It feels like a bit of a cheat to do another video post right away, but I couldn't resist. This is a brief excerpt from an interview between Jorge Luis Borges and William F. Buckley. Borges talks about why English is his favorite language to read. Was he biased by being part English himself? Well that was on his father's side, and in his papa's case that was mixed in with a lot of Spanish and Portuguese. So I don't think it's necessarily the deciding factor. Of course he wrote in Spanish, which is the most logical way to go about things when you kick off your career in Argentina. But he had a feel for English, and in this clip he's got a beautiful accent.
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Among things left behind was a small collection of books by Borges and Calvino. I liked them both but somehow never got involved enough to read much of their work, both being a little too esoteric in the poetry and stories they wrote. Labyrinths was quite wonderful - his language is amazing:
"Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges."
Calvino we have talked about before - much of Cosmicomics I still recall with great fondness.
The video interview with William F. Buckley was a treat to hear - yes, he had a beautiful accent. It was a very good find.
Borges has gotten to be a favorite author of mine. He's one of the masters of the shorter length. Ficciones is a classic book by him. A Universal History of Infamy is interesting, as it combines accounts of real criminals with those who are entirely fictional.
That's a great quote. Something about the end of it strikes me as hilarious. "I, unfortunately, am Borges." Oh, you.
Calvino is another author I idolize. His book that I keep going back to is If on a winter's night a traveler.
And it's a delightful discovery for me. Until I found this video I had never heard him speak. Not in any language.
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