#145 Mon (11/14/22) - Of all the instruments of man, the most astonishing is, without a doubt, the book. (Jorge Luis Borges)
"De todos los instrumentos del hombre, el más asombroso es, sin duda, el libro. Los demás son extensiones de su cuerpo. El microscopio, el telescopio, son extensiones de su vista; el teléfono es extensión de la voz; luego tenemos el arado y la espada, extensiones del brazo. Pero el libro es otra cosa: el libro es una extensión de la memoria y la imaginación".
Jorge Luis Borges. (Borges oral.)
"Of all the instruments of man, the most astonishing is, without a doubt, the book. Others are extensions of your body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of your sight; the phone is extension of your voice; then we have the plow and the sword, extensions of the arm. But the book is something else: the book is an extension of the memory and the imagination.”
Jorge Luis Borges. (Borges oral.)
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"Of the various instruments of man, the most amazing is, without a doubt, the book", Jorge Luis Borges
The book is one of the great inventions of humanity. With him the word was written and knowledge was spread universally. For Jorge Luis Borges, moreover, the book is the most amazing instrument because it is an extension of memory and imagination. This is how the famous Argentine writer transmitted it to the students of the University of Belgrano at the end of the 1970s. By the way, the Borges oral book contains the classes of the former director of the National Library of Argentina, an appointment that coincided with the deepening of his blindness.
When the University of Belgrano asked me to teach five classes, I chose topics with which time had become familiar. The first, the book, that instrument without which I cannot imagine my life, and which is no less intimate to me than hands or eyes.
The class on The Book is a tribute to this means of disseminating history and knowledge, in addition to reading. It invites us on a journey that goes from the ancient philosophers to the present day, passing, of course, through religion and the great world writers. It tells us that reading has to be enjoyed and that the best thing about a book is not owning it, but opening it and reading it. In this class, the association between reading and books with people's happiness stands out.
The #book is the most amazing instrument because it is an extension of memory and imagination, #JorgeLuisBorges
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"The Book", Jorge Luis Borges
Of the various instruments of man, the most amazing is undoubtedly the book. The others are extensions of his body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his sight; the telephone is an extension of the voice; then we have the plow and the spade, extensions of his arm. But the book is something else: the book is an extension of memory and imagination.
In Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra," when the library of Alexandria is spoken of, it is said to be the memory of mankind. That is the book and it is something else too, the imagination. For what is our past but a series of dreams? What difference can there be between remembering dreams and remembering the past? That is the function that the book performs.
[…]
The ancients did not profess our cult of the book—something that surprises me; they saw in the book a substitute for the oral word. […] We have the great example of Plato, when he says that books are like effigies (he may have been thinking of sculptures or paintings), that one believes that they are alive, but if you ask them something they do not answer. So, to correct that dumbness of the books, he invents the platonic dialogue.
[…]
Then we have a phrase from Saint Anselm: Putting a book in the hands of an ignorant man is as dangerous as putting a sword in the hands of a child. That was how he thought of books. Throughout the East there is still the concept that a book should not reveal things; a book should simply help us discover them.
[…]
Montaigne points out that the concept of required reading is a false concept. He says that if he finds a difficult passage in a book, he leaves it; because he sees in reading a form of happiness. […] I would say that literature is also a form of joy. If we read something with difficulty, the author has failed. […] A book should not require effort, happiness should not require effort. I think Montaigne is right.
[…]
Emerson says that a library is a kind of magical cabinet. In that cabinet the best spirits of humanity are enchanted, but they await our word to come out of their silence. We have to open the book, then they wake up.
[…]
I have dedicated part of my life to literature, and I believe that one form of happiness is reading; another lesser form of happiness is poetic creation, or what we call creation, which is a mixture of forgetting and remembering what we have read.
[…]
Emerson agrees with Montaigne in the fact that we should only read what pleases us, that a book should be a form of happiness. We owe so much to the lyrics. I have tried to reread more than to read, I think rereading is more important than reading, except that to reread you need to have read. I have that cult of the book. I can say it in a way that it may seem pathetic and I don't want it to be pathetic; I want it to be like a confidence that I make to each one of you; not to all, but to each one, because all is an abstraction and each one is true.
[…]
I think that the book is one of the possibilities of happiness that we men have.
[…]
There is talk of the disappearance of the book; I think it's impossible. It will be said what difference there can be between a book and a newspaper or a record. The difference is that a newspaper is read to oblivion, a record is also heard to forget, it is something mechanical and therefore frivolous. A book is read for memory.
[…]
Taking a book and opening it keeps the possibility of the aesthetic fact. What are words lying in a book? What are these dead symbols? Absolutely nothing. What is a book if we do not open it? It is simply a cube of paper and leather, with leaves; but if we read it something strange happens, I think it changes every time.
