My Jorge Luis Borges Archives: A Catalog of Links

Dreamtiger

I make no bones about being a major fan of the mind and writings of Jorge Luis Borges. The Argentine writer (1899-1986) is considered one of the most important figures in Spanish literature of the 20th century. A master of the short story, his work is known for its intellectual rigor, its imaginative scope, and its elegant prose.

Borges was born in Buenos Aires into a well-educated and cultured family. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a translator. Educated at home and in Buenos Aires schools, he learned to read and write English at a young age, and he was soon exposed to a wide range of world literature. 

In the 1920s, Borges began to publish his own work. His early writings were influenced by the avant-garde movements of the time, such as Ultraism and Surrealism. However, Borges soon developed his own unique style, which was characterized by its erudition, wit, and metaphysical speculations. And a form of storytelling that has been called Magical Realism.

Here are links to most of my Borges blog posts followed by several short stories of my own, inspired by Borges. Please forgive any redundancies. I had no idea I'd produced this many posts about this man. Explore as far as you like, and if you reach the end perhaps you'll be inspired to enter his own labyrinthine worlds.

The Mind of Borges

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2007/09/mind-of-borges.html

Labyrinths (2)

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2008/01/labyrinths.html

Dream of the Minotaur

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2008/08/dream-of-minotaur.html

Borges and I, Redux

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2009/02/borges-and-i-redux.html

Borges, Revisited

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2010/07/borges-revisited.html

A Yellow Rose

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2011/11/yellow-rose.html

The Poet Declares His Renown

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-poet-declares-his-renown_19.html

Jorge Luis Borges and Other Influences

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2014/09/jorge-luis-borges-and-other-influences.html

“The Watcher” by Borges

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-poem-instead-of-wordless-wednesday_8.html

What is Magical Realism?

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2015/03/what-is-magical-realism.html

The Walter Benjamin Labyrinth Game

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-walter-benjamin-labyrinth-game-with.html

On Exactitude In Science

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2015/10/on-exactitude-in-science-quest-for.html

Seven Really Cool Internet Finds Pertaining to Borges

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2016/07/seven-really-cool-internet-finds.html

Tribute to Borges’ Garden of Forking Paths

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2020/01/tribute-to-borges-garden-of-forking.html

Imaginary Interviews: A Visit with Jorge Luis Borges, the Master of Magical Realism

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2023/08/imaginary-interviews-visit-with-jorge.html

Here are a few of my own stories:

Duel of the Poets

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2008/12/duel-of-poets.html

The Nonsense Room

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2009/10/nonsense-room.html

A Poem About Truth

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-poem-about-truth.html

Golem Terrorists

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2009/09/golem-terrorists.html

Are you a Borges fan? Do you have a favorite book, anecdote or story? Feel free to leave a comment.

Imaginary Interviews: A Visit with Jorge Luis Borges, the Master of Magical Realism

Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in Spanish-language literature. I first encountered his work in an old issue of The Antioch Review. And I was blown away.

The influential Argentine writer was born with congenital glaucoma, which left him nearly blind in his right eye and severely impaired his vision in his left eye. This condition would have a profound impact on his life and work.

Borges began writing at a young age and published his first book of poems in 1923. He went on to write dozens of short stories, essays, and poems. He was also a translator who translated works from English, French, German, and other languages into Spanish. Being a scholar of literature and philosophy, his work is often influenced by these fields.

He famously excelled in a form of storytelling called Magical Realism. In this imaginary interview I hope to introduce more readers to one of my favorite writers and primary influences.

EN: Magical realism is a defining feature of your works, blending fantastical elements with reality. How did you come to embrace this literary style, and what do you believe it adds to your stories?

Jorge Luis Borges: I appreciate the question. Magical realism, for me, was a natural way to explore the blurred boundaries between reality and imagination. Growing up in a multicultural environment and being exposed to various myths, legends, and philosophies, I realized that the extraordinary can exist within the ordinary. This realization led me to embrace magical realism as a means of capturing the inexplicable beauty and complexity of existence.

