Classics and the Western Canon discussion

“Funes, His Memory”

Summary: The narrator recounts his memories of a man, Ireneo Funes, for a volume of recollections about Funes. The narrator only met him three times. As a boy, Funes was known for his shyness and for always knowing the time. He was later thrown from a bucking horse and permanently disabled. But the narrator learns that, according to Funes, the accident has left him with perfect perception and memory. “I, myself, alone, have more memories than all mankind since the world began….My memory, sir, is like a garbage heap.” Having a perfect memory is not without problems; Funes sees the individual details but not the larger patterns. One essential irony of the story is that we see Funes, not through his own dazzling memory, but through the recollections of the narrator with his more limited recall.

Some questions to start:

1) The story implies a connection between a sense of time and memory without specifying how they are related. Any ideas on what the connection is?
2) Would you like a perfect memory? Why or why not?

I once read that Richard Nixon could always remembers people's names, and also the names of their wives, children, and dog. After I learned that I no longer felt bad about having a poor memory for names.

Susanna wrote: "I asked Gemini, Google's Artificial Intelligence Assistant, about Borge's claim that Cyrus the Great could remember the names of all of his soldiers. The AI said there was no evidence of that.

Fo..."

I guess that’s another example of Borges’ propensity for mixing fictitious references into his stories. However, there certainly are people with amazing memories, maybe almost as amazing as Ireneo Funes’s memory.

It’s interesting that Borges himself describes the story in the Foreword as ”one long metaphor for insomnia”, and one of the consequences of his retentive memory is that Funes has a difficult time sleeping

Roger wrote: "I once read that Richard Nixon could always remembers people's names, and also the names of their wives, children, and dog. After I learned that I no longer felt bad about having a poor memory for ..."

I have a friend who has a super memory for dates and never used a calendar to keep track of birthdays, appointments, anniversaries, etc.
But Funes’ memory is so wide it takes in everything he perceives plus his perceptions seem to be heightened as well. It sounds overwhelming. Besides as the story points out, life does not contain enough time to relive every past day or experience. His perfect memory sounds more like a curse than a blessing to me, nice as it would be to remember everyone’s name, learn Latin so easily, etc.

Susanna wrote: "I asked Gemini, Google's Artificial Intelligence Assistant, about Borge's claim that Cyrus the Great could remember the names of all of his soldiers. The AI said there was no evidence of that.

Fo..."

Funes said this information comes from Pliny's Naturalis Historia, Book 7, Ch 24, and it does:

It would be far from easy to pronounce what person has been the most remarkable for the excellence of his memory, that blessing so essential for the enjoyment of life, there having been so many who have been celebrated for it. King Cyrus knew all the soldiers of his army by name: L. Scipio the names of all the Roman people. Cineas, the ambassador of king Pyrrhus, knew by name all the members of the senate and the equestrian order, the day after his arrival at Rome.

Pliny goes on to mention some other examples, and also examples of extraordinary memory loss due to accident or disease. The opposite seems to have occurred to Funes: an accident made it impossible for him to forget or ignore or overlook any detail. Pliny writes at the end of the chapter:

And so it is, that very often the memory appears to attempt, as it were, to make its escape from us, even while the body is at rest and in perfect health. When sleep, too, comes over us, it is cut off altogether; so much so, that the mind, in its vacancy, is at a loss to know where we are.

Funes has great difficulty sleeping, and Borges calls this story "a long metaphor of insomnia."

I'm not sure what the connection is between memory and sleep exactly, but Borges does say that Funes cannot think because his powers of infinite observation and memory do not allow him to form abstract thoughts: "To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details, almost contiguous details."

To think is to forget. That is an interesting thought! Thinking is as much about ignoring or forgetting what is unimportant as it is about focusing on what is relevant. Funes calls his memory a garbage disposal because he can't filter out the important aspects of a thing from its infinite irrelevant detail.

It may be exactly memory, but sleeplessness from a racing mind is pretty common, I think. But such thinking is often about memories, usually painful ones, so maybe that counts.

