Happy Birthday, J.L. Borges

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Thanks to Google, I know that it is J.L. Borges's birthday; his 112th, to be exact. Check out Google.com (http://www.google.com/) to see a cool little "Google" graphic in his honor. (I thought it was neat, which is why I'm sharing.)

[MystyrMystyry]

Agreed Mutatis - made me think where I'd begin to design something, and as soon as I thought of El Aleph I gave up

[JCamilo]

Here is Borges, unware that Ítalo Calvino is serving invisible birthday cakes...

[Charles Darnay]

Here is Borges, unware that Ítalo Calvino is serving invisible birthday cakes...

Amazing! I'm going to go read Funes now....maybe some Invisible Cities!

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Here is Borges, unware that Ítalo Calvino is serving invisible birthday cakes...

Is he the ugly one? Hmmm, I guess that doesn't really narrow it down, does it?

[stlukesguild]

I miss out on these little Google Graphics as I have my home page set to Chrome's iGoogle. I had to check it out on Firefox.

An interesting site offering a good deal of info and links concerning Borges and other Late-Modernist/Post-Modernist fabulists and fantasists, surrealists, and magic realists:

http://www.themodernword.com/default.aspx

[Alexander III]

I miss out on these little Google Graphics as I have my home page set to Chrome's iGoogle. I had to check it out on Firefox.

An interesting site offering a good deal of info and links concerning Borges and other Late-Modernist/Post-Modernist fabulists and fantasists, surrealists, and magic realists:

http://www.themodernword.com/default.aspx

Thanks for the link, looks very interesting :)


Here is Borges, unware that Ítalo Calvino is serving invisible birthday cakes...

Hahahahahahaha, this has to be one of the most epic literary portraits I have seen.

[marcolfo]

can you imagine what it would be like to be sitting in front of those two.

[Lokasenna]

Ah, missed this thread yesterday! Yes, Borges is well worth celebrating - one of the few post-WWI I actually read and like. That he never got a Nobel Prize continues to astound me.


El tiempo es la sustancia de que estoy hecho. El tiempo es un río que me arrebata, pero yo soy el río; es un tigre que me destroza, pero yo soy el tigre; es un fuego que me consume, pero yo soy el fuego. El mundo desgraciadamente es real; yo, desgraciadamente, soy Borges.

Or in English...



Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

What a wonderfully pretentious quote--something only people like Borges can pull off.

[Anymodal]

Borges es genial...
He is my favorite author by far!!!

I ofently think oh how unlucky i am because i don't speak this or that language and can't read the original. But only with borges i feel lucky to speak my buenos aires spanish.
Still his writings are of those that can be translated into different languages without losing almost anything.What is more I really enjoy reading borges in english becase it's beautiful, and it gives me some insights into language, because i remember the original fragments and the comparissons turn out really interesting.

Can anyone tell me if all borges' works are translated into english?

[Lokasenna]

Can anyone tell me if all borges' works are translated into english?

I think the vast majority of Borges' work has been translated, though I can't swear to all of it.

I know what you mean though, about language. My Spanish is pretty good - enough, at least to be able to read him in the original without too much difficulty. But it's a pain when reading in a language you don't understand. That said, the translations of Borges are actually pretty decent, though not with quite the degree of elegance as when the man himself proclaimed el original es infiel a la traducción.

[Arrowni]

Borges didn't care about his birthday when he was alive, so he must care now that he's dead.

Reading his texts is such a pleasure, one of the few writers that is as funny as he's engaging. And yes, he's pretty damn funny.