Fashion, book, movie and music addicts!

The Centre de Georges Pompidou recently concluded its conference series with Alberto Manguel. There were four conferences in all, on various topics relatd to myth, storytelling and history. Because I am a huge fan of Alberto Manguel, I took advantage of the conference to listen to him speak and lecture. The session was on myth and it was with Marina Warner and Abdelfattah Kilito. I have to confess to being a little disappointed with the conference itself. The speakers were undoubtedly learned on their various topics but the conference itself seemed to lack a coherent direction. It seemed pretty much like three different speakers on three different topics, all vaguely related to myth. Still and all, it was worth the visit if only to listen to Manguel. And since I had Manguel in mind, I grabbed a slim volume of his, to read in between various tomes. And I chose the right one since this slim volume is all about Jorge Luis Borges, another favorite author of mine. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Borges, I heartily recommend it. He has an almost quicksilver imagination and a most felicitious turn of phrase. Its not necessarily the lightest material to read but its well worth it.

Anyway, back to Manguel, when he was 16 years old, while working at Buenos Aires’ Pygmalion bookstore, Manguel was asked by Borges if he would like to be his reader. Borges had already gone blind by the time he asked, and in fact had gotten into the habit of asking any and everyone. And so for four years, Manguel would visit three or four times a week to read to him. His book, With Borges, distills those years.

While his sessions with Borges were reading sessions, it was enough for an astute observer like Manguel to capture Borges’ essence as a writer. For fans of Borges, myself included, this is an invaluable addition to his writings. There is no doubt that Borges was a prolific and more importantly, a beautiful writer but short of having access to academic works or his biography, it is rare to find a volume that discusses his philosophy of writing in such a succinct yet elegant manner. We can never underestimate Borges influence on writing or other writers and even on his country. As Manguel points out, “Borges renewed the Spanish language…that his generous reading methods, allowed him to bring into Spanish felicities from other tongues: English turns of phrase or the German ability to hold until the end of a sentence its subject.” But more than refreshing the Spanish language, Borges’ writings have fixed Argentina permanently into the collective consciousness. “When Borges began writing, Buenos Aires (so far from Europe, the perceived center of culture), felt vague and indistinct, and seemed to require a literary imagination to impose it upon reality. Now Buenos Aires feels more real because it exists in Borges’ pages.” That’s quite a feat if you think about it.

My favorite passage, is that which talks about books. “For Borges, the core of reality lay in books, reading books, writing books, talking about books. In a visceral way, he was conscious of continuing a dialogue begun thousands of years before and which he believed would never end. Books restored the past.” As someone who lives and breathes books on a daily basis, this is one credo to live by.