Magical realism allows me to express the ineffable aspects of human experience that often elude rational explanation. By seamlessly integrating magical elements into everyday settings, I aim to create a sense of wonder and provoke contemplation. This style enables me to explore philosophical questions, challenge preconceived notions, and reflect on the mysteries of existence in a way that straightforward realism might not allow.

In my view, magical realism enriches my stories by infusing them with a sense of enchantment and inviting readers to question reality's limitations. It encourages us to perceive the world from different angles, to question the boundaries between what we consider real and what we deem fantastical. This fusion of the ordinary and the extraordinary underscores the idea that life itself is a tapestry of paradoxes and that reality can be much more than meets the eye. Through magical realism, I strive to celebrate the complexity of human experience and offer readers a lens through which they can appreciate the enigmatic beauty of the world.

EN: Many of your works draw from diverse cultures and traditions. How do you approach incorporating these elements into your stories, and what role do they play in creating a global literary tapestry?

JLB: Incorporating diverse cultures and traditions into my stories has always been a deliberate and enriching process. I believe that literature has the power to transcend borders and connect people by highlighting our shared human experiences and the multiplicity of perspectives that exist around the world.

When I explore different cultures and traditions, my approach is one of respect and curiosity. I approach these elements not as mere ornaments, but as windows into the profound variations of human thought, belief, and expression. I delve into myths, folklore, and histories to uncover universal themes that resonate across cultures, such as love, loss, identity, and the pursuit of meaning.

By incorporating these diverse elements, I aim to weave a global literary tapestry that reflects the richness and complexity of human existence. This tapestry serves to challenge narrow perspectives and promote understanding among people from different backgrounds. In doing so, I hope to remind readers that, despite our apparent differences, there are underlying threads that connect us all.

Ultimately, the incorporation of diverse cultures and traditions adds depth and universality to my stories. It offers readers the opportunity to explore the world through different lenses, fostering empathy and expanding their horizons. It is my hope that my work contributes to a broader understanding of the human experience, transcending cultural boundaries and fostering a sense of unity amidst our diverse tapestry of life.

EN: Your writing often explores the labyrinthine nature of human existence. Could you share how this theme reflects your personal philosophy and why it resonates so deeply with your readers?

JLB: The exploration of the labyrinthine nature of human existence has been a central theme in my writing, reflecting both my personal philosophy and my fascination with the intricate layers of reality. To me, life itself often feels like a labyrinth, a complex network of paths that lead to unexpected revelations, dead ends, and profound insights.

Our understanding of reality is often limited by our perspectives and perceptions. We navigate the labyrinth of existence, seeking knowledge, meaning, and connection, yet often finding ourselves confronted with mysteries and paradoxes that challenge our comprehension. Through my stories, I seek to capture the essence of this journey, the perpetual search for understanding in a world that seems both ordered and chaotic.

Using the labyrinth as a metaphor for the enigma of existence, I hope to provoke introspection and contemplation in my readers, inviting them to ponder the myriad paths we traverse in our quest for knowledge and meaning.

This theme resonates with readers because of its universal relevance. The labyrinth is not confined to any one culture, era, or belief system—it's a concept that transcends boundaries and speaks to our shared experiences as humans.

EN: Do you see the mind itself as a labyrinth?

Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

JLB: Indeed, the mind is a labyrinth, a vast and intricate terrain that holds within it the echoes of countless thoughts, memories, and perceptions. Just as the physical world is filled with paths, twists, and turns, so too is the landscape of our consciousness. The mind is a realm of discovery and contemplation, a place where ideas intersect and diverge, forming intricate patterns of thought.

Like the labyrinth of existence that I often explore in my writing, the mind presents us with challenges and mysteries. It invites us to navigate the corridors of memory, to seek understanding in the maze of our emotions, and to venture into the depths of our imagination. Just as the traveler within a labyrinth confronts uncertainty and the unknown, so too does the thinker grapple with the complexities of their own mental landscape.

