“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”:
“Fictional Universes and their effects on Reality”:
“Intersections” by Anila Quayyum Agha. Contemporary artist.
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►About Jorge Luis Borges, author of “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”:
Jorge Luis Borges (1899/1986).
Jorge Luis Borges (1899/1986) was an Argentine writer, acclaimed in many other countries.
“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” originally appeared in Spanish in “Sur magazine” in may 1940. It was then published in book form in “Antología de la Literatura Fantástica” (december 1940), then in Borges’s 1941 collection “El Jardín de Senderos que se Bifurcan” (“The Garden of Forking Paths”). That entire book was, in turn, included within “Ficciones” (1944).
This short story was included in Borges´s book “Labyrinths”, translated to English by James E. Irby.
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►“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”: Synopsis. Structure. Points of View (POVs):
Synopsis: The narrator (Borges) randomly comes across an article about a region called Uqbar. He then finds an Encyclopedia about Tlön (a country in Uqbar). The enigmatic story reveals that Tlön and Ubqar are fictitious places, invented by a secret society called Orbis Tertius.
Structure, and Points of View (POVs): The story is divided into three parts.
The Points of Views in “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius are basically two.
First Person, when the actions of the story are filtered through the observations of one character. Present in the first section, as a protagonist.
Third Person; Predominantly Objective in the second and third section (postscript), but with Omniscient/all-knowing features in the postscript, as well. (For more about Points of View, check out Jeri Walker´s thorough post: “Picking a Point of View”).
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►”Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”:
Detailed summary and analysis by sections:
1) ♠In the first section, the narrator and his friend and writer, Adolfo Bioy Casares, discuss a hypothetical “novel in the first person, whose narrator would omit or disfigure the facts and indulge in various contradictions” (Page 1, according to University of Yale´s transcript).The mirror in the hallway reminds Bioy Casares of an article in The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia about a country named Uqbar.
Casares then quotes a saying he remembers from a heresiarch of Uqbar: “Mirrors and copulation are abominable, for they multiply the number of mankind”. (Page 1, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
Borges asks him where he had found that quote. Casares believed that Uqbar, along with the quotation, was catalogued in The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia. Borges also has that same book in his place, but oddly it does not mention Uqbar, so he asks Bioy for further details. The following day, Bioy Casares brings him a copy containing the entry on Uqbar, with the quotation he had paraphrased.
There is something very interesting when it comes to the narrative structure here. It all starts with the apocryphal quotation, a sort of riddle that leads to an enlargement occurring in a staggered form: From the discovery of the text, to the imaginary country called Uqbar (vaguely situated in Asia, according to the article in The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia) and then to Tlön (one of the two regions of Uqbar, alongside Mlejnas).
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2) ♠The second section describes the narrator’s discovery of a volume of the Encyclopedia of Tlön, left behind in a bar by an Englishman, Herbert Ashe. This happens in 1937, meaning two years after Bioy Casares and Borges´ first knowledge of Uqbar and Tlön. Ashe´s manuscript was the eleventh volume of a complete Encyclopedia surveying the imaginary city of Tlön.
The volume has on its first page a stamped blue oval inscribed “Orbis Tertius” (“third orb,” in Latin).
According to Borges, this encyclopedia entails a methodical and orderly infinitesimal plan, devised by a sect.
Borges describes some of the characteristics and features of Tlön and its people, based on the volume of the Encyclopedia he had found.
We can summarize some of the main points as:
-Tlön is divided in two hemispheres. In none of these hemispheres, nouns are included in their languages.
-People of this imaginary planet are “idealist” and do not believe in the material, objective existence of their surroundings.
-The world itself is understood as a series of mental processes lacking temporal duration. The lack of spatial relations across time lead to a distorted conception of identity.
The philosopher Berkeley is mentioned by Borges as a referent in Tlön. Of course, not in practical way but more as Borges´interpretation. Bishop George Berkeley (18th century) was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called “immaterialism” or “subjective idealism”. This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that objects are only ideas in the minds of perceiver and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived.Berkeley believed God to be present as an immediate cause of all our experiences.
Here is Berkeley’s proof of the existence of God: “Whatever power I may have over my own thoughts, I find the ideas actually perceived by Sense have not a like dependence on my will. When in broad daylight I open my eyes, it is not in my power to choose whether I shall see or no, or to determine what particular objects shall present themselves to my view; and so likewise as to the hearing and other senses; the ideas imprinted on them are not creatures of my will. There is therefore some other Will or Spirit that produces them”. (Berkeley. Principles #29).
Inhabitants of the imaginary Tlön hold an extreme form of George Berkeley’s subjective idealism, denying the reality of the world.
Their world is seen not as a concurrence of objects in space, but as a heterogeneous series of independent acts.
Borges says: “The nations of this planet are congenitally idealist. Their language and the derivations of their language – religion, letters, metaphysics – all presuppose idealism. The world for them is not a concourse of objects in space; it is a heterogeneous series of independent acts. It is successive and temporal, not spatial”. (Page 7, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
But Tlön is a world of Berkeleyan idealism with one critical omission: it lacks the omnipresent, perceiving deity on whom Berkeley relied as a point of view demanding an internally consistent world.
The idea of eternal present appears in the second section.
Aristotle (384 /322) .
Borges mentions: “One of the schools of Tlön goes so far as to negate time: it reasons that the present is indefinite, that the future has no reality other than as a present memory” (Page 8, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
The idea of time as Indefinite Present could be linked to Aristotle. Aristotle argues that the essence of time is the now, to nun.
The “now” is given simultaneously as that which is no longer and as that which is not yet. Aristotle defines time as “a number of change in respect of the before and after”. As time implies a sense of a before and after, for Aristotle time is the coming-to-be and passing-away of nows moving in an irreversible, lineal way.
The First Encyclopedia of Tlön makes reference to two types of special objects: hronirs and urs.
Hronirs are lost objects that could be found, or better said “produced” by people or animals. They entail a sort of duplication, being somehow clones or copies of the original object.
But, Borges suggests that a copy of another hronir would be deficient: “Curiously, the hronir of second and third degree – the hronir derived from another hron, those derived from the hron of a hron – exaggerate the aberrations of the initial one”. (Page 12, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
Furthermore, Borges states that according to an experiment done with Tlön inmates: “expectation and anxiety can be inhibitory (when it comes to produce the secondary objects)” (Page 11, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
He also says that the reverse can occur: “Things became duplicated in Tlön; they also tend to become effaced and lose their details when they are forgotten. A classic example is the doorway which survived so long it was visited by a beggar and disappeared at his death” (Page 12 , according to University of Yale´s transcript).
Finally, Borges also mentions a different type of secondary objects: Urs. “An ur is the object produced through suggestion, educed by hope”. (Page 12 , according to University of Yale´s transcript).
Walter Benjamin (1892/1940).
The description of Hronirs, and especially how the copies might be defective could be linked to Walter Benjamin´s idea of “loss of the aura”. In his essay, “The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Benjamin-one of the most well-known members of the Frankfurt School describes the so-called “loss of the aura”, in the context of mechanical reproduction of art. The aura represents the originality and authenticity of a work of art that has not been reproduced. In the age of mechanical reproduction, mass consumption is the cause of the loss of the aura, and, therefore, the loss of a singular authority within the work of art itself. However, for Walter Benjamin, a distance from the aura is a good thing. The loss of the aura has the potential to open up the politicization of art, whether or not that opening is detrimental or beneficial is yet to be determined.
Maps of Eastern & Western Hemispheres by N.C. Wyeth for National Geographic, 1928
“The garden of earthly delights” (detail) by Hieronymus Bosch. 16 th century.
“Study For Stars” by M. C. Escher. 1948.
“B.A.” by Borges´friend Xul Solar (1929).
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3) ♠Third and last section (Postcript): The postscript reveals that Tlön and Ubqar are fictitious places, invented by a secret society called Orbis Tertius. This society worked for three hundred years and came up with the imaginary lands Uqbar and Tlön.
In his postcript, Borges notes several “intrusions” of Tlön into the real world, the most notable being the 1942 discovery of a Tlönian artifact in the hand of a dying man: a small metal cone of unknown material which was inexplicably heavy.
Borges says that all forty volumes of the Encyclopedia of Tlön were discovered and published in a library in Memphis. The material then became accessible worldwide, and immensely influential on Earth’s culture, science and languages. By the time Borges concludes the story (presumably in 1947) the world is already gradually disintegrating and transforming into Tlön. Besides, every domain of human knowledge has been rewritten to accommodate the truths of Tlön, and Borges expects the process to continue in the future.
La Salle des planetes, by Erik Desmazieres, for “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges
“The Ladder of Divine Ascent”, late 12th century icon at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai.
“Ascent of the Blessed” by Hieronymus Bosch, after 1490.
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►“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”: Final Thoughts:
Based on a very complex temporal structure, this short story consists of three parts and two moments of enunciation. That is, the first part introduces Uqbar; the second presents Tlön; and the third, Orbis Tertius.
Also, the first two parts were, according to the fiction itself, written in 1940, while the third was written in 1947.
However as previously mentioned, this short story was first published in 1940.
However as previously mentioned, this short story was first published in 1940.
The passage of time has diluted the effect that Borges sought and, instead, has favored the erroneous assumption that he added the postscript at the historical, “actual” date of 1947.
The three stages of the same plan are revealed through two texts: The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia entails the discovery of Uqbar. The First Encyclopaedia of Tlön, leads to know about the fantastic planet called Tlön, while the letter addressed to Herbert Ashe, explains plans and contingencies of the society Orbis Tertius. These three texts are either copies, or give birth of them.The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia is a Fallacious copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Besides, the literalness of The Anglo-American Cyclopaedia is a hoax, as only in one volume of three the characters managed to find the article on Uqbar.
In this same line of analysis, although the narrator refers to the original text of the eleventh volume of A First Encyclopaedia of Tlön, in the postscript a second version of that encyclopedia is mentioned.
This newest version also distorts its original. At least as far as the eleventh volume concerns. The volumen that the narrator found in 1937 is modified in the version exhumed in 1944. The modifications refer to certain “incredible features”, such as the curious objects that duplicate in Tlön, the hrönir.
Finally, the Postcript suggests that the letter addressed to Herbert Ashe might have been reproduced in order to publicize the existence of Tlön and its imminent invasion of Reality. The narrator (Borges himself) is included in this work, summarizing the content of the letter.
Plato (427/347 BCE).-
The duplication and proliferation of copies might allude to Plato´s Theory of Forms.
In his dialogue Phaedo, Plato defends the world of the archetypes (Ideas/Forms) by comparing it with the sensible world. While the Idea or archetype contains within itself an absolute and immutable value, the sensible copy reproduces this value in a partial, nether degree.
In “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” the Platonic attitude of disdain towards copies is enunciated from the beginning, with the imprecise quote that Bioy Casares mentions and which Borges attunes, later on.
