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Borges, a Blind Writer With Insight
By ISRAEL SHENKER
n "The Book of Imaginary Beings" by Jorge Luis Borges there are
many strange creaturessuch as the Unicorn, the Hippogriff, the
Wulfnik and the Basilisk But there is no Jorge
Luis Borges What shall he be!
Is Borgescould he bea Literary Lion! "I hope not," he says in
the tentati#e #oice of aman $hose nati#e language is %panish and
$hose &nglish is literary and $ordperfect To
his sensiti#e ear a Literary Lion cra#es fame, riches,
success
"When I began $riting in the '()*+s in Buenos ires, nobody
thought of literature in
terms of failure or success," he says "-ou might publish an
edition of .** copies andthese you ga#e a$ay to your friends"
He remembers musing to himself/ "0eople in this country may be
idiotic, but they $on+t
be that idioticnobody $ould think of buying anything I+#e
$ritten"
The merican cademy of rts and Letters and the 1ational Institute
of rts and Letters
made him an honorary member on 2arch )3 "2y mother $ill be (3 on
2ay ))," hesays "I thought it a pity she couldn+t be thereshe $ould
ha#e en4oyed it far more than I
did %he+s interested in my literary career, I+m not interested
in my literary career"
5olumbia Uni#ersity today a$ards him an honorary 6octor of
Letters degree He $illteach a class of student $riters, and a
reception $ill follo$ His mother $ill not be there
en after he $ent blind, in '(33, Borges $ent on $ritingessays,
stories, poemsand,
together $ith %amuel Beckett, $on the 7ormentor 0ri8e in '(9'
"%uddenly, people in
Buenos ires began to think of my $ork," he says "+Well, there
must be something in itsince it+s been taken seriously in
&urope+"
Today his short storiessome hardly da$dle past a paragraphappear
in The 1e$ -orker,
and they are collected in books &ssences of essences
Labyrinths $ithin ma8es $ithin
mirrors
When he comes to this countryhe is here on a #isit no$he has an
utterly respectful
audience Ho$ many Latinmerican authors are so $ell translated!
He is naturallytaken as a candidate for ele#ation to the 1obel
0ri8e
Be$are: Who kno$s $hat this Imaginary Being $ill say ne;t!
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>eplying to ?uestions, he dra$s from the cadences of memory
Borges says, "t my age
@A', $hat can I do but plagiari8e $hat I+#e already said,
no!"
What shall a $riter be in the glare of glosses on glosses and
endless honors! %cholarsconsecrate #olumes to his carefully turned
ironies Is he a 6omesticated Industry!
Borges li#es on the north side of Buenos ires >ecently he
took a ta;i to the 1ational
Library on the south side The ta;i dri#er said, "re you by any
chance Borges!"
Borges said "Well, more or less" or "I think so"
The ta;i dri#er refused to take any moneyand the same thing
happened on the $ayhome "He hadn+t read a line of $hat I+d
$ritten," says Borges "Well, maybe I didn+t ha#e
to pay because he hadn+t read a line I+d $ritten He thinks, +I+m
an ignorant boor, I kno$
nothing $hate#er But this man stands for poetry, for culture,
for those things that my
gods ha#e denied me+"
"I kne$ I $ould go blind, because my father, my paternal
grandmother, my great
grandfather, they had all gone blind," Borges says" %ince the
year $e got rid of the
unspeakable scoundrel 0erCn, I ha#e been unable to read or $rite
5onse?uently, ifsomebody tells me +Well, I+ll ha#e to go and you+ll
be by yourself,+ then I can 4ust sit do$n
and think or perhaps not think at all but let myself go on
li#ing"
He has $ritten about the irony of going blind and simultaneously
becoming director of
the 1ational Library "I take good care that my books shouldn+t
?uarrel $ith each other,"he says I don+t suppose you should ha#e
your Bible and your Doltaire side by side They
$ouldn+t be comfortable, no! Doltaire might be poking fun at the
Bible, or the Bible
might be ignoring him, no!"
"When I lost my sight I $as rather $orried o#er it, and in my
dreams I $as al$aysreading Then someho$ I ne#er could read because
a $ord became t$ice or thrice as long
as it $as, or rather instead of one line there $ould be other
lines springing like branches
out of it 1o$ I no longer dream of reading, because I kno$
that+s beyond me
"%ometimes I see a closed book and then I say, +I could read
this particular book,+ but atthe same time e#en inside my dream I
kno$ I can+t, so I take good care not to open that
particular book"
He dislikes en#y, hatred, malice 1ot sloth Borges likes to say
that he is la8y/
"If some notion comes into my head, and no$ and then it does,
let+s say a notion about astory or about a poem, I do my best to
discourage it But if it keeps on $orrying me then I
let it ha#e its $ay $ith me and I try to $rite it do$n in order
to be rid of it
)
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"I ha#e to dictate I can+t $rite nd that+s $hy I ha#e fallen
back on classic forms of
#erse I find that sonnets for e;ample are #ery portable -ou can
$alk all o#er a city and
carry a sonnet inside your head, $hile you can hardly do that
$ith free #erse
"s a #ery young man you don+t kno$ $ho you are -ou may be
Lincoln for all you
kno$ -ou may be Walt Whitman Then you+re looking for yourself,
$hile at my age oneis only too keenly a$are of one+s limitations
7or e;ample, I kno$ the kind of story I can
$rite and the kind of story I may not attempt
"I+m chiefly thinking in terms of the future, and this means I+m
not really an old man I+m
looking for$ard not to stories I+#e $ritten fter all, let them
go their $ay I+m rather
thinking of $hat I+m about to $rite In fact I think I ha#e some
fi#e or si; plots for ne$stories, and $hen I get back to Buenos
ires in a couple of months I+ll begin $orking at
them When I come to dictate them they+ll be much clearer than
today, and they+re clearer
no$ than a $eek ago"
"I+m #ery fond of my nati#e city, I lo#e Buenos ires In fact I
lo#e it so much that Idislike other people liking it %omebody told
me the other day he $as thinking of going
to %outh merica I said, +Well, I think you should go to 5olombia
It+s a #ery fine
country+"
Borges delights in skepticism, certainly about political
leaders
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E
