Jorge Luis Borges - "A Poet's Creed " (Lecture 1968)
"The central fact of my life has been the existence of words and the possibility of weaving those words into poetry." Jorge Luis Borges
This is the last of the six Norton Lectures that Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) delivered at Harvard University in the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968 ("The Craft of Verse"). Nearing both 70 years of age and total blindness, Borges nonetheless gives a virtuosically wide-ranging series of talks, freely reaching across forms, countries, eras, and languages without the aid of notes. The recordings, only lately discovered in the Harvard University Archives, uniquely capture the cadences, candor, wit, and remarkable erudition of one of the most extraordinary and enduring literary voices of our age. Through a twist of fate that the author of Labyrinths himself would have relished, the lost lectures return to us now in Borges' own voice (Source: ubuweb). You can find all the lectures here: www.ubu.com/sound/borges.html
"Spinoza"
[Original poem in Spanish]
Las traslúcidas manos del judío
Labran en la penumbra los cristales
Y la tarde que muere es miedo y frío.
(Las tardes a las tardes son iguales.)
Las manos y el espacio de jacinto
Que palidece en el confín del Ghetto
Casi no existen para el hombre quieto
Que está soñando un claro laberinto.
No lo turba la fama, ese reflejo
De sueños en el sueño de otro espejo,
Ni el temeroso amor de las doncellas.
Libre de la metáfora y del mito
Labra un arduo cristal: el infinito
Mapa de Aquél que es todas Sus estrellas.
"Spinoza"
[Translated into English by Willis Barnstone]
Here in the twilight the translucent hands
Of the Jew polishing the crystal glass.
The dying afternoon is cold with bands
Of fear. Each day the afternoons all pass
The same. The hands and space of hyacinth
Paling in the confines of the ghetto walls
Barely exists for the quiet man who stalls
There, dreaming up a brilliant labyrinth.
Fame doesn’t trouble him (that reflection of
Dreams in the dream of another mirror), nor love,
The timid love women. Gone the bars,
He’s free, from metaphor and myth, to sit
Polishing a stubborn lens: the infinite
Map of the One who now is all His stars.
Пікірлер: 27
One of the most beautiful souls to ever live. Disarmingly clear and lucid, in a world filled with vanity, obscurantism, and academicism.
greatest writer ever
this shit brings tears to my eyes. grande Borges
How blessed we are to 'work with Borges' over fifty years later on his lecture.
one rarely comes across writers or if I may choose to say readers who are all; so erudite, passionate and still humble. I think these qualities make his work so fresh and ethereal.
Me encanta escuchar Borges hablar Inglés.
Thank you for the upload. How much we would miss if thoughtful people wouldn't share these sources of abundance!
An absolutely amazing man. I loved listening to his words and getting his feelings from words and books. Oh my what a joy !
Thanks for the upload.
Thank you for sharing this.
Wonderful!
Wonderful
thanks for sharing aloot
❤
Only Poetry no bullshit!
wow
لم يشعر ( وليم بليك ) قط بالحاجة الى (( جمهور قارئ )) ....لم يشعر بالحاجة الى ( براهين القوة ) ولا بأي شهية ل( تسول المجد والاعتراف ) وبقية طقوس العلاقة الابتزازية بين القارئ والكاتب . وليس هذا هو التواضع بل هو كبرياء من نوع اخر ...( كبرياء الشمس في المشهد الاول من زاراثوسترا ) ....وهذا هو نفس ( الامحاء والخجل ) الذي نشعر به كلما استمعنا الى (( المبتدئ الابدي )) الذي هو خورخي لويس بورخيس ...ياله من صوت مريح للقلب والاعصاب ...يالها من عظمة تذكرنا بكل هؤلاء العباقرة الكبار المجهولين الذين لم يبالوا بأن يكونوا اكثر من بصمات مجهولة محفورة على رخام الكاتدرائيات القوطية ...
What does he mean by 'purple patches'?
@rendezvous3
7 жыл бұрын
Matt Ingoldby ..purple patches or passages were originally a figurative reference to florid literary passages, added to a text for dramatic effect. They were the literary equivalent of adding a patch of purple material to an otherwise undecorated garment.
@luzmariaperezsanchez3982
7 жыл бұрын
Matt Ingoldby Ripios.
@lauriewaitz601
2 жыл бұрын
‘Purple patches’ are the metaphors he suggests are unnecessary when just being ‘loyal to the dream’ is preferable.
20:02
Montaigne
I am a sad horrible person.
Completely blind by age 55.
A wonderful writer, yet like a bike ride over an endless trail of Moguls a very annoying orator. Hard to listen to. Just saying.