Back to the quote, not only mirrors and copulation multiply and spread the universe. It seems that texts also do. In this sense, multiplication tends to alter the reproduced texts (simplifying them or modifying them). However, when it comes to the subsequent development of the encyclopedias in this story, one could conclude that the copies might “improve” the respective originals.
Disorted Copies and Mirrors are elements that relate one to each other.The mirror in Borges appears as a sort of unifying element between Reality and Fantasy. The perfect symbiosis between the real and the Fictional world ultimately demarcates the limits of the mirror.
In the case of Tlön, the narrative is constructed as a mirror. The image reflected is a “distorted and parodied” image of our own Culture.
Tlön is presented before hand as unreal, to finally persuade us that fictional planet is our world.
Tlön is presented before hand as unreal, to finally persuade us that fictional planet is our world.
The resource used in this story is to render unlikely any event of reality. We could conclude that mental facts have woven a warp of such real consistency that it reaches the “real” world, introducing doubts to the reader.
On the Left: Hyperbolic tessellation: Circle Limit III, by M. C. Escher. 1959. On the right: Butterfly by M. C. Escher. 1960´s.
This short story has both detective novel and dystopian novel elements.
In the first sense, the crime here described is the proliferation of fiction in the world of the narrator.
Or, said in other words, the death of reality due to the effects caused by the multiplication of Tlön:
“The contact and the habit of Tlön have disintegrated this world. Enchanted by its rigor, humanity forgets over and again that it is a rigor of chess masters, not of angels. Already the schools have been invaded by the (conjectural) “primitive language” of Tlön; already the teaching of its harmonious history (filled with moving episodes) has wiped out the one which governed in my childhood; already a fictitious past occupies in our memories the place of another, a past of which we know nothing with certainty – not even a that it is false…. If our forecasts are not in error, a hundred years from now someone will discover the hundred volumes of the Second Encyclopedia of Tlön. Then English and French and mere Spanish will disappear from the globe. The world will be Tlön“. (Page 16, according to University of Yale´s transcript).
Speculation is necessary here. For fiction to affect reality until it is annihilated, as happens when Tlön -as invention- influences reality, certain coherence is required. That is why, as we have seen, Borges´jigsaws, characters and researches are purely intellectual. Being these strategic elements of the genre available, a “real” world (the narrator’s) is constructed, as opposed to the “unreal” world of Tlön (which, however, is also made up of ideas). This is what allows Reality to be annihilated by Fiction.
As to the Dystopian factor, it is worth highlighting that the secret society Orbis Tertius had planned a textual conspiracy, directed to operate through a series of speeches and aiming to subjugate humanity. Subjugation subtly occurs Language, implying a perversion of rhetoric.
Taking this interpretation further, the disappearance of “English, French and Spanish” could allude to the Third Reich project of destroying the heterogeneity of civilization in favor of the predominance of a superior “race”.
Finally, the Dystopian element is surreptitiously expressed in the use of language (Otherwise, and also, as a resource of Power).
The story begins with a memory of Bioy Casares extracted from an apocryphal book. It ends with a destructive invasion of the real world by “objects” (which are nothing else but ideas) from a false world, published by an apocryphal book: the First Encyclopaedia of Tlön.
In fine, the story as a whole seems to contain an otherwise positive warning, about the limitations of language.
Language, without more reference than itself, can not allow us to distinguish between the apocryphal and the authentic, between what is false and what is true.🔚
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➰☑️ “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”:
►Read “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges.
Translation to English from Yale University. Click Here.
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►Links Post:
http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/0066/borges.pdf
http://ciudadseva.com/texto/tlon-uqbar-orbis-tertius/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n,_Uqbar,_Orbis_Tertius
http://jeriwb.com/picking-a-point-view-57117/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BxOE3bO6SM&t=14m2s
http://hyperallergic.com/75485/borges-and-xul-solar-illuminating-an-artistic-friendship/
http://losojosdeborges.blogspot.com.ar/2004/12/tln-uqbar-orbis-tertius.html
http://ficcionesborges.blogspot.com.ar/2005/05/tln-uqbar-orbis-tertius-sobre-lo.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley
https://belate.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/aristotle-definition-of-time-in-physics/
https://frankfurtschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/summary-the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction/
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Aquileana
⚡️La Audacia de Aquiles⚡️ 
So good to see you. How have you been my friend.
Hi there… great to see you. I am doing fine. I hope you too … and that your 2017 is off to a good start!. Sending love and best wishes. 😀
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Muchas gracias por compartir este post… Feliz domingo. 😀 😉
Para vc tb
Dear Aquileana, I must say this story by Borges and your explanations are difficult for me, but very interesting and highly actual, it seems to me! In the imaginary Tlön the language doesn’t have any nouns which could mean that it has been simplified by the the people in power, which makes it easier for them to control them! Of course, in a country like Tlön reality of the world is denied!! The indigenous people are turned into hronirs, a kind of clones of what they have been before the “occupation” and therefore, things become manipulated or duplicated and finally cancelled. At that point the culture loses the aura and disintegrates completely. Great:):) Thank you very much. Un grande abbraccio Martina
A very interesting analysis… thanks for sharing… I liked the points concerning Language. If we stop to think about it as we became more technologically engaged Language has been simplified as well.
The idea of hronirs or “people” is an interesting twist, which reminds me of an episode of Season One of Black Mirror (a woman´s husband dies and she manages to get a device which allows her bring a new copy of his dead husband back to life: a sort of clon and robot: the information is provided by the guys´interactions in Social Media and personal videos, recreating his character and even his voice)…
Anyway, the idea of masive duplication is certainly linked to an apocalyptic future (at least in terms of Borges´narrative)… And you are right: Walter Benjamin points exactly in that same direction when he mentions the “loss of aura” .. (Aristotle Plato had done so too, in their own ways)… Wishing you the best, cara Martina!. 😀 😉
Isn’t this cloning horrible! Where does our creativity and uniqueness remain?? Your post even induced me to know a little bit more about Borges and his family and I found out that they lived in Switzerland when he was a child and that the writer is even buried here.: 🙂
Fantastic episode!
Thanks so much. Borges is one of my favorite argentine writers. And this brief story is definitely among his best ones. Sending best wishes 🙂
Indeed, he spent his last years in Switzerland and died there, in 1986. He also dedicated his final work, The Conspirators, to the city of Geneva, Switzerland… Sending much love, dear Martina. 😀
Wow!
It has become our everyday life.
Excellent interpretation.
Thank you so much… Indeed, it perfectly applies to “our current Reality”… I am glad that you enjoyed the post, my friend. Much love! 😀
Much love & light your way✨
💐
Molto interessante … un caro saluto Franca.
Vi ringrazio cara Franca. Un abbraccio e felice fine settimana 😀
Fascinating article! Thanks for sharing it.
Thank you very much!!!!. Best wishes and love to you. 😉
Peace.
!ENHORABUENA!
Audacia sin límites la tuya para hacer este formidable artículo sobre estas pequeñas obras maestras de Borges que podemos disfrutar pero más difícilmente entender. Es como una exquisita tarta de múltiples y complejísimos sabores que tú tratas con audacia de descifrar.
Un abrazo
Muy agradecida por tus palabras, querido Ramón… Me incliné por esta historia, porque el maestro Ricardo Piglia considera que es la mejor, entre todas las de Borges. Me alegro inmensamente de que te haya gustado. Un abrazo para vos! 😀
Interesting! This article deserves more than one reading. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot for your words, Stacy. 🙂 All the best to you!, Aquileana 😀
Great work from Borges, it’s great you brought it here Aquileana! 🙂
Thank you very much. I am pleased to know that you enjoyed the reading!!!!. All the best to you!, Aquileana 😀
I have to come back and read this again. I listened to the entire video.
So far, in my simple thoughts, it seems like like the fake news found all over the internet. Many people believe the fake news and repeat it until it becomes entwined with the real news. Now, which is real? Is anything real? {{hugs}}.
Resa, You are quite right…. A fake, apocryphal world described in an encyclopedia (created by an organization called “Orbis Tertius) becomes “real” due to mass media (see Postcript)… And becomes so relevant and Dangerously attractive to the point of invading Reality- Uqbar and Tlon don´t exist and yet, people surrender to them. (language, culture, etc)….
The interpretation concerning the Third Reich seems eloquent… Hitler could have been a leader from “Tlön”!.
Social media and Internet came years later this short story by Borges, as it was written in 1940, by the way. Nowadays, If Wikipedia told us that they found the lost city of Atlantis, we might believe so… and maybe book a ticket to visit it, even if the news were completely false. (Double check!!!)
Thanks so much for taking time here… Much love! 😀
Yay! I get it!
However, there is such an attractive danger (as you put it) in cyber space that the history of earth before & from now on is in jeopardy of becoming a trash bin of sensationalism.
This is a very insightful and relevant article, even though “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” is from a time past. Sending hugs & love from Toronto!
So true…. your comment reminded me of Orson Wells´“War of the Worlds” (a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth), which causes nationwide panic with his broadcast… Link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/
Anyway, If you think certain “conspirative theories” are accurate it is logical to believe that some “official versions” might be fake as well. I am not talking about fact but of motif… 9/11 comes to my mind!…
Thanks so much for “following” the post! Hugs and happy weekend. 😀
I know “War Of The Worlds” very well. It’s a scare in hell!
Yet, I think a more serious problem is upon us.
It is coming to the point where even if one does not believe the “conspirative theories”, one may also not believe the “Official”.
Each dismisses the other.
The point, here, is humanity, at times, & eventually, will not know what to believe.
⭐ Note: I do not mean “believe in”.
Therefore: Wherein does the truth lie?
Not knowing what to believe it: I gues that´s a result of the Postmodern nihilism. And quite a paradox: too much information could lead us to complete ignorance!. Unless we choose accurate sources. When it comes to International Politics, I watch CNN for instance and I believe it is a Reliable source. I wouldn´t choose Fox News, which is the opposite pole…. But that´s my opinion… And it is hard to “filter” information in an objective way anyway 😉 —> Truth lies in facts not opinion on facts!: That´s is True 😀 xx
I agree!
“too much information could lead us to complete ignorance”.
Yet what is an accurate source? I watch CNN, as well.
There are uber many sources these days.
Ultimately, for those who don’t watch CNN, other channels, read news publications or even blogs; religions may be at the forefront of thwarting realistic reason.
Love your mind! xoxo
… “Religions may be at the forefront of thwarting realistic reason”…
Love that assesment ..and your mind!; dear Resa…
You got to watch a documentary by Bill Maher called “Religulous” if you have the chance!. 😉 Sending love for your sunday! ⭐
Our current reality.
Un beau blog,toujours très bien présenté tes billets et c’est toujours très intéressant.
Merci beaucoup, cher Georges. Je t´en prie 😉 Bon week-end!
Merci de ce beau partage….Bonne soirée …bises amicales http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/141201472481143298268294art.jpg .
