The Book of Fantasy

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The Book of Fantasy Page 60

by Jorge Luis Borges


  According to the ancient Chinese legend, a holy hermit who usually lives in the heart of a mountain, and has trained himself to various mystical powers, those of flying in the air at will and enjoying extreme longevity among them. return

  Haslam has also published A General History of Labyrinths. return

  Russell (The Analysis of Mind, 1921, page 159) conjectures that our planet was created a few moments ago, and provided with a humanity which ‘remembers’ an illusory past. return

  A century, in accordance with the duodecimal system, signifies a period of one hundred and forty-four years. return

  Nowadays, one of the churches of Tlön maintains platonically that such and such a pain, such and such a greenish-yellow colour, such and such a temperature, such and such a sound etc., make up the only reality there is. All men, in the climatic instant of coitus, are the same man. All men who repeat one line of Shakespeare are William Shakespeare. return

  Buckley was a freethinker, a fatalist, and an apologist for slavery. return

  There remains, naturally, the problem of matter of which some of these objects consisted. return

  Humberto I was still triumphantly parading through the cities of Italy the crown and debonair moustache inherited from his father. return

  It is discontentment with oneself, whether due to obscurity of origin, a physical defect or the lack of brilliant spiritual conditions, that leads many men to revolutionary activity.

  And, on the other hand, in every rebellious spirit there is a great underlying timidity. Revolutionary activity is the violent reaction of the timid who disturb society for encouragement. Which is the same as setting fire to somebody else’s house in order to warm up.

  Sometimes, in the course of revolutionary activity, when it is successful, the shy lose their timidity and become conservative. This is the secret psychological cause of the desertion of so many impetuous prophets who have left the emancipation of their people half way, merely because they achieved their own spiritual liberation first.

  When I lose my literary shyness, I shall write a comedy full of sharp observations on the subject—amongst others, that austerity, revolutionary virtue par excellence, is a natural attitude in all those who are timid—a comedy I shall entitle The Rodeos of the Timid Man and which, I’m certain already, will not be a great success. It would be a different matter if it were premiered in Paris and were entitled Le détour du timide. return

  Weapon used by Argentine gauchos which consists of several ropes tied together with metal balls at the ends. return

 

 

 


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