[…]
Every time we read a book, the book has changed, the connotation of the words is different. In addition, the books are loaded with the past.
[…]
If we read an old book it is as if we read all the time that has passed between the day it was written and us. That is why it is convenient to maintain the cult of the book. The book may be full of errors, we may not agree with the author's opinions, but it still preserves something sacred, something divine, not with superstitious respect, but with the desire to find happiness, to find wisdom.
The book is one of the great inventions of humanity. With him the word was written and knowledge was spread universally. For Jorge Luis Borges, moreover, the book is the most amazing instrument because it is an extension of memory and imagination. This is how the famous Argentine writer transmitted it to the students of the University of Belgrano at the end of the 1970s. By the way, the Borges oral book contains the classes of the former director of the National Library of Argentina, an appointment that coincided with the deepening of his blindness.
When the University of Belgrano asked me to teach five classes, I chose topics with which time had become familiar. The first, the book, that instrument without which I cannot imagine my life, and which is no less intimate to me than hands or eyes.
The class on The Book is a tribute to this means of disseminating history and knowledge, in addition to reading. It invites us on a journey that goes from the ancient philosophers to the present day, passing, of course, through religion and the great world writers. It tells us that reading has to be enjoyed and that the best thing about a book is not owning it, but opening it and reading it. In this class, the association between reading and books with people's happiness stands out.
The #book is the most amazing instrument because it is an extension of memory and imagination, #JorgeLuisBorges
Click To Tweet
"The Book", Jorge Luis Borges
Of the various instruments of man, the most amazing is undoubtedly the book. The others are extensions of his body. The microscope, the telescope, are extensions of his sight; the telephone is an extension of the voice; then we have the plow and the spade, extensions of his arm. But the book is something else: the book is an extension of memory and imagination.
In Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra," when the library of Alexandria is spoken of, it is said to be the memory of mankind. That is the book and it is something else too, the imagination. For what is our past but a series of dreams? What difference can there be between remembering dreams and remembering the past? That is the function that the book performs.
[…]
The ancients did not profess our cult of the book—something that surprises me; they saw in the book a substitute for the oral word. […] We have the great example of Plato, when he says that books are like effigies (he may have been thinking of sculptures or paintings), that one believes that they are alive, but if you ask them something they do not answer. So, to correct that dumbness of the books, he invents the platonic dialogue.
[…]
Then we have a phrase from Saint Anselm: Putting a book in the hands of an ignorant man is as dangerous as putting a sword in the hands of a child. That was how he thought of books. Throughout the East there is still the concept that a book should not reveal things; a book should simply help us discover them.
[…]
Montaigne points out that the concept of required reading is a false concept. He says that if he finds a difficult passage in a book, he leaves it; because he sees in reading a form of happiness. […] I would say that literature is also a form of joy. If we read something with difficulty, the author has failed. […] A book should not require effort, happiness should not require effort. I think Montaigne is right.
[…]
Emerson says that a library is a kind of magical cabinet. In that cabinet the best spirits of humanity are enchanted, but they await our word to come out of their silence. We have to open the book, then they wake up.
[…]
I have dedicated part of my life to literature, and I believe that one form of happiness is reading; another lesser form of happiness is poetic creation, or what we call creation, which is a mixture of forgetting and remembering what we have read.
[…]
Emerson agrees with Montaigne in the fact that we should only read what pleases us, that a book should be a form of happiness. We owe so much to the lyrics. I have tried to reread more than to read, I think rereading is more important than reading, except that to reread you need to have read. I have that cult of the book. I can say it in a way that it may seem pathetic and I don't want it to be pathetic; I want it to be like a confidence that I make to each one of you; not to all, but to each one, because all is an abstraction and each one is true.
[…]
I think that the book is one of the possibilities of happiness that we men have.
[…]
There is talk of the disappearance of the book; I think it's impossible. It will be said what difference there can be between a book and a newspaper or a record. The difference is that a newspaper is read to oblivion, a record is also heard to forget, it is something mechanical and therefore frivolous. A book is read for memory.
[…]
Taking a book and opening it keeps the possibility of the aesthetic fact. What are words lying in a book? What are these dead symbols? Absolutely nothing. What is a book if we do not open it? It is simply a cube of paper and leather, with leaves; but if we read it something strange happens, I think it changes every time.
[…]
Every time we read a book, the book has changed, the connotation of the words is different. In addition, the books are loaded with the past.
[…]
If we read an old book it is as if we read all the time that has passed between the day it was written and us. That is why it is convenient to maintain the cult of the book. The book may be full of errors, we may not agree with the author's opinions, but it still preserves something sacred, something divine, not with superstitious respect, but with the desire to find happiness, to find wisdom.
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