Merci cher Georges, pour ta visite…. Bisous. Bonne fin de semaine! ⭐
This is all too erudite but well done for all the research and choosing such suitable images to go with your text.
Thank you very much dear Susan… I truly appreciate your words! …. all my best wishes! 😀
Bonjour ou Bonsoir ★* *★ Gentille AQUILEANA passionnée d’histoire que c ‘est beau
Ce jour
J’écoute Le Vent
Me souffler des mots puissants et attachants
A mon oreille il est venu me murmurer
Des élans d’amitié avec des envies de liberté
Me dire combien notre amitié compte entre toi et moi
Une Amitié avec un grand A
je te souhaite une excellente journée ou soirée’
Une douce belle journée si je suis de journée
Ou une tendre nuit si mon passage est du soir
Gros bisous http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/935239jeune.gif .
Bernard
Merci beaucoup, cher Bernard pour ces belles mots. Je t´en prie 😉 Bon week-end! Bisous!
Wow! This old man had to read this post over several times. I remember reading Borges back years ago after he was awarded the Nobel Prize; but I don’t remember having so much trouble in understanding him. It’s rough to admit age is slowing me down. You did an amazing job helping me in my old age. I think I will play some songs by the latest Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Bob Dylan to help me ease the pressure of trying to understand Borges.
Thank you for your words… I am sure that you´ll completely understand it if you read it more than once! 😉 Anyway, I believe this short story one of the most difficult by Jorge Luis Borges. He was not bestowed with the Nobel Prize, though… An argentine critic, Ricardo Piglia, says that maybe he was not because he didn´t write in a much prolific way, but just short stories… 😉
I forgot. He didn’t win the Nobel Prize. I guess the confusion came about because after every Award Announcement, his name was always mentioned as the one who should have won. I have always followed Borges because we share the same 8/24 birthday.
I did however read the story several times and enjoyed it greatly. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Most people think he should have won the Nobel Prize; I do too… Besides, he was a right wing man and that was something that I believe could have been a detrimental factor…
I am glad that you reda it again and fully understood it!.
Have a great sunday 😉
Excellent post, dear Aquileana
Thank you very much dear Leyla!!!! Love & best wishes!:D 🙂
Extraordinario post, como siempre. Borges es uno de mis escritores favoritos y es una gozada como has glosado sus mundos imaginarios relacionándolos con la filosofía. El caso es que cuando leo esas visiones y teorías extravagantes de Borges habitando sus narraciones me digo ‘¿y quién sabe?’. Como dijo William Blake “todo lo creíble es una imagen de la verdad”.
A veces me he preguntado qué género de novelas hubiera compuesto el gran Borges con esos mimbres, pero acaso es esta una pregunta absurda. Y, ya como planteamiento están bien esas propuestas, como catalizadores de la imaginación del lector.
Aquileana, una vez más gracias por dignificar la filosofía, el arte, el pensamiento, la cultura con esta bitácora extraordinaria. Un enorme abrazo.
Querido José,
Muchas gracias por tu comentario y es un gusto saber que aprecias a Borges como el excelente escritor que es…
Curioso lo que planteas acerca del tipo de novelas hubiera escrito.. Creo que en este cuento hay elementos de Ciencia Ficción… pero viendo las clases de Piglia sobre Borges en YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BxOE3bO6SM&t=14m2s escuchaba que, de acuerdo a Piglia, Borges creó un nuevo tipo de Ficción… No se trata de Literatura Fantástica sino de lo que el denomina “Ficción Especulativa”… También dice algo que considero acertado. Que en Borges: “La Erudición es ficción”…
Un abrazo grande y lo mejor para vos! 😀
So it looks like you are moving away from Greek mythology here. I’ll have to say that I found the discussion kind of complex and confusing.
Dear Georgia… I should have warned readers 😉 . Borges is a complex author. I truly liked this short story when I first read it many years ago… An argentine writer and critic Ricardo Piglia passed away recently and Borges was a referent for him… so, I quite randomly found myself reading “Tlön” -through Piglia- and that´s how it all started… I think the best way to understand it in depth is first reading the short story and then the analysis (maybe more than once). Otherwise I could be tough. I hope that the post is clear from the formal point of view and gramatically speaking, though. Borges´ ideas and writing are primarly complex, per se! 😀 Thanks for the honest comment!. Greek Mythology is a priority… but at times I might take some creative licenses!
Interesting – magical realism and Plato. I can see the link.
A good analogy, as many others in Borges!!! 😉 Thanks so much, dear Jan. Best wishes! 🙂
So interesting! It will take me a while to take in all of this (it is very late and I am tired) but I can see that something like this could happen. In recent years many celebrities have been found guilty of crimes such as paedophilia and they are not mentioned now; it is as if they never existed. Soon all the people who remember them when they were famous and when they were found guilty will be dead and with those people will go all trace of the celebrities. Human beings are so credulous and enjoy believing any story they hear on the news programmes and read in the newspapers. If an organisation were thorough enough, history could be changed.
“If an organisation were thorough enough, history could be changed”: that is a powerful statement… and I agree with you…
There is evidence that the Nazis experimented with cloning, in search of perfect beings … in the same way that they eliminated Jews by considering them inferior, they killed people with menthal issues. What would have happened if Germany had won the First World War!.
Something like this happens in a conceptual fiction book called “The Man in the High Castle” by Philip K. Dick…
In his book, the United States has lost World War II and is occupied by foreign powers. The eastern seaboard has fallen under German control, while the West Coast is under the sway of Japan…. http://www.conceptualfiction.com/the_man_in_the_high_castle.html
As to celebrities and ephemeral fame, I couldn´t agree more with you!
Thanks so much for dropping by, dear Clare. Sending love & best wishes. 😀
My pleasure dear Aquileana! My husband has read The Man in the High Castle and often quotes it when we speak of what might have happened if the outcome of WW1 and WW2 had been different. I really must read it myself!
With love xx<3xx Clare 🙂
A wonderful reading indeed. Say cheers to your hubby on my behalf ♨️ Sending much love, dear Clare. Have a Great week ahead.
Thank-you! You too 🙂
I like the humanizing approach to what could otherwise be a deeply cerebral conversation. For example, he finds an abandoned book in a bar that sparks his imagination. He has a back-and-forth with an esteemed colleague.
Nicely done.
Quite right!… Borges´literature is “Highly cerebral”… Many critics have pointed to this “flaw” as it could make his writing appears as devoid of human traits and feelings… But, as you have well highlighted, there are some signals of humanizing approach in this brief short story. And; I am with you: that´s a good thing!.
Thanks a lot for dropping by and for your comment, dear Jacqui!. All the best to you! 😀
It is fascinating to read of the place Tlon that does not follow materialism, but made up of idealism – and imagined ideas. If that is the case, anything can go from the beginning and make it up as you go.
I used to read that Benjamin Walter text during university! Aura and linking it with time – I suppose as you mentioned, our affinity with aura fluctuates over time. But the more idealistic we become, the more we can get caught up with our aura and lose touch with reality. There is always such a fine line between making time for aura and for the real world, others around us. Putting it the other way round, can fiction annihilate reality? Maybe…if you dream hard enough. Beautiful write 😊
You are right when you say: “the more idealistic we become, the more we can get caught up with (our) aura and lose touch with reality”.
Copies are not necessarily a bad thing… even if we are making reference to many copies (such as the ones created massively in series production). According to Walter Benjamin the first copy lacks of the originaly, authenticity and “aura” … Hence, there is only one perfect exponent… Aura could be related (or be an attribute) of Plato´s Ideas/Forms… Clearly Benjamin was an Idealist, as Plato and Berkeley.
Thanks so much for the clever inputs, dear Mabel… Sending much love! 😀
Love Borges but this was new, thanks for posting. Reminded me somewhat of Plato and his two separate realities.
Exactly…. there is a world which is a “copy”… The hronirs are objects that subjects could “menthally” reproduce. The concept of mirrors and disorted reflection (Of Ideas)… There are many points which could be linked to Plato´s theory of Forms...! 😉 Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, dear Maverick. All the best to you!, Aquileana 😀
This is quite different from what you usually offer to your readers but I can see how you came to be interested in Borges and how you could link it to Aristotle and Plato. Thank you for this insight into a most interesting writer:)
Thank you very much dear Sylvie ❤ I am really pleased to know that you liked the post… have a great weekend…. sending love!
A most fascinating article my scholarly friend. Much to absorb and think about, almost a book. Thank you for the time and effort you put into your most detailed and informative articles. 🙂 ❤ Big hugs xoxo
Thank you very much dear Debbie… coming from you, it means a lot!.
Sending hugs across the continent!. 😀
Your warm hugs are greatly received beauty! 🙂 ❤ ❤
Excellent!… happy sunday, my friend! xo 💞🌸💞
❤ ❤
Very interesting post my dear Aquileana! Borges’ mind as many Philosophers in different eras, immerses into a sea of questions about our human existence, always trying to go deeper to get answers. Those answers could be many but will never get to the bottom of it.
Life, our existence is an absolute mystery! Thank you for your wonderful post! My very best wishes to you. H.J. 🙂
“Life, our existence is an absolute mystery!”: So true… we can not not but tentatively explain certain things… we might use Philosophy to do so… How curious, though: Borges once said that Philosophy was a branch of Fantastic Literature 😉 😀 Oh, the irony!
Sending love & best wishes, dear HJ… thank you for the visit and comment!
Congrats for winning the Mug Bash Awards 2016 ‘Most Informative Blog Award’!
That is a nice mug and you deserve it so much. I will come back to this post again! I have to. it’s mesmerizing!
Amalia!
Thank you very much dear Maria!… You are welcome anytime… Please, let me know your thoughts as to the short story if you get to read it and /or listen to the audio… Sending love & best wishes. 😀
From what I gather, the short story engages with the philosophical idealism of George Berkeley, and the subjective idealism school, or empirical idealism, which is the metaphysical doctrine that only minds and mental contents exist. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that material things do not exist. It is the contrary of eliminative materialism, the doctrine that only material things, and no mental things, exist.
Eliminative materialism is the relatively new (1960s-1970s) idea that certain beliefs, desires, and the subjective sensation of pain, do not exist. The most common versions are eliminativism about “propositional attitudes”, a mental state held when “propositions” are made. Propositional attitudes are often assumed to be the fundamental units of thought and their contents, being propositions, are true or false. Also, there’s eliminativism about “qualia” (subjective experience).
Eliminative materialism can be represented as such:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Eliminative_Materialism2.png (CC by Edhubbard at English Wikipedia)
Arguments against ‘eliminative materialism; are:
1) Intuitive reservations (abilities to acquire knowledge without proof, evidence, or conscious reasoning), 2) Self-refutation (self-defeating ideas whose falsehood is a logical consequence of an assumption), 3) Qualia (subjective experiences), and efficacy of folk psychology (the inability of people’s understanding that the mind can be explained in terms of a theory at all)
If you were to ask me, both empirical idealism and eliminative materialism are an antithesis of one another, and as you write about Walter Benjamin, “the age of mechanical reproduction, mass consumption is the cause of the loss of the aura, and, therefore, the loss of a singular authority within the work of art itself. However, for Walter Benjamin, a distance from the aura is a good thing. The loss of the aura has the potential to open up the politicization of art, whether or not that opening is detrimental or beneficial is yet to be determined.”
