The Immortal Borges ((free)) -

The Immortal Borges: Labyrinths, Mirrors, and the Man Who Outlived Himself

Borges understood what Hollywood action films never will: Immortality is not superhuman. It is subhuman. the immortal borges

In his story “The Immortal” (from The Aleph ), Borges tells of a Roman soldier who drinks from a cursed river and stops dying. He wanders the earth for centuries, forgetting his own name, living among primitive troglodytes — only to realize, eventually, that those grunting creatures are the immortals. They have no need for language, for memory, for love. Why write a poem when you have forever to write all poems? Why love one person when you can outlast every face? The Immortal Borges: Labyrinths, Mirrors, and the Man

So here is the secret Borges leaves us:

To read Borges is to enter a hall of mirrors. You think you’re reading about a Chinese emperor’s map, or a library of hexagonal rooms, or a man who dreams another man — but really, you’re reading about reading. About the shimmering impossibility of a final page. He wanders the earth for centuries, forgetting his

There are writers you read to learn a story. Then there are writers you read to unlearn time.