Yet, within the labyrinth of the mind, there is also the potential for revelation and insight. Just as explorers of physical labyrinths may discover hidden truths, those who journey through the labyrinth of their thoughts can unearth profound understandings of themselves and the world around them. The mind's labyrinth is a place of creativity, where the paths we tread can lead to new ideas, connections, and revelations.

The idea of the mind as a labyrinth resonates deeply with me because it mirrors the themes I've explored in my writing—our quest for knowledge, the tension between order and chaos, and the simultaneous beauty and complexity of existence. By recognizing the mind as a labyrinth, we embrace the endless potential for exploration and discovery within ourselves. This concept continues to inspire and influence my work, as I strive to capture the essence of both the inner and outer labyrinths that shape our understanding of reality.

EN: Your influence on literature extends far beyond your native Argentina. In fact, I consider a number of my own stories to be inspired by your work, especially those in my book Unremembered Histories. How does it feel to have your ideas and techniques shape the work of writers from various cultures?

JLB: To witness my ideas and techniques resonating with writers from diverse cultures is a profound and humbling experience. Literature, as an art form, transcends borders and languages, uniting minds through the exploration of universal themes and human experiences. Knowing that my work has contributed to this global dialogue is a testament to the power of storytelling and the interconnectedness of human thought.

EN: One last question. As a writer who's navigated blindness, how has this condition influenced your creative process and your perception of imagination and reality?

JLB: Navigating blindness has been a profound and transformative aspect of my creative journey. While it initially presented challenges, it ultimately reshaped my perceptions in ways I could never have anticipated.

Blindness, in a sense, became a metaphorical labyrinth within which I had to navigate. As my visual world diminished, my reliance on imagination and memory grew stronger. The boundaries between the external and internal worlds began to blur, and I realized that perception is not confined to the physical senses alone. This realization profoundly impacted my writing, as I sought to convey the intricate interplay between what is seen and what is imagined.

In this new realm of limited sight, I discovered a heightened awareness of language itself. Words became my palette, allowing me to paint vibrant landscapes of thought and emotion. Imagination became my guide, enabling me to explore realms beyond the confines of the visible world. The act of storytelling became a way to bridge the gap between the tangible and the intangible, between the known and the unknowable.

Blindness compelled me to reexamine the nature of reality. I came to understand that reality is a subjective construct, shaped by individual perceptions and interpretations. This insight allowed me to embrace the idea that reality is malleable, that it can be reshaped and reimagined through the creative act. I found that the limitations of sight were not limitations of vision—they were invitations to delve deeper into the recesses of the mind.

Blindness, paradoxically, illuminated the vastness of the inner world, inspiring me to navigate the labyrinth of imagination with renewed vigor and a profound sense of wonder.

Related Links

The concept for this interview was first explored in my imaginary interview with John S. Hall, the Blind Poet of Ritchie County.

Here are some other Borges links.

Jorge Luis Borges: An Introduction

Tribute to Borges' Garden of Forking Paths

The Mind of Borges 

A Yellow Rose

Man Was Made To Mourn: Wisdom from the Pen of Robert Burns

It's a common literary device. A story is told in which the wisdom of an elder is contrasted or shared with a younger person. One of my favorite Jack London stories, A Piece of Steak, is about an old, used up boxer named Tom King. As he fights his young opponent Sandel, he reflects on his own career in which he was once the young tough pummeling old boxers like himself on their way to hoped-for future glory. By the story's end Sandel is a symbol of Youth, ever rising.

Jorge Luis Borges has a very interesting story, called The Other, about an older man who sits on a park bench and comes to realize that the young man seated at the other end of the bench is he himself when he was younger. Borges's style of magical realism draws you in as the older realizes they are in two different but intersecting moments in space and time  What would you say to your younger self if you were given the chance. I think of this often.