“Borges says: “The nations of this planet are congenitally idealist. Their language and the derivations of their language – religion, letters, metaphysics – all presuppose idealism. The world for them is not a concourse of objects in space; it is a heterogeneous series of independent acts. It is successive and temporal, not spatial”. This is consistent with the belief that humanity is fundamentally flawed and fragmented. I agree. I identify with Baruch Spinoza’s ‘pantheism’. Pantheism has been linked to the ancient Hindu philosophy of Advaita (non-dualism). (so sorry this comment was so long).
Dear Maria…
Thanks so much for this philosophical notes. Very interesting!
The classical antithesis started with Plato and Aristotle.
Plato was idealist and Aristotle materialist.
Plato as you know in the analogy of the divided line and of the cave aimed to explain that the only reality were not tangible things but Forms or Ideas. To refresh it: https://aquileana.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/platos-republic-the-allegory-of-the-cave-and-the-analogy-of-the-divided-line/
Unlike Plato, Aristotle did not think there were ‘Forms’ that were somehow connected to the universe but not a part of it… He is sometimes considered a materialist, at times just an empirist. Anyway, Aristotle held that the essential nature of any psychological state, including perception and human thought, is a physical property.
Eliminative materialism would be as I see it an extreme expression of materialism… And Immaterialism (Berkeley) would be its opposite and an extreme form of Idealism.
I have never heard of Eliminative materialism… and believe (after reading the explanation you provided) that it lacks of foundations… Denying that “desires, and the subjective sensation of pain” do not exist simply sounds fallacious… In fact putting all feelings and sensations under certain general “Propositional attitudes” would be a way to homogenize personal states of mind, reaction towards certain stimulus, etc… To adjudicate the truth or falsity of a so-called “proposition”, which is in fact “a subjective assessment” seems extremely pretentious 😉 Sending love & best wishes. 😀
I didn’t know “eliminative materialism” existed either. I’m sending you another take on this: https://goo.gl/y4Kjg6
Thanks for analyzing it. The term is relatively new too (from 1960’s on). I’ve learned different philosophical terms here: “qualia” and “folk psychology”, all thanks to your blog.
In the above link it says at the end: “while it is true that eliminative materialism depends upon the development of a radical scientific theory of the mind, radical theorizing about the mind may itself rest upon our taking seriously the possibility that our common sense perspective may be profoundly mistaken.”
Thanks so much for the further details on Eliminative materialism, dear Maria.
Interesting article, particularly when it mentions that it could be defined as a sort of eliminativism that denies the existence of specific types of mental states.
Richard Rorty and Feyerabend: I could see now more how we could contour Eliminative materialism being Logic and Positivism its related philosophical lines. Sernding best wishes for your new week!. 😀
I very much enjoy Borges work ! 🙂
Thank you, Chris… your words mean so much! Love and best wishes to you ⭐
Very interesting, dear Aquileana 🙂
Thank you very much dear Irene!. I appreciate it!. Love and best wishes!, Aquileana 😀
Well done Aquileana love your posts. Thanks Bear 🙂
Thank you very much Bear!. I appreciate it!. All the best to you!, Aquileana 😀
The first man, Adam, might have still known reality. By multiplication (reproduction, until now 7.5 billions) the reproduction process has made it impossible to determine the real world. Billions of thought processes (“reasoning”) have changed reality….
A quite powerful and accurate analogy!… I guess it all turned out badly from the moment One became Two… At least it did, according to the Bible. And then the process continued… (For worse!?).
Thanks so much for dropping by… all the best to you 😀
Complex but interesting thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you very much dear Marje. I am glad to know that you found it interesting!!!! sending best wishes 😀
Sadly, I was introduced to Borges (and Bioy Casares) late in life. Perhaps too late to perceive and fully appreciate his genius! I love the idea of a fictional world real only through thought (which can be said, in another framing device, to be how a novel works! I played with that idea, on a much more low-brow level than Borges, I must say) and then that fictional world intruding into the ‘real world’ (whatever that is). In any case, thank you so much for the very comprehensive explication and overview of, as well as introduction to this story/philosophical treatise/conundrum. I think I will try to find this short story, if I don’t have it somewhere in the library already. I can imagine it will keep me very busy, though. In the meantime, take care, Aquileana!
Hello there Leigh;
Thanks so much for your comment…
The idea of a a fictional world, which has effects on the “real”/”non-fictional” world is something Borges mastered… He has a short story called “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”.
Pierre Menard is a fictional 20th-century French writer and his first attempts aimed to translate Cervantes´masterpiece.
Borges’ describes Menard’s efforts to go beyond a mere “translation” of Don Quixote by immersing himself so thoroughly in the work as to be able to actually “re-create” it, line for line, in the original 17th-century Spanish.
Anachronism, quotations, parallel realities are themes we can often find in Borges´short stories. Speculative fiction and conceptual fiction seem to be the genres he mastered.
I added the audio (good reading) of “Tlön, Oqbar, Orbis Tertius” and also the English PDF, just in case you want to go further 😀 Best wishes!
This is interesting and complicated, Aquileana. Thanks for such intricate information and thoughts, as always. I hope you’re doing well in this new year, too. Lauren ♥
Thank you very much dear Lauren… I am glad to know that you liked it… I am doing well so far… Hope your 2017 is off to a great start! 😀
What a start to the year my darling. As always I am awed by your knowledge of your subject which seems especially relevant right now AND in some ways different from your usual posts, leading me to be even more awed xxxxxxx .
So true: this short story by Borges is relevant in many ways nowadays. The way an irreal story is taken as a real one… and how that has many “real” distorted effects could be taken at least as a warning signal. Sending love & best wishes dear She… xo
Such an interesting write. Really fascinating and informative, Aquileana. Thanks for this detailed post. Much to ponder on! 🙂
Thank you very much dear Iris… Very glad to have you over here and it is great to know that you enjoyed Borges´short story!. Sending love & best wishes 🙂
Borges sounds fascinating, but possibly extremely difficult to read and truly appreciate. Thanks for sharing his work with your readers.
So true… This short story is one of Borges´most difficult ones… Fiction and erudtion seem to get intertwined… But after a second (or third) read, one finally understands it all. The second section is in fact the hardest one, even more if you want to find out if there are philosophical real equivalents or exponents to back up the ideas he claims to have found in “The Tlön Encyclopedia”.
Thanks so much for dropping by, dear Jeri… sending all my best wishes. 😉
You remind me I need to read more Borges.
I need to read more Borges too! 😀 Sending love & best wishes, dear Jeff!.
I second Maverick’s comment of knowing Borges but not being familiar with the text you speak of.. It’s very complex though and I wish I understood more of the discussions you speak of.. Regardless, I appreciate your bringing his 1940 story to more people. And I look forward to more mythical reads from my BGP xx Thanks for everything you do ❤
Hi Chris… thanks so much for your comment…. You´ll understand it in a more deeper way if you read it again! 😉 I read Borges´brief story several times and then researched information … It is a process. Anyway, I´d say this is Borges’ most complex short story. And probably most perfect at the same time 😀
Thanks so much for all you mean to me, B2… Sending love!
It was great to chat about it more in private, Aqui, and I envy how you are able to understand such complex ideas.. you really are a light in my life xx Thank you B1 🙂
Thanks so much Chris, I listened to the “The Riddle of Poetry” audio.
http://ubu.com/sound/borges.html Excellent… It was part of a group of conferences Borges gave in Harvard in 1967/8. I plan to listen to all of them! Thaks so much for sharing it!!!. I will privately send you some notes on Piglia´s video: transcript or sort of in English 😀
You are a light to me too! ❤ 😀
We live in interesting times where communication is asymmetrical. I look forward to our posts and the thoughtful dialogue that accompanies them. A great way to start a New Year of discovery.
The idea of asymmetrical communication is probably related to whom is the agent who distributes the news, I guess.. Hence, to power.
I mentioned a political interpretation of this short story, being related to the Third Reich… It is quite scary… But, it is a given fact: Power could be a powerful weapon when it comes to the exercise of control or influence over someone.
I am looking forward to reading your newest posts!… sending love! 😀
Como siempre, un placer inmenso el leerte, Aquileana. Hace rato que tengo ganas de retomar a Borges, pero no quiero hacerlo en mi lector digital, sino en papel, como corresponde. Claro, para un viajero impenitente como yo eso se me hace un poco “cuesta arriba”; pero ya encontraré algún libro de él en el camino (al menos hasta que regrese a mi biblioteca en Argentina).
Un abrazo.
Tengo una recomendación para tí, Borgeano… se trata de cuatro muy amenas clases que Ricardo Piglia dedica a Borges (gran estudioso de Borges, crítico y escritor argentino que falleció recientemente). Te paso el enlace para que lo mires https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im_kMvZQlv8&t=13s (clase 1, las demás enlazan automáticamente o al costado derecho, como sugerencia). Abrazos!
Sí, sí, claro que las conozco Aquileana (incluso las vi hace poco, cuando yo mismo estaba preparando unas clases sobre literatura argentina para dictar aquí, en Morelia). Agradezco muchísimo que te hayas tomado el trabajo de buscarlas y enlazarlas. Esas clases son una maravilla (y cuánto vamos a extrañar al querido Piglia…). Gracias nuevamente por ello.
Un abrazo.
Excelentes clases, coincido con vos! 😉 Sí, lamentable lo de Piglia… Uno de los críticos más “destacados”. Intelectual, pero accesible. Un “profesor”, creo yo. Gracias a vos por tus comentarios aquí… Nos leemos! 😀
Wow, Aquileana. This is a ton of information and fascinating. I must admit, I had to read it twice to get a grasp on it. I do love the speculation and imagination and any exploration of what is “real.” Thanks for all the work pulling this together. 🙂 Great article.
I appreciate the comment. Thanks so much!! I am glad that you enjoyed it… You used the word “speculation” in reference to what is real… and that is quite accurate… Borges´writing is often defined as “Speculative Fiction” …
Wishing you well!. 😀
Dear Aquileana, as always, your knowledge and presentation skills are impeccable! So, so much to learn, to pause and consider. thank you! ..I liked the bit about the mirrors being abominable. Cheers, hugs Debi
Thank you very much dear Debi!… very glad to know that you liked the post and discussion…
I appreciate the visit and comment. Sending you all my best wishes!. 😉
thanks!!
Buna dimineata Aquileana !
