The lectures are separate literary journeys that we could not take by ourselves. Borges is our Virgil; only he knows the way.

Alastair Reid

Seven lectures from seven nights given by Borges in 1977.

Seven Nights

by Jorge Luis Borges

Translated from Spanish by Eliot Weinberger

Borges, among his many glittering literary facets, was a world-renowned speaker. Seven Nights collects seven lectures that were taped during the summer of 1977 in Buenos Aires. These were later pirated as records, only to be reclaimed by Borges who edited them for publication as a series in a Buenos Aires newspaper. In Seven Nights, Borges utilizes each subject as a vessel through which an outrageous claim gradually makes clairvoyant sense. The “Divine Comedy” is a true story; “Nightmares” are beautiful; “The Thousand and One Nights” will never be fully read; “Buddhism” defies understanding; “Poetry” exists only to remind us of perfection; “The Kabbalah” proves the existence of God in man; and “Blindness” is a gift. Behind Borges’ playful wit lies an impressive erudition amassed, despite failing eyesight and eventual blindness, over a lifetime of study. “For Borges,” Reid continues, “literary experiences are just as visceral as ones experienced in reality. When he talks about books and writers, it is like talking about landscapes and journeys, so vivid has his reading been to him.” As William Gibson remarked, Borges “stretched basic paradigms as effortlessly, it seemed, as another gentleman might tip his hat and wink."

Paperback(published Jul, 01 2009)

ISBN
9780811218382
Price US
13.95
Price CN
16
Trim Size
5x8
Page Count
128
Portrait of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Twentieth-century Argentine author

The lectures are separate literary journeys that we could not take by ourselves. Borges is our Virgil; only he knows the way.

Alastair Reid

I could live under a table reading Borges.

Roberto Bolaño