“The Shape of the Sword”

“ His face was traversed by a vengeful scar, an ashen and almost perfect arc that sliced from the temple on one side of his head to his cheek on the other. His true name does not matter; everyone in Tacuarembo called him “the Englishman at La Colorada.” When Borges is staying with “the Englishman,” he reveals that he is really an Irishman and tells the story of the scar “under one condition—that no contempt or condemnation be withheld, no mitigation for any iniquity be pleaded.”

In 1922, he was “one of the many young men who were conspiring to win Ireland’s independence.” They were joined one evening by a man from Munster called John Vincent Moon. “The new comrade did not argue, he did not debate – he pronounced judgment, contemptuously and, to a degree, wrathfully.” In a dangerous situation, Moon freezes and is rescued by his companion. The next day, he claims to be too ill to go out. “ I was embarrassed by the man and his fear, shamed by him as though I myself were the coward, not Vincent Moon. Whatsoever one man does, it is as though all men did it.” After nine days of criticizing their plans and staying behind while the others go out to fight, Moon is overheard: “I realized from the tone of his voice that he was speaking on the telephone. Then I heard my name; then, that I’d be back at seven, and then, that I’d be arrested as I came across the lawn. My rational friend was rationally selling me out. I heard him demand certain guarantees of his own safety….Here my story becomes confused and peters out a bit. I know that I chased the snitch through black corridors of nightmare and steep stairwells of vertigo.… Once or twice I lost him, but I managed to corner him before the soldiers arrested me. From one of the general’s suits of armor, I seized a scimitar, and with that steel crescent left a flourish on his face forever—a half-moon of blood.” Borges asks for the rest of the story. Moon was paid for the information and went to Brazil, and the man he betrayed to the other side was shot. “ I waited vainly for the rest of the story. Finally, I asked him to go on…. ‘I have told you the story this way so that you would hear it out. It was I who betrayed the man who saved me and gave me shelter – – it is I who am Vincent Moon. Now, despise me.’”

Some questions to start:
1) In “The Shape of the Sword”, there is a story within a story and a truth that is withheld until the end. How does learning the truth change your understanding of the story?
2) Names and identities are fluid in this story as a man tells his own story from an opposing point of view. One narrator asserts “Whatsoever one man does, it is as though all men did it.” Do you agree?

@6Susanna wrote: A memory for names and faces is very good for a politician. On the other hand, poor John Hickenlooper, US Senator from Colorado, has face blindness.

Karl Mundt, US Congressman and Senator from SD (1948-'73), was known for his prodigious memory of names -- at least w/i his state.

Thomas wrote: "To think is to forget. That is an interesting thought! Thinking is as much about ignoring or forgetting what is unimportant as it is about focusing on what is relevant..."

I noted the same quotation about thinking--in fact, I thought it was the most interesting idea in this story: "To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details..." As a teacher, I definitely found this to be true of my students. Some of them couldn't see a hierarchy of ideas, which made it next to impossible for them to analyze, synthesize, or use one idea to create another of their own.

And speaking of famous people for whom a fantastic memory is either a blessing or a curse, I was thinking about Harold Bloom all the way through this story. He was said to be able to read so fast and yet thoroughly that he was literally constantly turning pages. (I think I heard this thirdhand from a friend who was his neighbor here in New Haven, as told by his wife.) The thing is, Harold Bloom not only had a prodigious memory, he was also capable of doing something with what he remembered. He was, essentially, his own walking library, so when he read something new, his brain was shuffling through everything else he had ever read and making connections. I've often thought about that because I've noticed since then that often, the people we call "smart" are people with excellent memories who can recall bits of information the rest of us may have known but have forgotten.

I enjoyed "The Form of the Sword" more than many of the pieces here, but again, I felt as if were being rushed through. Borges seems more interested in ideas and plot than in characterization, whereas it's often the case that short fiction--at least, in the English-speaking world--focuses more on character and the well-placed detail. These stories feel more like stories told around a campfire. I appreciated the "trick" ending.