Felicitari pentru interesanta postare ! 🙂
In urma cu 167 de ani ( 15 ianuarie 1850) s-a nascut LUCEAFARUL poeziei ROMANESTI, poetul Mihai EMINESCU ! 🙂
https://youtu.be/HGgn_3Ep8BE Te invit sa mi te alaturi virtual pe http://aliosapopovici.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/ la marea mea bucurie ! 🙂
Un sfarsit de saptamana cat mai placut ! 🙂
Cu respect,
Aliosa 🙂
Thanks so much. I´ll glady join you in order to learn about the romanian poet Mihai Eminescu!. I´ll be there soon!. Wishing you well, dear Aliosa! 😀 😉
Bardzo dobry artykuł.
Pozdrawiam i życzę miłego weekendu.
Thanks so much, dear Marko… Wishing you a great sunday! 😀
Thank you for this interesting post. I have never heard about Jorge Luis Borges. I think that this is due to it, that, my “specialty” is French Science Fiction or as it is called also “Livres d’Anticipation” in France. I think that I have mentioned that I have about 1500 French Sci-fi books, which I have read many times since 1975.
Now I am rereading books written in 1960s. Because they are old and our world has changed since then, it it amazing to read about things, which existed, in literature, but not in real life in 1960s. Now many of them is in use.
Maybe You have heard about Maxwell Smart and his shoe phone. At those days, it was a revolutionary invention. Nowadays everyone has “shoe phone”, but we hold it in our hands. 🙂
Science Fiction is fantastic and it gives free hands to use our imagination.
Happy weekend.
“Livres d’Anticipation” : that could be a great way to define Borges´Book of short story … As far as I read, we could fit “Speculative Fiction” or “Conceptual Fiction”… Curiously enough, the english version of his book “Ficciones”, called “Labyrinths” has a prologue written by a Sci-Fi author: William Gibson. So it is interesting to see how the genres get intertwined somehow.
You are right as to Maxwell Smart. Good thought, dear Sartenada.
Thanks so much for dropping by and for your inputs… all my best wishes! 😉
Thank you for this amazing post Aquileana! I look forward to following the links ..
Excellent to know that you´ll be following the links… thanks so much dear Susan… I am very pleased to read your comment!!!!… sending best wishes, 😀
Thank you for your splendid work, Aquileana. Isn’t it amazing what a human mind can create. This week I have been thinking a lot about imaginary worlds in literature and art – and about one world in particular. My favorite illustrator James C Christensen passed away recently, and I just cannot come to terms with that. He has created a beautiful and kind world, and I wish people keep creating kind and good things.
Best wishes! xx
Thanks for telling me about James C Christensen … I have just searched his name online: he is brilliant!!!. Sorry to know that he has recently passed away though.
I am with you as to how Art can create New Realities. Or sub-realities (Both are correct, I guess! 😉 ) How powerful that´s it!…. I appreciate the visit dear Inese… Wishing you the best! 🙂
Human mind never ceases to amaze me. Have a wonderful week! xx
So true! .. Have a Great week too, dear Inese 💟
Thank you! xx
Phenomenal post. Enjoyable read not just once but three times
Thank you very much!… very pleased to know that you enjoy this one!!!… wishing you well 😀 😉
Likewise, stay amazing
Aquileana as always you give your readers much to reflect on with your well researched articles.Like others I have gone back several times to reflect on your words. The human mind is an incredible tool. Sending very best wishes to you across the miles.
Thanks so much for such nice words, dear Sue… I am glad that you found it interesting … and I completely agree with you with regard to the human mind being an “incredible tool”… I admire Borges´meticulousness and erudition. But, how curious, those same attributes caught a lot of criticism, back in time… and still nowadays… Many (probably most) argentines admire him and point at him as the best argentine writer. Others say he was cold, too rational.. Besides, his right wing political position was a focus to his detractors..
Much love & best wishes to you! 😀
Hmm… I wonder if Orbis Tertius have amended their plans slightly and decided to subjugate humanity by working with an orange-haired accomplice whose perversion of rhetoric prevents us from distinguishing between the apocryphal and the authentic and who avoids nouns, verbs, or any other part of speech in favor of superlative adjectives.
Haha! 😀 Well that’s a GREAT comment, dear Bun!!!… Brilliant. You are so clever… I couldn’t agree more with you–> |Heil, orange-haired!|
Wishing you a great sunday & week ahead! 😀
Thank you very much, Aquileana. I’m glad the comment made you smile. I hope you a great week too. 😀
😀 Best to you, dear Bun!
Aquileana – you always have incredible posts, chock full of riveting information. I love Borges. I read him for my undergrad and grad courses in Spanish and wrote many a paper on his works.
But one line really caught my eye: when Aristotle said that “essence of time is the now, to nun.”
Even the ancients understood the importance of living in the present. As it is my personal mission and journey to try to do that as much as possible, it’s no wonder that resonated with me so much.
Keep up the good work! Abrazos fuertes!
Coincido, totalmente!.. Aristotle´s thoughts on time remind us of the Roman quote: “Carpe Diem”…
Furthermore, his philosophical arguments as Time being a continuos present are hard to refute. He was a brilliant mind, despite his “materialistic approaches”, opposed to Platonic philosophy .
Great to know that you know Borges and even wrote about him.
Thanks so much for dropping by and for your comment … Sending love & best wishes. 🙂
amazing lesson of the past
being so relevant today, Aquileana!
there are some that might be nice
have duplicate of,
but so many others who
if cloned would
ruin everything.
smiles, david 🙂
Hi David… you are quite right… there is something alarmingly “real” in this brief story by Borges… and many elements with which we could relate nowadays… Worth noting that Borges wrote “Tlön…” in 1940, though! 😀
Sending you all my best wishes! 🙂
Reblogged this on lampmagician.
Thank you very much for sharing this post!!!. I truly appreciate it… Hope your 2017 is off to a great start! Best wishes! 😀
non conoscevo questa opera di Borges. Molto interessante è il tuo post.
Ti ringrazio Newwhitebear. Sono contenta che ti sia piaciuto.
Felice Domenica e buona settimana! 😉
grazie e serena nuova settimana
Tante grazie Newwhitebear 💗
I shall come back to listen to the video, but I must say, first impressions: The box picture immediately took my mind to Pandora’s box. Then you present something completely new to me… To discuss an hypothetical novel, to negate time, the infusion of great philosophies… I need time to process. Fabulous post as always, Aquileana.
Thanks so much dear Kevin… The themes you highlighted are worth a second reading; I guess! 😀 I much appreciate the visit and comment here…. wishing you the best! 😉
Borges sounds great! I haven’t read him but your critical analysis and explanation have thrown much light upon his work. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful and informative post… ❤
Thank you very much dear Mani!. I am beyond appreciative to read your words! 😀 Sending love & wishing you the best. 🙂
“Language, without more reference than itself, can not allow us to distinguish between the apocryphal and the authentic, between what is false and what is true”
Fascinating.
I love that quotation too… thanks so much for highlighting it!. All my best wishes, dear Rob! 😀 😉
wow,I am very impressed,thanks a lot for this article full of wisdom and knowlege.Thanks a lot for this interesting post.You are the best.I wish you all the best.Many hugs ❤ dear Aquileana
Oh, it is an honour to read such nice words, dear Jeannette. Thank you very much 💗… your comment means a lot to me. Sending love and hugs. 😘💕
Happy Sunday 🙂
Thanks so much, dear Simona. Happy week to you 💕
A very intriguing and interesting post that really makes me think. Can something fictional affect us? Just by thinking about it, it already has!
Have a lovely weekend, Aquileana 🙂
Thanks so much dear Scifihammy. I’d say that Fiction and Reality can become intertwined, as you have well higlighted and as it happens in Borges’short story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” 💌 I appreciate the comment and visit. Sending love and best wishes 💥
You’re very welcome. You always write such detailed, well researched posts that are a great read. 🙂
Happy Monday to you 🙂
❤ Sending Tuesday Love!!!! 😀
Many thanks 🙂
Beautiful subject of your articles – for a good meditation, quotations are meaningful and helpful for this. Thank you very much for this beautiful and interesting journey in ancient historical research, literature, mythology and philosophy. Sending you all my best wishes, have a happy Sunday afternoon !
Thanks so much for your words… I am happy to know that you found it interesting…. Wishing you an Excellent week ahead. Sending love 💗
Good evening dear Aquileana!
Not imagine what gave me great joy now on the brink of Romania tonight! 🙂 Your comment is proof that the post of girl
“REMEMBER EMINESCU”
http://aliosapopovici.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/
has accomplished mission! 🙂
And I like very much and the last stanza poem LUCEAFARUL is proof that EMINESCU poet was not only a great poet but also a fine and good political analyst of his time! 🙂
Many thanks for visiting, comments and feedback! 🙂
With all my heart I wish you many joys and accomplishments and invite you to esteem and love, come often in my virtual box where you will feel at home! 🙂
A blessed Sunday ! 🙂
With esteem and respect,
Aliosa! 🙂 ❤ 🙂
PS! 🙂
I will return immediately with a wonderful video dedicated EIMINESCU great!
: https://youtu.be/9AtQE_UdeXk .
Got it… Thank you very much… ♨️🎶
Hello There dear Aliosa, Thanks for introducing me to this poet. I can see why you admire him… Powerful and moving poetry… 🌟 Wishing you a great week ahead. 💛
What a wonderfully fascinating post, dear Aquileana. You’ve done a great deal of research to put this together. Love and Hugs, my friend.
Thank you very much dear Michelle… So glad to reading your comment~much appreciated, my friend~ I hope 2017 is off to a Great start for you. Sending Love and best wishes, 💟
Thank you Aquileana for this reminder. I’m pretty sure I’ve read the story. I will immediately check my Borges copies on my library shelves… 🙂 (And if I have it read it again.) 😉
Excellent. After writing the post, I like this short story even more, mind you. Thanks so much for dropping by… Best wishes, ♨️💥♨️
My pleasure. I will be back. (Haven’t checked my Borges yet. Hehe!) 🙂
You are welcome anytime ⭐️🌞⭐️
Thank you. It looks like a cozy place. I can imagine a chimney in the back of your blog…
Haha. Love that cozy poetic imaginary 😉😁
And a warm low light on. Maybe a cat curled in a deep leather armchair…
And you are at this very moment perusing some of my posts. 🙂 That is amazing. I think we had connected before. Glad to be back in touch. Take care. Brian
How neat that is, right 😀 You have a great blog. So glad we connected!. Have a good week ahead 🌟
🙂
well who doesn’t like a good fictional universe, or a parallel one? And this I love: existence of material substance and instead contends that objects are only ideas in the minds of perceiver and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived.
Perfect Idealism is it!… 😉
Quite right: a fictional parallel universe which effects impact on the Real World: that´s what Borges´s short story is about…
Thanks so much for dropping in, dear Badfish… wishing you a great week! . 🙂
what’s a good day without a little Aquileana, eh??
Thank you!. I love our dialogues 😉 ❤
cool…me, too!
