tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post114594364972252601..comments2024-03-28T22:51:28.222+05:30Comments on The Middle Stage: Memories of a Borges book, and the old Twentieth Century bookshopChandrahashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-14185027978038291312012-01-20T02:02:04.879+05:302012-01-20T02:02:04.879+05:30Dear, dear Chandrahas! It fills my heart with such...Dear, dear Chandrahas! It fills my heart with such rapture to find someone so enamoured with Borges! More than five years have passed since you wrote this post, and you may have found the book by now; if you haven't, you may find some of those pieces in this volume: http://www.amazon.com/Jorge-Luis-Borges-Selected-Non-Fictions/dp/0670849472.<br /><br />Your post reminded me of this stanza in Borges's poem "Limits":<br /><br /><i>Through the dawning window night withdraws <br />And among the stacked books which throw <br />Irregular shadows on the dim table, <br />There must be one which I will never read. </i>Prashansahttp://www.teacakesandbooks.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-33814738205530269162009-07-19T01:02:43.962+05:302009-07-19T01:02:43.962+05:30It does show, in the beautiful, long, elegiac sent...It does show, in the beautiful, long, elegiac sentences, when the mind looks back, fondly, over the swathe of time gone by. It is something, an old, old man like me can well understand... Thanks for adding that extra bit of heat to my lately sluggish memory.<br /><br />AriAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1146596423184407592006-05-03T00:30:00.000+05:302006-05-03T00:30:00.000+05:30A most delightful read.Like everyone else I loved ...A most delightful read.<BR/><BR/>Like everyone else I loved this line-<BR/><BR/>''A couple of years later, as if obedient to the boundary line offered by its own name, it shut down..''<BR/><BR/>Ah!<BR/><BR/>Another reason I found it interesting is that because it revealed a more personal side of you. You always seem to weigh each word you write, and I can visualize you as a most careful writer agonizing over each and every phrase. This sometimes, makes your writing a little impersonal, unlike some other equally talented bloggers. You almost always seem to be the detached observer. I am not saying its a wrong thing.<BR/><BR/>This one seemed to provide a little glimpse in to ''you''.<BR/><BR/>I don't know If I made any sense at all; just a general observation. <BR/><BR/>p.s Thanks for the lunch offer. Much appreciated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1146227544639415722006-04-28T18:02:00.000+05:302006-04-28T18:02:00.000+05:30Chandrahas: thanks for the reference. A delightful...Chandrahas: thanks for the reference. A delightful read, that.Falstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09791162324919462038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1146101581942106172006-04-27T07:03:00.000+05:302006-04-27T07:03:00.000+05:30* I love the 20th century line too.* I began readi...* I love the 20th century line too.<BR/><BR/>* I began reading your blog two days ago, and enjoy your writings on literature, but skip the cricket stuff (Ram Guha is enough :)). I look forward to seeing more of your byline in print.<BR/><BR/>* I do hope you'll be able to break Pankaj Mishra's stranglehold on reviews of all India/South Asia-related literature for Western publications.<BR/><BR/>* My favorite Borges story remains The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim, followed by the Library of Babel. Both are faded from memory now; I read them in high school. I found Borges dense, meta-meta and frighteningly beautiful in Ficciones. And then he was witty and wonderful and gurgling in Collected Non-Fictions. But I have not read The Chronicles of Bustos Domecq, and neither do I see it on bookshelves here. It's now on my summer reading list.<BR/><BR/>PreetaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1145965646914704142006-04-25T17:17:00.000+05:302006-04-25T17:17:00.000+05:30A couple of years later, as if obedient to the bou...<I>A couple of years later, as if obedient to the boundary line offered by its own name, it shut down..</I><BR/><BR/>Beautiful post. Thanksanuraghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03178119895116619951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1145952909980900782006-04-25T13:45:00.000+05:302006-04-25T13:45:00.000+05:30Indeed, the lost book is most fondly remembered, l...Indeed, the lost book is most fondly remembered, like the girl cat that got away or the poem that was never written. Time reified in its passing, or a future never to be realized...<BR/><BR/>As for criticism as a branch of literature, the first example that comes to mind is "Pale Fire". But also "A Perfect Vacuum", by Stanislaw Lem - a writer whose uncategorizability is a measure of his achievement. On a lighter note, Frederick Crews' funny and gently deflationary "The Pooh Perplex". Others?Cheshire Cathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463645065346922684noreply@blogger.com