BarkellWH -> RE: Examples of good English. (Jun. 3 2013 18:56:05)
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Borges was a polymath whose interests encompassed everything from mathematics to esoteric pursuits such as the study of the Kabbala, and he incorporated his vast store of knowledge in his stories. His story "The Aleph" is a perfect example. The theme of "The Aleph," like that of several of his stories, is the infinite. While mathematics is one aspect, Borges casts a much wider net than just mathematics in entitling his work "The Aleph." He describes The Aleph in the story as being a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping or confusion. Borges writes of the Aleph: "Universal space was contained inside it, with no diminution in size. Each thing was infinite things because I could clearly see it from every point in the cosmos." Borges then incorporates in the story two observations regarding the Aleph: one regarding the nature of the Aleph; the other with respect to its name. Borges begins with the latter, noting that "aleph" is the first letter of the alphabet of the "sacred language" (Borges is referring to Hebrew). He notes that in the Kabbala the letter "aleph" signifies the "En Soph," the "pure and unlimited godhead." Regarding its nature, Borges states the aleph "is the symbol of the transfinite numbers, in which the whole is not greater than any of its parts." Ever the scholar of esoteric knowledge, Borges finishes "The Aleph" with some historical observations that lend credence to various observations of the infinite. Among others, he recounts the story that in 1867 Richard F. Burton was the British Consul in Santos Brazil. (Note: this is true, Sir Richard Burton was one of the great explorers, linguists, and polymaths of the nineteenth century who did most of his work in the East, but was at the time noted the British Consul in Santos.) Borges continues: "In July of 1942, Pedro Henriquez Urena discovered a manuscript by Burton in a library in Santos, and in this manuscript Burton discussed the mirror attributed in the East to Iskandar dhu-al-Qarnayn (the Arabic name for Alexander the Great). In this glass, Burton said, the entire universe was reflected." As I commented in an earlier post, Borges' stories incorporate themes involving the infinite, appearance vs. reality, labyrinths, infinite libraries and books, the doppelganger, mirrors, and occasionally gauchos and knifefighters thrown in for added interest. Borges may have been Argentine, but he belongs to the world, wherever there are readers who appreciate interesting tales told with great erudition. Cheers, Bill
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