WoW!!! this is so interesting and informative… I did not know of Borges before… I will definitely try and read him… excellent post as always!! 🙂 🙂
Thanks so much for the visit and comment… I am very pleased to know that you found it interesting and that you could even read him in the future! 😉 sending best wishes 😀
always a pleasure reading you……..your research and analysis fascinate me….. 🙂 🙂
It is a pleasure to read that!… Thanks so much! 😀
you are very welcome!!! 😀 😀
Totally intriguing topic and author.
Agree we are bombarded with information from everywhere with varying amounts of actual facts and honesty. To determine what is real and what is real-ish imitation/reality turned sideways a bit is taking more and more skill – good to read widely and not just one side as truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
(These days I’m more willing to go outside and to dig in some real dirt with hope of encouraging new positive growth HA HA.)
Love this romp through worlds and words
“Good to read widely and not just one side as truth usually lies somewhere in the middle”: good advice to face these worlds inhabited by Shadows and appearances
Knowledge is not just information… I has to do with being able to filter and classify information, to select and to identify what is somewhow “more” real.
Thanks for the great comment Phil.. Wishing you the best 😀
Yes, it’s interesting how great books influence our ideas of reality.
And starting in the 20th Century, it’s interesting how films have influenced our ideas of reality.
For example ever since the movie The Matrix came out, even some scientists are starting to wonder if our universe isn’t just a computer generated creation.
Good morning dear Dracul!… that´s a great parallel… I remember that back in time- When I was doing a preparatory course for entrance to University- we were asked to link “The Matrix” to Plato´theory of Forms… It was a long time ago and it was already an “Avant-garde” film!.
So true that films have influenced our Reality.
This short story is dated 1940… I wonder what would Borges write these days if he was with us!? …
Have a great day! 😀 😉 ⭐
Hi Aquileana. Thanks for this amazingly detailed breakdown of the story. I’m sure it is fascinating to read. You’ve made me think of the quote from Winston Churchill — “You create your own universe as you go along.”
Have a wonder-filled new week. Mega hugs.
Excellent quote!… So accurate and well timed, dear Teagan… thanks so much for your visit and comment… It is great to have you over here.
Have an excellent week ahead!!!… Many hugs across the miles! 😉 😀
I am very impressed, thank you for this interesting post! Wish you all the best!
Thank you very much dear Danaiana!!!! Your words are much appreciated. All the best to you too! ❤
I’ve never read this story.
Hi Sarah… Thank you for dropping by… I am glad to introduce it to you!… All the best! 😀
This is an amazing post and I would love to read the book. Fantasy and Science Fiction is my favorite genre in reading material. I have always felt that this genre is underrated by reviewers, especially when they are beautifully written. I loved the visual image of this -He also says that the reverse can occur: “Things became duplicated in Tlön; they also tend to become effaced and lose their details when they are forgotten. A classic example is the doorway which survived so long it was visited by a beggar and disappeared at his death” .
I think you might enjoy a book I read recently, “The Gollum and the Jinni”, set in 1880s New York from the viewpoint of Syrian Christian immigrants and East European Jews (and the folklore they brought with them). It is apropos to our current political situation. Wonderful blog, dear friend.
Dear Kerry: Borges´book “Ficciones” is available in English (Amazon, and so on). Its litle for the English version is “Labyrinths”.
This short story I analyzed here is included among many others in the book and would probably could be defined as SciFi… however, Borges himself said his genre was “Fantastic Literature”… Most critics say he wrote “Speculative Fiction” or “Conceptual Fiction”, though… that as an aside note concerning genres.
You have chosen one of my favorite excerpts from the second section, where Borges describes The “Encyclopedia of Tlön”…
As people from Tlön were purely idealist, Borges seems to take that both cleverly & ironically: With our minds we can create or efface things”.
A brilliant Way to take the postulates of Idealism to the extreme! 😀 But he does so in a beautiful, poetic way .
Thanks so much for the recommendation. I will look for “The Gollum and the Jinni”!… Sending love & best wishes 🙂
I will definitely look for this book. It must be intriguing to see the differences in a translated book. Love K x
Great. Love back at You! 💕
Hello my friend,
The information in this article is so interesting and deep, I read it multiple times (as I do with all of your wonderful work) 🙂 I look forward to learning more in 2017! Happy New Year ❤
Thank you very much dear Takami… Your comment means a lot to me… We have been in touch for a long time now: thanks for your support!!!!
Look forward to your beautiful posts as well!. Happy 2017 😀 ⭐
You have the equivalent of this in modern times, especially in film where the visual give “reality” the legitimacy it lacks in print.
The movie Avatar especially — if I recall correctly — had people long (physically long) for Pandora, the mythical world of the also mythical Na’vi, to the point of becoming suicidal because it was not real.
Star War’s “Force” and the Jedi Knights are now the basis for a recognized religion. Many of today’s gadgets are inspired by Star Trek.
We could also drift into religious texts and their effect on developing societies to the point of “creating” a society based on them, but that’s a discussion for another time (if ever).
I forgot to mention . . . once people embrace the fantasy, even if it shown to be so, people are reluctant to let go of it; it becomes the only reality they know.
True. We might be slaves of our thoughts … and of our habits!. I see that the sense of Fantasy you are providing has much to do with a social and/or political way of life. The concept could intentionally define certain Political Regimes as well, I guess … Thank you, dear Disperser 😀
Very interesting comment… You are right as to how films can visually “recreate” parallel realities. And you provide good examples in that sense.
I agree with you as to Religions, as they could propose a model to follow, somehow. Interestingly enough the religions that could “create” new social realities, might be defficient in certain Spiritual domains, which is in theory their original target. I see what you are subtly pointing out and I am nodding. 😀
Thanks so much for dropping by and for your clever insights, dear Disperser!. Best wishes 😀
Your topics and your research amazes me. The creation of worlds. I’m guessing that you are able to read in the original language that Borges’ writing was written! Wow, and Walter Benjamin’s idea of the loss of the aura! You have created a wonderful presentation once again, with so many enriching avenues of thought and discovery!
Hello there dear Ka!… Yes, indeed. Borges´s original short- story was written in Spanish and he was argentine, like me.. So, I read it in Spanish for the first time (and English to write this post). Borges spoke English quite fluently and gave some conferences in English in Harvard (1967-8), though.
As to Benjamin: he was a great philosopher from The Frankfurt School… The idea of Loss of aura is intriguing and clever. He was jew and his death was tragic. Epecting repatriation to Nazi hands, Walter Benjamin killed himself with an overdose of morphine tablets in 1940.
Thanks so much for your comment, my friend. Sending love and best wishes. 😀 😉
Borges is a brilliant writer, always challenging and leaves me with the feeling there are more to be discovered in his words than I have interpreted. I don’t think I have come across this story before but appreciate the fantastic breakdown of it. It makes me want to go out and seek old books now and conjure up a crazy history for them or based upon them.
You are quite right as to Borges: a challenging writer, someone from whom we can always learn. I am planing to read more of his short stories, in English… Thanks so much for the visit and comment, dear Ste… all the best to you! 😀
Would living in Tlön be living in a world without objects or just without words for them? So I couldn’t say, “Mom, pass the chocolate.” There would be no word for mother or chocolate. The chocolate would be there, but I would have no way to get to it. My whole chocolate-oriented being rejects this construct. 🙂 Fascinating post, as usual.
YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT in your statements, dear Bren.The use of language and the fact that in Tlön most people do not use “nouns”, would be a kind of conclusion which entails a reduction to the absurd of the postulates of Absolute Idealism. Some people in Tlön are more extreme, as Borges explains in the short-story. Thus, Relativism is also a characrteristic of this civilization
Thank you very much for dropping by and sharing your thoughts… great to “see”you!. Love & best wishes. Aquileana ⭐
So much of philosophy is a reduction to the absurd, which makes it a pleasure to contemplate, if a brain bender. 🙂
So true!. Most times this is how Philosophy works, I guess!. A philosophical spree it is!. 😀 Love & best wishes 😉
Usually, I would think the invasion of fiction into reality would be a positive thing, but I guess this secret society had more sinister plans, especially if it does symbolize the Third Reich. To play devil’s advocate, couldn’t one argue the opposite case, though, that people are too attached to words and their definitions, causing more harm than good? Wouldn’t it be better without people always using words, trying to prove that they’re ‘right’?
Dear Carolee, you are quite right as to this “invasion” being quite sinister.
As to the use of words when it comes to how Fiction might influence in Reality, there is a double movement. From Reality (the author-the Secret Society) to Fiction (the book- the Encyclopedia of Tlön). And then, from Fiction to Reality… The structure and movement of this meta-fiction is so well achieved!.
As to the use of words, I hear you… You are right: It could have been an irony from Borges to try to prove “how relative” meanings are… Whislt words are most times “objective”. Interestingly enough, languages such as Latin or Ancient Greek entail “constructions of ideas” through sintax and semantics. They are far more complex and idealist than English or Spanish, I guess.
Thanks so much for the visit and interesting comment…. Love & best wishes 😀 ⭐
A very detailed and complex post, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Having never read Borges or studied philosophy, it was refreshing to have my mind channelled in this direction. You’ve made so many interesting and valid points that I know I’ll have to go back and reread. The imaginary country of Tlön, and its people with their idealistic beliefs, takes a bit of absorbing. That they don’t believe in ‘the material, objective existence of their surroundings’ is particularly odd (to me as a newcomer to all this, that is. Lol) Yes, I definitely need a reread. A wonderfully researched and well presented post, Aquileana. 😀
Thank you very much dear Millie… I agree with you: there are so many layers to study here. Further readings are needed to absorb all this…
As to Tlön people´s idealistic belief, I is platonism taken to the extreme… The Bishop and philosopher Berkeley was probably the most well known exponent in this order of things… Borges mentions him a few times in his short-story…
Sending love and best wishes! ⭐ 😉
Schöner Beitrag wünsche von Herzen einen schönen Donnerstag lieber Gruß Gislinde
Thanks so much, dear Gislinde! 😀 I am pleased to knw that you liked it and appreciate your words!.
Have a great day. Love & best wishes 🙂
really a nice post! i’ll follow up this argument 🙂
have a nice day ❤
Thanks so much for the visit and comment!… I am glad that you enjoyed the reading… Wishing you a great day, too!- 😀 😉
Merci chère Aquileana pour ce billet. Il ne me reste plus qu’une chose à faire, relire Borgès… 🙂
Je te remercie beaucoup, chère Elisa… Quant à Borges, je dois le lire et relire aussi (un processus sans fin!). Bisous! 😀
Outstanding !
Thanks so much!. I appreciate it! 😀 😉
Completely my pleasure,
Every time I read your posts..I end up learning so many things.. thank you so very much for sharing !!!
Thank you… It means so much!!!. Best wishes! 😀 😉
You re welcome !! 🙂
And thank you for the wishes !! 🙂
Grazie molto della tua attenzione. Un bel lavoro il tuo che purtroppo mi è quasi impossibile nella traduzione.