Robert Burns' poem Man Was Made To Mourn uses a similar device in which an older man strives to communicate something to a younger man who is walking along life's way. I discovered the poem because it contains a line that I have quoted many times since first hearing: "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

The poem begins with the narrator out for a walk noticing an older man walking in a heavy-laden manner. In the second stanza the old man is curious about the young man's purpose. Are you out for a walk to pursue pleasure and excitement or are you beginning, too young, to walk because you feel pressed down by woes?

We then learn that the old man is now 80 years old, and his singular refrain at the end of each stanza is "man was made to mourn." The rest of the poem is the older man's explanation of how things are in this world.

The poem was written in 1784, long before the advent of modern medicine. Children often failed to reach adulthood, so there were many broken hearts of parents who buried their children, just one of the many ways we suffer. Ironically, the author of this poem, Robert Burns, died in his late thirties and never came close to 80.

Man Was Made to Mourn

When chill November's surly blast 
Made fields and forests bare, 
One ev'ning, as I wander'd forth 
Along the banks of Ayr, 
I spied a man, whose aged step 
Seem'd weary, worn with care; 
His face was furrow'd o'er with years, 
And hoary was his hair. 

"Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?" 
Began the rev'rend sage; 
"Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain, 
Or youthful pleasure's rage? 
Or haply, prest with cares and woes, 
Too soon thou hast began 
To wander forth, with me to mourn 
The miseries of man. 

"The sun that overhangs yon moors, 
Out-spreading far and wide, 
Where hundreds labour to support 
A haughty lordling's pride; - 
I've seen yon weary winter-sun 
Twice forty times return; 
And ev'ry time has added proofs, 
That man was made to mourn. 

"O man! while in thy early years, 
How prodigal of time! 
Mis-spending all thy precious hours- 
Thy glorious, youthful prime! 
Alternate follies take the sway; 
Licentious passions burn; 
Which tenfold force gives Nature's law. 
That man was made to mourn. 

"Look not alone on youthful prime, 
Or manhood's active might; 
Man then is useful to his kind, 
Supported in his right: 
But see him on the edge of life, 
With cares and sorrows worn; 
Then Age and Want - oh! ill-match'd pair - 
Shew man was made to mourn. 

"A few seem favourites of fate, 
In pleasure's lap carest; 
Yet, think not all the rich and great 
Are likewise truly blest: 
But oh! what crowds in ev'ry land, 
All wretched and forlorn, 
Thro' weary life this lesson learn, 
That man was made to mourn. 
"Many and sharp the num'rous ills 
Inwoven with our frame! 
More pointed still we make ourselves, 
Regret, remorse, and shame! 
And man, whose heav'n-erected face 
The smiles of love adorn, - 
Man's inhumanity to man 
Makes countless thousands mourn! 

"See yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight, 
So abject, mean, and vile, 
Who begs a brother of the earth 
To give him leave to toil; 
And see his lordly fellow-worm 
The poor petition spurn, 
Unmindful, tho' a weeping wife 
And helpless offspring mourn. 

"If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave, 
By Nature's law design'd, 
Why was an independent wish 
E'er planted in my mind? 
If not, why am I subject to 
His cruelty, or scorn? 
Or why has man the will and pow'r 
To make his fellow mourn? 

"Yet, let not this too much, my son, 
Disturb thy youthful breast: 
This partial view of human-kind 
Is surely not the last! 
The poor, oppressed, honest man 
Had never, sure, been born, 
Had there not been some recompense 
To comfort those that mourn! 

"O Death! the poor man's dearest friend, 
The kindest and the best! 
Welcome the hour my aged limbs 
Are laid with thee at rest! 
The great, the wealthy fear thy blow 
From pomp and pleasure torn; 
But, oh! a blest relief for those 
That weary-laden mourn!"

 * * * *

I hear echoes of Psalm 73 when I read this, a psalm contrasting haves and have nots. M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Travelled similarly comes to mind with its opening sentence stating so plainly, "Life is difficult." The premise here is that when difficulties come along, we ought not be surprised. 

Which brings to mind this stanza from Christina Rosetti's poem, Up-Hill.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?

   Yes, to the very end.

Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?

   From morn to night, my friend.

