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Borges and I
Published: 8/24/2011 4:52 PM
Last Modified: 8/24/2011 4:52 PM

Jorge Luis Borges

Today would be 112th birthday of the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, whose unclassifiable tales set the example for what came to be called "magic realism" -- a blending of the fantastic with the mundane.

Google is paying tribute to Borges with an image that transforms its name into a landscape of labyrinths and libraries, two subjects that recur throughout Borges' work.

Many of his stories start out like academic essays, before they begin to unfold and refold back into themselves, such as "Pierre Menard, Author of 'The Quixote,'" which imagines a contemporary writer -- by living the sort of life Cervantes lived, immersing himself in that world -- who attempts to write his own "Don Quixote."

"He did not want to compose another Quixote — which is easy — but the Quixote itself. Needless to say, he never contemplated a mechanical transcription of the original; he did not propose to copy it. His admirable intention was to produce a few pages which would coincide — word for word and line for line — with those of Miguel de Cervantes."

Another of Borges' brief and deliciously unsettling stories is "Borges and I," which you can read in its entirety here.

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ozarkokie (last year)

I had the privilege of meeting Borges in his old age in the late 1970s. I was most impressed by this amazing man, and would urge people to read his work if they are unfamiliar with it.

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James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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