Infinity according to Jorge Luis Borges - Ilan Stavans

Dive into the mind-bending works of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose work pioneered the literary style magical realism.

--

What would it be like to have a limitless memory? Can the meaning of life be found in an infinite library? Is time a labyrinth or a single moment? Jorge Luis Borges explored these questions of infinity in his many works. His body of essays, poems and stories pioneered the literary style known as magical realism— and each was just a few pages long. Ilan Stavans dives into the world of Borges.

Lesson by Ilan Stavans, directed by Aim Creative Studios.

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Della Palacios, Vik Nagjee, Hiroshi Uchiyama, Adi V, Andrew Bosco, Craig Sheldon, Rishi Pasham, Joanne Luce, Jason A Saslow, Mary Sawyer, Scott Gass, Ruth Fang, Mayank Kaul, Kathryn J Hammond, Max Shuai Tang, Terry Minion, Sami Khan, Rob Johnson, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Angelo Urzua-Milla, Tommy Lewis, leorene, Mahina Bachiller, Marcus Andre Nery, Bruce Vieira Lopes, Chef, Charmaine Hanson, Michael Goldberg, Lydia Pflieger, Paul Aldred-Bann, Manav parmar, Susan Wang, Utkarsh Dubey, Thawsitt, Xuebicoco, Jezabel, Maeve, Kim Humphrey, Kristen Damas, JackKeyton, Matthew D. Vigil, Amin Shahril, Adriano Fontes, Xiao Yu, Fatima Kried, Aravind Battaje, Melissa Suarez, Jason Duncan and Brian A. Dunn.

[angelechavarria]

I do recommend a book with short stories of Borges called The Aleph, it is incredibly immersive and spontaneous but so thoughtful, i just can say that you will love every word contained on it

[fedexos]

Borges' writings are incredible: they combine carefully planned sentences, storytelling and plot mechanisms with mind-blowing situations and thoughts that leave you understanding so much yet so little about a piece of fictional history. He is arguably the best writer in Latin American history and I definitely recommend reading every one of his works.

[hrithik]

Jorge Luis Borge, we are thankful to you. Because without you there wouldn't be Calvino, Marques or Rushdie. And many other countless pieces of arts which were overtly as well as sometimes covertly influenced by your work. Thank you. If you are still up there somewhere in your infinite library flipping through books. Gathering all the experience ever experienced.

[brandonsaraniti]

This man changed my life. I discovered him while studying abroad in Buenos Aires when I read The Aleph. I then wrote my Spanish Thesis in college on El Tango: Cuatro Conferencias. His short stories give everyone a mind workout, and gives you that childlike ability again of asking questions to things that seem "obvious" to the average person. I will be internally grateful for reading his works.

[camiloordonez]

Borges is such an unique writer, one of my favorites. Btw this video is so great the way it explains Borges' literature really moved me.

[du]

I don't agree that Borges belongs to the "magical realism" movement. Like Piglia said, he gave form the concept of "speculative fiction" or "conceptual lieterature". But above all, like Kafka, he's his own genere.

[juancruzlivio]

Please do a Cortazar video next! It would be great

[rizowanahussaini]

I discovered Borges earlier this year and fell in love with his words as soon as I started reading. His story telling is a divinely intricate web that leads the reader to new vistas of discoveries about time, eternity, and ultimately, themselves. A pure delight.

[rocknroll]

One of the best short story authors not only of Latin America but of the entire world. Genius.

[sayondeepchoudhury]

I always find that the experience of reading a Borges short story is akin to reading good poetry. Like great poems his stories demand to be read many times over and like great poetry it brings you closer to experience the 'eff in the ineffable'.

[Fran_Fuentes]

I can never get bored of his books, I can read them again again and again and get fascinated anyway

[vn]

The The Circular Ruins is my favorite Borges book, what I felt after reading the ending was probably like what experiencing conscience feels like.

[danielcarvalho]

That guy is an amazing writer... some people get amused by some pop fictions but if they just read some tales of him, their mind would really blow and be enchanted by it
The first tale of fim I’ve read was the library of Babel... so fantastic

[briansanjurjo]

Orgullo argentino. El mejor escritor de mi país. 🇦🇷❤️💙

[charlietoloza]

Borges is, without a question, one of the greatest writers of all time.

And he loved literature from Poe, Conan Doyle, Wells, Stevenson, Chesterton, Bradbury, Fitzgerald... He was born from the writers that "crítics" call less serious

[jnbfilm]

Read anything from Borges, it will expand your mind like nothing else. They aren't simple or easy, but they are so rewarding. Happy reading, everyone!

[yum]

The library of babel is what really shook my understanding of our universe. There is no one truth if it is out there in the library. The story that reads your life has the same value as a random string of characters both happening by chance because of infinity. Thus for our real world, how I see it is that anything we can imagine is true to some degree because if we can think of it then nature has allowed for that thought or belief to exist in some capacity.

[didinx]

Borges 'Death and the Compass' is my favourite short story....bloody brilliant. An influence on Umberto Eco and influenced by Conan Doyle....

[MorpheusRishi]

Whoever is narrating this, his voice is like whiskey and cigar in a cold evening

[mathmaker]

As a Latino from the south, I'm really proud of that guy. It's just awesome, I wanna know more about their work