right but the quote is made up, or there is no such volume (1902 Britannica only has 24 volumes), and so on. Every time I want to verify a Borges reference, it just dissappears on me.
Thats kind of... the point? Not that they are wrong, but that they could be plausible, like if the book came from, lets say, Tlön. It gives you a sense of wonder, like you found something hidden
In the old testament MAN becomes a moral agent when he eats the "Fruit". Fatalism? Your life is Gods gift to you, what you do with it is your gift to him. Or Life is a test of Character, and you only get JUDGED after you die. So you get both ideas at once.
At 35:55 there is a huge mistake. Foreknowledge a future DO NOT TAKE YOUR FREEDOM !!. If a travel in time and i know what choice you will take on something, i just know that, but the choice is yours, its your freedom of choice. For example, in Catholicism, there is Free Will (you made you choice, in every step) but in Protestastims, there is no Free Will and it is God who choose for you. There is a HUGE diference between that. If this is an University Profeser, i think that is a huge mistake.
Wrong. If there is foreknowledge that maintains of all things, aka everything could be known via foreknowledge then everything is determined and there is no freedom. Every action would be causally tethered
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classic, I can't stop revisiting Borges. I hope history never forgets about him and his work.
You are/were a great teacher. You remind me of the best of my college professors; humble, funny, passionate, inquisitive, unassuming.
Thank you! 😃
I thoroughly enjoyed your lecture! I am a Spanish teacher and Borges is definitely an integral part of my passionate research of Latin American literature!
Thank you for posting this. I never listened to a lecture about Borges until today. I ran into the ideas behind a few of Borges' short stories a while ago and read a lot of his material.
The idea of the Library of Babbel really interests me a lot for several reasons. Before I read the book, I imagined a single image that contains all images: a lot of the image is random noise, but contained within this image is every single thing you will ever see in your entire life: essentially all of existence is in this image. The Library of Babbel takes a similar approach: in the library is every book you can ever imagine... mostly noisy letters on pages but somewhere in the library exists every single literary work ever made in past, present and future... even in all possible languages. It's a truly amazing idea when you explore it.
Magical Realism is associated to 60s Latin american literature, what was called "The Boom" of LA literature (Garcia Marquez, Vargas LLosa, COrtazar, etc.). . Borges work started 30 years earlier
Tank you for doing this
Thanks again, Dan.
Excellent lecture including graphics and captions. Merci.
What a wonderful lecture, it feels my heart with joy!
thank you
this was a great lecture. thank you so much for sharing :)
The concept of Labyrinth reminds me of the argument in Modern Physics about Multiverses and Possible histories. See the 5th & 6th dimension. etc.
I loved this lecture
Thanks for this amazing lecture ♥
Re record please because this professor deserves to be heard without obnoxiously loud squeaking and rustling noises.
if you like tlon uqbar orbis tertuis, you must must must must read Ebassytown by China Mieville. it is a very smart notgimmicky novel about humans trying to communicate with aliens who have the opposite problem - the aliens can only speak/think as realists. they can't lie, cant imagine, cant speculate, etc. the story takes place a few centuries after first contact, so us and the aliens have worked out a "system". But its a very long and detailed and thought out novel that operationalizes what it would really be like, navigating existing without idealism at all
One posible interpretation if you belive in the dead of the Author, is the way latinoamerican writers were bulding their own literature and thus bulding their own world, their own philosophy and the cultural independence from the spanish empire. In the same way a british encyclopedia appears in the 100 years, and in the same way as to Borges and Bioy the encyclopedia is different from the way it was remembered.
Also... Before getting in to his traveling life, argentina got back in to democracy and overthrew peron. Borges was asigned as director of the national library, and the his 50s he became blind just as two previous directors of the argentinean National library. (Maybe they needed better ilumination, who knows). He never used the word curse, but said -something that can´t be named with the word random (hazard) governs these things, in one of the great poems of spanish letters.
Thank you
Very good job
thanks
Garden of forking paths is happening entirely during ww1. Tsingtao was a german colony. Germany was obviously a principle belligerent in ww1. I can see where the confusion would arise given the nature of the plot.
Of course I don't understand a lot of his stories out of ignorance and a lack of perspicacy from my part, but one story that puzzles me a lot and I cant find a lot about in the internet is: the god's script (or the writing of the god, as of an alternate translation) i've only read the thing in spanish, so I dont know if the self referential sentences are lost in translation. Do you have any material on the subject? if you do, i'd love to watch/read it. thanks a lot.
The missing explanation argument sounds like Russell’s abduction in The Problems of Philosophy.
kiitos. nec plus ultra luennot. suosittelen.
The last remark in the lecture, that the bombing occurred before the bombers had read about the murder in the papers, does not follow from the stated facts in the story. For example, the murderer could have had a trial/execution process that took a few days, hence the papers would be discussing the incident during that time. On one of those days, the bombing occurred. So in this scenario, the bombing happened after the murder had been first mentioned in the papers. In fact, the story is ambiguous with regard to the timing of the murder and the bombing: "Ayer la bombardearon; lo leí en los mismos periódicos que propusieron a Inglaterra el enigma de que el sabio sinólogo Stephen Albert muriera asesinado por un desconocido, Yu Tsun." ("Yesterday they bombed it; I read this in the same papers that proposed to England the mystery of the sinologist Stephen Albert who was assassinated by an unknown, Yu Tsun.")
Mazlow's Hierarchy of needs can be a Hierarchy of Phenomena. The Physical, the Biological, the Social, The Intellectual. Conditions out of tune on one level effect the others. We measure Qualities in stratified levels of static order that become static order in the mind. But, language and habit make for personal differences in apriori attitudes.
28:23 "Borges is not making a mistake here". All the references from Borges fiction into our real world are ultimately wrong. Either the author is real but there is no such book, or the book is right but the quote is made up, or there is no such volume (1902 Britannica only has 24 volumes), and so on. Every time I want to verify a Borges reference, it just dissappears on me.
Thats kind of... the point? Not that they are wrong, but that they could be plausible, like if the book came from, lets say, Tlön. It gives you a sense of wonder, like you found something hidden
In the old testament MAN becomes a moral agent when he eats the "Fruit". Fatalism? Your life is Gods gift to you, what you do with it is your gift to him. Or Life is a test of Character, and you only get JUDGED after you die. So you get both ideas at once.
thanks Seth Rogen
At 35:55 there is a huge mistake. Foreknowledge a future DO NOT TAKE YOUR FREEDOM !!.
If a travel in time and i know what choice you will take on something, i just know that, but the choice is yours, its your freedom of choice.
For example, in Catholicism, there is Free Will (you made you choice, in every step) but in Protestastims, there is no Free Will and it is God who choose for you.
There is a HUGE diference between that. If this is an University Profeser, i think that is a huge mistake.
Wrong. If there is foreknowledge that maintains of all things, aka everything could be known via foreknowledge then everything is determined and there is no freedom. Every action would be causally tethered
@@noah5291 Sorry, no