Collection of speeches. In May and June of 1978, Borges gave five lectures at the University of Belgrano in Argentina, on the topics of books, immortality, Emmanuel Swedenborg, detective novels, and time. The theme seems grand and abstract, but the author takes a different approach: talking about the history of books from the perspective of oral tradition, using poetry as a starting point to analyze the meaning of immortality, using Swedenborg to talk about the philosophical propositions of life and death, and hailing detective novels as saviors in a chaotic literary era. The basic metaphysical question of "time" runs throughout the five lessons.
Reader comments
Wow, this book is so interesting! Borges uses his unique perspective to talk about books, immortality, Swedenborg, detective novels and time. Every topic is so interesting! He said, "Books, to me, are as intimate as hands and eyes." This sentence is so touching! I feel like he really loves books. I particularly enjoyed his explanation of detective novels, and it turned out that Edgar Allan Poe was his inspiration! This book allowed me to see a different Borges, as if I was chatting with him, very cordial, and it also made me think more deeply about these topics.
Swedenborg paints for us a picture of the afterlife that is very different from the dull and boring traditional religious teachings. Heaven and hell are no longer moral disciplines of rewards and punishments, but just a gathering of different people; and those who are empty in body and mind will be exiled to the desert and live in isolation. At the end of the article, Borges did not forget to call on people to be saved through art and a rich life. This reads as a very happy philosophy of life. Detective novels were praised by Borges as a literary genre that saves order and is a struggle against an increasingly chaotic world. The last chapter about time is essentially a discussion of mathematical issues about finite and infinite. Although Borges defended hedonic readers, reading your novels is really not an entertainment project.
5 Lessons from Borges.
The topics are:
"Books" The Extension of Human Memory and Imagination
Immortality Eternal Life and Reincarnation
Immanuel Swedenborg, the visionary
"Detective Novels" Edgar Allan Poe
"Time" One cannot step into the same river twice
You should read his book a second time
Profound answers and rich knowledge reserves are the difference between great masters and ordinary intellectuals
Wow, this book is so interesting! Borges uses his unique perspective to talk about books, immortality, Swedenborg, detective novels and time. Every topic is so interesting! He said, "Books, to me, are as intimate as hands and eyes." This sentence is so touching! I feel like he really loves books. I particularly enjoyed his explanation of detective novels, and it turned out that Edgar Allan Poe was his inspiration! This book allowed me to see a different Borges, as if I was chatting with him, very cordial, and it also made me think more deeply about these topics.
Swedenborg paints for us a picture of the afterlife that is very different from the dull and boring traditional religious teachings. Heaven and hell are no longer moral disciplines of rewards and punishments, but just a gathering of different people; and those who are empty in body and mind will be exiled to the desert and live in isolation. At the end of the article, Borges did not forget to call on people to be saved through art and a rich life. This reads as a very happy philosophy of life. Detective novels were praised by Borges as a literary genre that saves order and is a struggle against an increasingly chaotic world. The last chapter about time is essentially a discussion of mathematical issues about finite and infinite. Although Borges defended hedonic readers, reading your novels is really not an entertainment project.
5 Lessons from Borges. The topics are: "Books" The Extension of Human Memory and Imagination Immortality Eternal Life and Reincarnation Immanuel Swedenborg, the visionary "Detective Novels" Edgar Allan Poe "Time" One cannot step into the same river twice
You should read his book a second time
Profound answers and rich knowledge reserves are the difference between great masters and ordinary intellectuals