If you like poetry, here is another favorite of mine:

How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix 

Related Link
Robert Burns Biography 

Seven Really Cool Internet Finds Related To Borges

Jorge Luis Borges has to be one of the most astonishing writers in world literature. I would say modern literature except that he is the embodiment of all, which he consumed with passion. Considering that he never produced a novel, this Argentine short story writer, poet and essayist has had the most profound influence on writers from all points north, south, east and west. I know no one who is familiar with Borges who is not likewise impressed.

By way of introduction, here are some links to various websites or pages related to Borges...

Labyrinths are a recurring theme in Borges. This web page contains summaries of each of the stories in his collection titled Labyrinths.

One of his most famous stories is titled The Garden of Forking Paths. It, too, is a labyrinthian tale which no doubt became the seed that produced this very cool, experimental game design titled Branching Narrative From Borges to the Hypertext.

In 2009 when I wrote about Borges someone sent me a Borgesian-style piece which I enjoyed very much, and shared it here.

I've been collecting his books for a very long time. His last, which he claims was his best, is called The Book of Sand. When I discovered it in the library I purchased it and completed my collection. More or less. You'll enjoy reading this Wikipedia introduction to The Book of Sand.

The penultimate story in this book, of course, is this one that gives the volume its name.

But the most interesting to me is this hypertext version of the story.

All the stories here, however, yield rewards.

* * * *

And then, there's The Library of Babel, a strange story about a library that contains all the knowledge in the universe in a somewhat fantastic manner. When conceived as a story more than 60 years ago he had no way of knowing that computer technology would enable an obsessed devotee of the story to replicate, albeit in a virtual space, this unusual library so that others may explore its contents.
The website explains itself thus: The Library of Babel is a place for scholars to do research, for artists and writers to seek inspiration, for anyone with curiosity or a sense of humor to reflect on the weirdness of existence - in short, it’s just like any other library.

Not really.

Check it out: The Library of Babel.

* * * *
His stories produce collisions of ideas, sequences of philosophical shenanigans simultaneously consequential and inconsequential, absurd and fully enthralling, frothy and breathtaking, a whirlwind, a fable, a grand deception refracting light, blazing with half-crazy jangling, jarring and jaw-dropping mesmerizing. Borges the magician inspires, igniting readers' hearts and minds. Writers who study his moves are moved. "How did he do this?" 

For what it's worth, if not yet familiar with his stories I am happy here to have helped you begin the acquaintance.

A Poem About Truth

May 18, 1944. At Hitler's war conference he is told that the enemy has carried out two spy operations during the night on the heavily defended French coastline. At one place, near Calais, German troops have found an orange peel, an empty flask and a shovel lying on the beach. Years later they would say that they also found a landscape painted on driftwood, a finely crafted homemade flute and a dagger. In the estuary of the river Somme, two British commandos were discovered in the late afternoon. "They came ashore in a rubber raft," General Jodl, chief of Wehrmach operations, tells Hitler. "They claim to know nothing."

The scene changes to a French restaurant once frequented by Napoleon. The restaurant serves excellent Italian fare. Three nights have passed. A stout German woman makes pasta in the kitchen. Two French chefs argue about how to make croissants. They are smoking cigarettes and sipping wine. They know that Hitler is a madman, but it does not affect their cooking. The taller chef, thinnest of the two, is also a writer. At night he composes poetry in the same way that a garden produces flowers. The effect is dazzling. His mother also was a poet, as was his grandfather. He does not believe in war or death. He is restless, anxious about love, and lives alone. If he had a lover, he knows that he would write less poetry, since he writes only to fill his piteous empty hours. When he reads his poems, he cries, then burns them. He is brutally honest with himself.

