Jorge Luis Borges 1899-1986
Arena: Borges and I (1983)
Tonight the new series of Arena opens with a unique profile of one of the great literary figures of our time: the blind Argentine poet and storyteller, Jorge Luis Borges.
Now 84, he is the acknowledged master of the rich new literature of South America. Above all, Borges’s stories are a dazzling exploration of his own mind and limitless curiosity. His magical tales are often rooted in puzzles and paradoxes. Imagine a man who can forget absolutely nothing, a knife that mysteriously controls the destinies of those who handle it, a point in space that contains everything that exists.
Bringing together an exotic miscellany of incident and reference, Borges’s work draws on the extraordinary landscape of Argentina and Uruguay – with their traditions of gauchos, horses, and old-time knife fighters – and on his profound and vivid love of books, especially those of other times and other places.
Filmed in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, and Paris, tonight’s programme re-creates some of Borges’s most memorable stories; among them Death and the Compass, The Meeting and Funes the Memorious.
RESOURCES:
Jorge Luis Borges in UbuWeb Sound
Now 84, he is the acknowledged master of the rich new literature of South America. Above all, Borges’s stories are a dazzling exploration of his own mind and limitless curiosity. His magical tales are often rooted in puzzles and paradoxes. Imagine a man who can forget absolutely nothing, a knife that mysteriously controls the destinies of those who handle it, a point in space that contains everything that exists.
Bringing together an exotic miscellany of incident and reference, Borges’s work draws on the extraordinary landscape of Argentina and Uruguay – with their traditions of gauchos, horses, and old-time knife fighters – and on his profound and vivid love of books, especially those of other times and other places.
Filmed in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, and Paris, tonight’s programme re-creates some of Borges’s most memorable stories; among them Death and the Compass, The Meeting and Funes the Memorious.
RESOURCES:
Jorge Luis Borges in UbuWeb Sound