“The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero”

“… in my spare evenings, I have conceived this plot – – which I will perhaps commit to paper, but which already somehow justifies me. It needs details, rectifications, tinkering – – there are areas of the story that have never been revealed to me. Today, January 3, 1944, I see it in the following way...” Ryan is writing a biography of Kilpatrick, an Irish hero, who was assassinated in 1824. Investigating the puzzling circumstances of the crime, Ryan senses that the event “seems to repeat or combines event from distant places, distant ages”. He discovers that Kilpatrick had asked his friend Nolan to identify a traitor in the inner circle of their organization. Nolan found that it was Kilpatrick who was the traitor and planned with Kilpatrick’s consent an apparent assassination. This would punish Kilpatrick’s treachery without revealing it and harming the cause. The script Nolan prepared for the events leading up to the assassination and the assassination itself was cribbed in part from Shakespeare, perhaps “so someone, in the future would be able to stumble upon the truth. Ryan realized that he, too, was part of Nolan’s plot.” After thinking this over, he decides to “silence the discovery.” He writes the biography as if Kilpatrick was really a hero. But maybe Ryan’s decision fit into Nolan’s plan after all.

Some questions to start with:
1). Is it important that the story is described as incomplete, missing “details, rectifications, tinkering?”
2). What questions would you like to ask Señor Borges about this story?

Kathy wrote: "Borges seems more interested in ideas and plot than in characterization, whereas it's often the case that short fiction--at least, in the English-speaking world--focuses more on character and the well-placed detail. .."

The lack of characterization gives his stories a somewhat sterile quality that I often find in science fiction. They sometimes remind me of finely wrought parables more than typical short stories, beautiful as they are. There is always a puzzle to solve, which for me can either be entertaining or tedious depending on my mood.

Susan wrote: "“The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero”

“… in my spare evenings, I have conceived this plot – – which I will perhaps commit to paper, but which already somehow justifies me. It needs details, rect..."

This may not be particularly relevant, but I have to ask: What's up with all the shady Irishmen in these stories? Richard Madden in the "Garden of Forking Paths," John Vincent Moon (from Dungarvan) in "The Form of the Sword", and Kilpatrick (from Kilgarvan) in "The Traitor and the Hero"?

Susanna wrote: "The Shape of the Sword is more of a classic short story, with a twist at the end."

Yes, and it’s also the story (so far) with some focus on character. As others have noted, Borges’ characters in general seem to tend toward types. But in this story, we have John Vincent Moon, who can only tell his own story under the alias of the man he betrayed, a man whose name is never given. Moon’s character and his story seem intertwined.

Kathy wrote: "I enjoyed "The Form of the Sword" more than many of the pieces here, but again, I felt as if were being rushed through. Borges seems more interested in ideas and plot than in characterization, wher..."

I can’t say I felt rushed, but I do think these stories are packed with details, all or almost all of which are relevant in some way to the ideas and themes of the stories. Even with a second reading, I often think I’m still missing some key point(s). Maybe that’s why there’s not much character development — no room! But I suspect the real reason is his focus was elsewhere.

Thomas wrote: This may not be particularly relevant, but I have to ask: What's up with all the shady Irishmen in these stories? Richard Madden in the "Garden of Forking Paths," John Vincent Moon (from Dungarvan) in "The Form of the Sword", and Kilpatrick (from Kilgarvan) in "The Traitor and the Hero"?

Great catch! It’s true that we’re told the setting for ‘The Theme of the Traitor and the Hero” could be somewhere other than Ireland: “ The action takes place in an oppressed, yet stubborn country – – Poland, Ireland, the Republic of Venice, some South American or Balkan state… in 1824, let us say, for convenience’s sake; in Ireland, let us also say.” .

All three stories are set in a time of war or revolution. And all involve an act of betrayal, although the betrayal in “Garden of Forking Paths” is not by an Irishman. I don’t have an answer but will keep my eye out for shady Irishmen in future stories ;)

Susan wrote: "And all involve an act of betrayal, although the betrayal in “Garden of Forking Paths” is not by an Irishman."

True, but an Irishman in the service of England might raise an eyebrow, in certain company anyway.

And from "Death and the Compass" we can now add to the list one Black Finnegan, "an old Irish criminal" and proprietor of Liverpool House where Gryphius is kidnapped.