Ti abbraccio
sherazade
Tante grazie carissima Sherazade!. Ti auguro una bella giornata. Un abbraccio! 😀 😉
☺ Same to you sweety
so fascinating and fantastical!! I must look up Borges. I have read Marquez and Allende.
Thank you very much, dear Cybele. You might enjoy Borges. He was such a great writer… 😀
Wishing you an excellent weekend. Love & best wishes! 😉
I absolutely adore this story and the quote about mirrors and copulation. Great post.
Thank you for mentioning the quote!. I agree with you: it is excellent! 😀
I am glad to know that you enjoyed “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”… Best wishes!
I actually quoted that passage in a post on mirrors. I will send it to you. Thanks
The fact that you quoted Borges mesmerizes me! 😀 All my best wishes! 😉
Thank you and same to you
All mirrors are inherently mysterious and magical. The moment when Narcissus looked into the lake and realized that what he saw reflected was at one …
Mirror||rorriM
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https://cakeordeathsite.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/mirrorrorrim/
That was an excellent reading (I even liked the title, so clever!)…
Thanks so much for sharing. I just left you a comment 😀
Wishing you the best! 😉
Bonsoir ma chère Aquileana et merci pour ton merveilleux billet une fois de plus et si bien décrit. C’est absolument intéressant et j’apprends beaucoup.
Je te souhaite un excellent week-end avec toute mon amitié et merci de tes mots chez moi.
Douce soirée mon amie et mes bisous 🙂 ♥
Merci beaucoup, chère Denise, pour ce beau commentaire et pour ton soutien constant ici!… Je t´embrasse et je te souhaite une superbe fin de semaine! 😀 ⭐
Me encanta la primera foto – qué maravilla! Un abrazo,
Es excelente, no?… ;)Muchísimas gracias querido Graham. Un abrazo y feliz día!.
The visible world is just a pretext..loved your tag line
Thank you very much… sending all my best wishes! :d
I’ve heard of Borges, but have never had the chance to read him. Your fascinating analysis has got my curiosity fired up. I love works that challenge how we see reality. Thank you for another profound post, dear Aquileana.
Thank you very much, dear Julie… I think you might enjoy Borges´short stories… He was a great writer, indeed.
I much appreciate the visit and your thoughts… Wishing you well! 😀
Just dropping by to say hello my dear Aquileana..I hope you are doing good. Have a wonderful week ahead. I will do justice to your well researched post and read it at leisure.
Hugs darling X
You are welcome anytime, my friend. Thanks so much for your words. Sending love and best wishes, always! xo 😀
Expectation and anxiety not only can be limiting, they really are. The name of this writer was new to me, but philosophy behind these stories is fairly amazing.
Enlightening post as always! https://inesepogalifeschool.com/
Such wise words… Thank you dear Inese. As to Borges: he was a great (I believe the best) argentine writer. I am pleased to introduce him to you!… Happy that you enjoyed the reading!. wishing you a very nice week ahead. Sending love! 😀
Quote “For fiction to affect reality until it is annihilated, as happens when Tlön -as invention- influences reality, certain coherence is required. That is why, as we have seen, Borges´jigsaws, characters and researches are purely intellectual. Being these strategic elements of the genre available, a “real” world (the narrator’s) is constructed”
I think this pars it very well. Intriguing. 🙂
I think so too!… Borges is an intriguing author. You find new things each time you get back to his short stories, with each new reading… 😉 Thanks so much for your comment dear Tammy. It is really appreciated… Sending best wishes. 😀
It was a wonderful read, thank you 🙂
Pagine notevoli e speciali, corredate di splendide immagini, che ho letto con immenso piacere
Un caro saluto e un sorriso, Aquileana,silvia
Ti ringrazio di cuore, cara Silvia. Ti auguro una bella giornata. Abbraccio! 😀
It’s pure genius to create a fictional place within a fictional story… No wonder scholars love to debate it. I must read it now! I looked for Borges’ story, but at the moment it is unavailable from Amazon. I’ll try again later or look elsewhere… Gosh, Aquileana… You have me hunting for a work now!
Dear Kev, I am so glad to read your words and to know that you got ccaught by this short story by Borges and its analysis. You can read it here: http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/0066/borges.pdf . The book “Labyrinths” (in which “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is included) is the English equivalent for “Ficciones”. Worth it!. Sending love & best wishes! 😀
Ooh, thanks Aquileana. Much appreciate the link! Off there now so I can bookmark it. You’re a treasure! 🙂 💗
Excellent dear Kev!…. And, by the way: You are a ⭐ Have a great day! 😀
As are you! 😀
Un passaggio per augurarti una splendida giornata
Un abbraccio, Omar
Ti ringrazio, caro Omar… Un abbraccio. Ti auguro una bella giornata! 😀 😉
And look who we have as President? Talk about rhetoric!
Love your post. I didn’t know anything about this.
I know right?… There is a whole “fantastic” imaginary surrounding Trump´s megalomania and use of language. Thanks so much for the visit and comment, dear Susie. Sending love! 😀
It’s been so shocking!
Thanks so much for the visit too and the Tweet!
Thank you for another lovely and insightful post, Aquileana!
Hope you’re having a great time!
Thank you very much dear Heena… I appreciate the visit and comment … Wishing you a great weekend ahead! 😀
You too, dear! 🙂
Un passaggio per augurarti un buon fine settimana….
Un abbraccio, Omar
Tante grazie, caro Omar!. Ti auguro un bellissimo week-end. Un abbraccio ❤
Passo nel tuo blog per augurarti una spensierata domenica di gennaio….silvia
Tante grazie, cara Silvia!. Ti auguro una bella domenica, amica. Un abbraccio 😀 😉
Hello Aquilleana,
Very interesting post, but very hard to follow the train of Borges’ thought. I would have to read the whole story, to be able to pause and think. And from your analysis I’d be able to grasp the issues Borges is exploring. But I can relate to Borges’ concept of Time seen as a continuous present. My thoughts went to Eckhart Tolle and his book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. The only real time is the present moment. The past and future exist only in relation to Now.
So Now is the time to thank you for yet another excellent post.
Best wishes and hugs ❤ Cheers, Irina
Hello there dear Irina,
Thanks so much for your visit and comment. You are right as to Borges: it is a complex short story, with many layers to unravel.
Eckhart Tolle!. One of the first mystic philosophers!. His book sounds truly interesting. I´ll have to dig further online…
Wishing you an excellent week ahead… Sending love and best wishes! ⭐
His book The Power of Now is truly inspirational and is written in simple language so that everybody can understand. It helped me when I needed to change the way I was dealing with setbacks. He’s coming to Australia in April 2017. Tickets are $165, so I won’t be attending his lectures. I also read his New Earth and Stillness Speaks. I saw him interact with the audience on YouTube, he’s got a keen sense of humour. There’s plenty of info online.
Wishing you, dear Aquilleana, a great week. Hugs ❤ 🙂 Irina
Sounds truly interesting!. Such a shame tickets are so expensive, but I bet the book is good enough, anyway!!! 😀 I´ll check him out on Youtube!… Wishing you a great summer week ahead, dear Irina! 😉
Bonjour belle jeune fille AQUILEANA http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/5938548n7555cy.gif .
Cette nuit je me suis reposé dans mon lit
Aucun bruit n’est venu me déranger
j’ai fais un rêve
Et une personne m’a dis de venir te saluer
Alors un énorme BONJOUR Pour la semaine
Profite bien de celle-ci
Passe un agréable journée
Bisous amicaux Bernard http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/40691542b34dea.gif .
Merci beaucoup de me rendre visite, cher Bernard… Je te souhaite une superbe semaine!: Je t´embrasse fort! ⭐
Un articolo molto interessante ma molto buoni anche i tanti commenti che lo rendono ancora più pregevole.
sdherawithlove
Tante grazie cara Shera!… Sono lieta di sapere che questo articolo è stato interessante per te… Buona settimana!. Un abbraccio 😀
Sì molto
😚
You’re a genius expensive Aquileana. Theme corresponds with the time, warns us that everything in the history repeats itself.
It’s a very tough issue, will, of time and effort to study and references are many, surely I come back. I admire you. Anna
Thanks so much dear Anna… So glad to know that you found it interesting!. I appreciate your words and visit. You are welcome here, anytime!… sending love & best wishes. 😉
Your articles dear friend are always interesting to read and the work you do is a master piece in itself. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Much loves, xx ❤😊
Thank you very much dear Arohii ❤ I am beyond appreciative for your words here, my friend. Also, thanks a bunch for connecting and sharing on Twitter!. Have fun! . Love & best wishes ⭐
You are welcome, thank you tons and lots of love dear 😊
Much love back at you, dear Arohii. Happy weekend ahead! ⭐
Wish you a wonderful weekend, friend 😊
Jorge Luis Borges was a distinct and very strong writer. I have not read “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”, so thank you for this introduction. I will have to find a copy.
Thank you very much dear Otto!. So pleased to know that you enjoyed the post and it is a pleasure to introduce this short story to you!. Sending love and best wishes 😀
Aquileana, whenever I come to your blog I am always introduced to some new thought or idea. This too was another deep but fascinating post and as always, it will take me some time to absorb the material through repeated reading, research, and meditation, but it is never boring. You put so much quality effort into each of your blogs post and I for one am very appreciative of that hard work. I hope 2017 has started off well for you and I hope this comment finds you in good health. :O)
Thank you very much for such words! I am very appreciative to read them and they mean a lot to me…. Truly!
I hope your 2017 is off to god start too!. I wish you all the best this year, my friend… Love. Aquileana 😀
Likewise Aquileana. :O)
Bonjour ou Bonsoir belle AQUILEANA
Quand je suis de passage sur ton blog
Je le regarde et j’aperçois une grande lumière
Je me dis que sur celui-ci, j’ai une personne
avec de la gentillesse dans le cœur
Cette amitié est pour moi un paysage
Où on y viens qui efface les moindres petits nuages
L’amitié ce n’est pas un feu de bois, loin de là
C’est de partager ensemble
Des moments intenses de toute beauté
Merci à toi, d’être là
C’est un pur bonheur rempli de douceur
Passe une belle journée ou une belle soirée
Bisous , Bernard http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/961197bouquetmimosakumquat.jpg .
Salut Bernard… je te remercie mon ami. j´aime ton commentaire!
Je te souhaite une superbe fin de semaine!. Bisous! 😀
Fabulous post in faithful homage to an inventive mind. How we need such scholarly complexity at a time of simplistic soundbites! Not to mention subtle satire in the face of kitschy sentimentalism!
Thanks so much, dear Dave… I love your comment! 😀 Very glad to know that you enjoyed the reading and found so many layers!…. wishing you a great weekend! 🙂
Bonsoir Aquileana ! I find you’re Such a great post as it’s so difficult to explain all the complexity of this novel. I’ve read it in the book Fictions and i can find at new the themes dear to Borges ‘s heart. Time and infinite. It gives other point of view on vision of life and the world. I have also appreciate the sand book. Besos Aquileana !
Hi dear Nadia… It is great that you have read Borges´”Fictions” and so pleased to read your comment here and to know that you enjoyed the post, my friend… thank you very much for dropping by and for sharing your thoughts… wishing you a great week ahead! 😀
Thanks Aquileana ! Your posts are so clever and interesting that it’s always a pleasure for me to read them. I wish you a good day ! Besos Aquileana 🙂
Gracias, amiga… Un beso grande!!!! 😀
Aquileana, Just in the previous post of mine I was doing a little bit of research to look at the fascinating aspects of our life and the way we all live in different parts of world through the philosophical lens. Same objective but we all do it differently. There is something new to learn from such different flavours of philosophy of our life. I was into that zone of thinking and I have always been in love with these paradoxes of life, the reality vs. fiction, the idealistic vs. materialist, the now vs. never, the present vs. future, and you have touched so many of them through the great thinkers and philosophers like Plato to Aristotle to Borges. They bring so much of depth of understanding and the very way they look at the world and beyond, hence the the world of imagination where we can do what we cannot do in the real and we are deeply passionate about it.
I agree we cannot take life only in black and white, it has to have the shades of grey and there is so much of mystery in our life we need multiple lens and multiple hats to be able to visual what exactly life is all about and what makes it so fascinating to live. Yes, just standing in front of the mirror, we see our self but we are transported into state of questioning the way we look and we start locating the flaw in us rather than appreciating the sheer magic of we being so lively and how many things we do, we don’t have a scientific answer and we turn towards spiritualism to satiate our unanswered questions.
Thinking of imagery places like Uqbar & Tlon, and these places of secret or places etched out of our figment of imagination and how we build castles and create world around it and the give shapes and sizes to the thinking of the imagery people and keep stretching our imagination to go back to history and come up with hypothesis and analysis that can show some direction and provide some light to our dark and distorted thoughts…I will be sharing more of my thoughts, as this is a very interesting topic with so much sub-text I need to touch on so many aspects…
Thanks Aquileana, as always for sharing such an insightful and extremely well researched subject.
😀
“Just standing in front of the mirror, we see our self but we are transported into state of questioning the way we look and we start locating the flaw in us rather than appreciating the sheer magic of we being so lively and how many things we do, we don’t have a scientific answer and we turn towards spiritualism to satiate our unanswered questions”: I love that paragraph… I agree with you as to the importance of trying to see things in grey so to speak…. Our society tends to teach us in dichotomous terms, and so true that the History of Philosophy pretty much uses dichotomies as the main basis of systematic and rational thinking. We can always learm from Fiction. And Fiction can even predict reality, as it has happened with many SciFi books… What I find fascinating of Borges´brief story is the fact that Fiction roduces distorting effects over Reality. Borges masters the use of subtext here, I believe… Thank you very much for sharing such interesting thoughts, dear Nihar!. I truly appreciate your visit and feedback… sending love and best wishes. 😀
Aquileana, what I like the most in this dichotomy of Reality & Fiction is that we are able to give so much space to play with our imagination. It is border-less and boundless. In fact many times reality is deeply harsh and we find it tough to face and this makes us weaker and then we frantically try to escape rather than confronting the reality which can make us more powerful. I agree many times we don’t know how to deal with such realities and we quickly migrate to the world of fiction which lifts our soul and makes us play with our deeper emotions and we start experimenting with things that we just cannot do in the real world. Nothing can be more powerful than the power of idea whose time has come and the emotion that comes along with it emergence. Borges, I agree masters that very idea of how to present that presentation of distorted effects of reality. It is so difficult and he makes it appear so beautiful. Rationality can takes us so far and not farther and we depend on irrationality or spirituality to take us farther and makes us empowered through this path of fictional engagement.
I do so Aquileana and always love the way you deal with the topic.
Hugs!!!
😀
Thank you so much for the visit to my blog. It seems much of your time is spoken for!
Steve
It is my pleasure… I appreciate your visit and comment too! Happy weekend ahead! 😀
And the same to you!
Steve
Bonjour ou bonsoir belle jeune fille AQUILEANA bonne fête de St Valentin
Je t’emmène du bonheur
il est à côté de toi
Surtout ne bouge pas
Tiens ! il s’est glissé dans ton sourire
Oh ! Le voilà dans ta belle demeure
Pour embellir ta journée de joie et que ta soirée te soit de tout repos
Pour toi je me dis que c’est la meilleure raison
Alors partageons ensemble ce bonheur avec tous ceux que l’on aime et que l’on apprécie
Regarde il brille soit comme le soleil au lever du jour ou une étoile dans la nuit
Que Ce Bonheur restent l’histoire d’un beau jour
Je te souhaite
Une très belle journée ou une belle soirée
Bisous Bernard Ton Ami
Bisous http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/415880KCxlYiTmw0XhwwvuImeytrk0v8TRQ8QqPWT6SkmbuOFQsaa2sA.jpg .
Salut cher Bernard… merci beaucoup de me rendre visite…. je te souhaite une superbe fin de semaine… Je t´embrasse! 😀 ⭐
Hi ! A great blog loved it .
Thank you very much… I really appreciate it!!!! happy week ahead 😀 😉
You too .😊😊
Kudos, Aquileana! It is quite astonishing to find an intellectual discussion among the many blogs about subjects like celebrities. I am always overcome by the lavishness of your illustrations. Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤
Thanks a lot for your words dear Anna, as they mean so much to me… It is great to `see´you… wishing you the best. Happy Valentine´s Day to you, too 😀
Always love your posts. Puts me in a state of perpetual erudition. Cortical Stimuli.
Thank you very much dear Stephen… Coming from you it means a lot… wishing you well. 🙂
Dear Aquileana.. I missed this post when you published it.. So again I am late..
I had to read it twice, as the first time it didn’t really sink in..
Among your passages you say.
”
Borges mentions: “One of the schools of Tlön goes so far as to negate time: it reasons that the present is indefinite, that the future has no reality other than as a present memory”
That to me is interesting.. As Spirit communicators to me always have maintained there is no time as we perceive it. For we hold time as linear.. Past-Present- Future.. Side by side..
Whereas the Spirit world have often told me Time is sort of stacked.. And you can travel through it.. Accessing points..
We are anchored in many time zones at the same time.. Complex even for me to comprehend.. As parts of our Soul migrate out to experience
We live in our NOW time here and now.. But the NOW of our thoughts are a cumulation of our past putting us where we are in that moment.. And the NOW of our thinking projects us into the reality of our creation of what we perceive as our future..
Loved reading the comments here.. And your answers.. You are a very wise young lady..
Our world consists of Energy.. And as our thoughts are also energy.. We are with our thoughts creating our realities of our existence All the time..
I have long thought our films are like projections too.. How many of them are made to then become part of our reality?? 9/11 springs to mind .. Also that famous painting of the twin towers a link here to paintings done way before. https://usahitman.com/5cptpwe/
I could talk for hours upon this subject.. But I will not go on.. Lol…
Just need to say again my friend that I have so enjoyed again reading your amazing posts that bring so much for us to think about..
Love and Hugs and I hope you had a wonderful Valentines Day..
Blessings Sue ❤ ❤ ❤ xxx
Hello dear Sue.
Thanks so much for dropping by and for your valuable feedback…
You say:
We live in our NOW time here and now.. But the NOW of our thoughts are a cumulation of our past putting us where we are in that moment.. And the NOW of our thinking projects us into the reality of our creation of what we perceive as our future..
Your ideas above reminded me of Aristotle, who basically stated that Only the present time existed as the future was a Potential Now and the Past no longer existed as real entity, being asociated to memories and lost times somehow.
I pretty much agree with you in your thoughts concerning time, my friend.
I´ll also like to add that time itself could an abstract, objective issue. But not so much if we point at it from an Existentialist point of view, as in that sense Time is a relative entity which is pretty much related to each Perceptual subject. Not everyone of us, and not even us under different circumstances experience time the same way.
The link you have shared is STUNNING… I can not believe how the folded $20 bill shows the Twin Towers, during 9/11 !!!!!!.
Excellent finding which shows that Fiction and Reality can pretty much converge. And that Fiction might be subtly waiting for that “Hidden Reality” to show up.
By the way, I have been watching some documentaries on this subject lately so it seems we are in the same wavelenght 🙂
Thank you very much my friend for this great comment…. I truly appreciate it…
Sending love & all my best wishes to you, always, 😀
So pleased to have been part of this wonderful discussion dear Aquileana.. 🙂 And even more delighted to present you with some info that you had not seen before.. Keep up your amazing research and wonderful posts my friend..
I know I am often late arriving here.. but I so love to ready what you have come up with in your posts..
Love and Best wishes for a Peaceful weekend.. Hugs Sue xxx
Your visits are the cherry on the ice! 😀 thanks so much my friend. Wishing you a beautiful and inspiring weekend! ⭐
Awww… so nice to be the Cherry! 🙂 .. I made a cake this morning a fruit cake with Cherries and Walnuts .. LoL.. 🙂 Have a great weekend too Aquileana.. xxx Much Love ❤
That’s what I would call ‘a happy and yummy coincidence’ 🤗🙆🏼 Sending much Love, dear Sue. Enjoy your weekend 😘
You too And Big Hugs xx
Absolutely great post! I love this theme…very interesting history. I wish you love, dear A! Bye Kamila
Aww… thanks so much dear Kamila… your words are really appreciated. Sending love and wishing you a great day! 😀
Warm greetings from Warsaw.
Happy weekend.
Thanks so much dear Marko…. I appreciate the visit and comment. Have a Great weekend 🤗🌙
Your posts are well thought out works. I know you wish to give respect to the original artist. That large square is “Intersections” and it is by Anila Quayyum Agha, a woman. 🙂
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/arts/2014/10/10/artprize-winners-devos-intersections-hair-craft-project/17072757/
Thanks so much for telling me…. I had found the information I included as a description, who was an italian artist. I will change it!… all my best wishes! 😀
Oh wow this is a wonderful post my friend! I wanted to pop by and read your latest post! Wonderful research and facts you have collected and presented so nicely! Love and Hugs to you! 😀 ❤
Thank you so much dear Michelle… Great to “see” you and to know that you enjoyed this post…. love & best wishes. 😀
🦋🌼🦋🦋🌼🦋🦋🌼🦋:)
Oh How lovely that white kitten is… Thank you dear Louis. Bisous! 🙂
Liebe Aquileana dein Blog ist einfach toll gestaltet man lernt immer wieder was dazu schönes Wochenende wünsche ich dir Klaus in Freundschaft
Thanks so much for dropping in, dear Klaus… It is great to have you on the blog… Have a wonderful new week ahead! 😀 Love & best wishes
This was an amazing read! I truly appreciate the post!
Thanks so much…. I am thrilled to know that you enjoyed the post…. All the best! 😀
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