The following evening he overhears a Nazi under-lieutenant commenting on Britain's secret operations. He seizes the opportunity to become part of an adventure. He never again sees his home. Later that night the chef is captured in a forbidden zone near the Seine whereupon he fakes an English accent and says he is a spy. He is blindfolded and driven to a chateau where he must stand before Rommel. He makes up a story about a wife and daughter in Britain. The details are vivid, but Rommel loses interest and orders him to be shot. That night he writes a poem about the event and leaves it in his cell. The German officer who reads it laughs at the insipid rhymes and melancholy metaphors. He shares it with his friend who notices that the word "mayhap" is misapplied and that "appenage" would have been a better choice of words than "freehold."

By week's end a hundred eyes have beheld the poem. Many jokes are made of it. Heinrich (we do not know his last name), a company agent from Stuttgart, makes a copy of the poem and translates it into German. In the translation he improves the meter and resolves the problematic third stanza. He sends it to his mother who does not understand it, but keeps it in a small wooden box on the bureau next to a framed photo of the Führer.

It is possible the original poem is still in existence somewhere, but no one knows for certain. My cousin, who married a German woman, says that her father saw the poem, the original version, and remembers that it was called Truth Is A Fire That Burns. We do not know if this was the same poem, or if he saw the poem at all. After the war many German soldiers say they saw the poem, and many more say they made copies of it to send to the Fatherland. We know, of course, that most of them are lying. Over the years versions have appeared in journals, some superior to others, all of them improvements on the original. I have seen it thrice in English literary journals -- once, I believe, in the Antioch Review, though it may have been one of the other college publications that begin with the leter A. Someone told me that it has been translated into 57 languages. In Thailand, the mountain peoples now say that it is the Word of God.

No one remembers the French chef who gave his life to produce the poem. His unknown name has been swallowed up by history, but his poem lives on in human hearts.

Translated 8-22-98
E. N.

A Poem About Truth is one of the stories I posted on my original website in the 1990s.  The story owes its existence to the writings of Jorge Luis Borges, whose work I had been captivated by for many seasons. Several sentences employ devices that could be labelled Borgesian. The story was included in my short eBook titled Newmanesque, which is available on Kindle.

In Memory of H.P. Lovecraft Who Today Would Be 125 If He Were Still Alive

When interviewing writers and artists I am often interested in a person's influences. What we respond to, what resonates with us, can be useful for understanding or revealing who we are, or who we aspire to be.

I've often shared how Hemingway's stories so moved me that I studied them with the aim of learning how to write with greater force. When it came to the subject matter, Argentine Jorge Luis Borges became the writer whose stories most enthralled me.

But when I reflect on my earliest efforts at writing stories while in high school, it was Edgar Allen Poe who first stimulated my imagination. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Mask of the Red Death -- these were the stories that thrilled me. And as it turns out, these were also the stories that thrilled the now venerated writer of horror fiction, H.P. Lovecraft who would be celebrating his 125th birthday were he still alive today.

Of Lovecraft, Wikipedia writes:
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Virtually unknown and only published in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre.

As influential as he has been, he didn't make the cut to be included in Barron's 501 Great Writers.

The themes in Lovecraft's stories included forbidden knowledge, non-human influences on humanity, fate, inherited guilt, threats to civilization and risks in a scientific era. Stephen King called him "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale" and cites Lovecraft as his single largest influence as a writer of horror fiction.*

To some extent I suspect the fascination with this genre of writing is similar to my early fascination with Hieronymus Bosch's painting of hell. We don't want to look, yet we feel compelled to. And later when I discovered Borges' labyrinths I felt I'd found a kindred spirit from a previous time.

In 1975 Borges wrote a story titled "There Are More Things" which was published in his short story collection The Book of Sand. The superbly crafted story tells of the encounter the narrator has with a monstrous extraterrestrial inhabiting an equally monstrous house. It's not written that way, though. It's about a man who has to go back to deal with an estate and discovers it has been changed in ways that frighten the builders who were hired to do the work. It's very creepy and written in that classic manner in which the narrator's curiosity gets the better of him, leading him to take unnecessary risks while the reader keeps saying, "No, don't do that. No, get out of there, go back!"

The story,, which begins with the dedication "In Memory of H. P. Lovecraft," holds many parallels with Lovecraft's stories, including descriptions of things that the mind can't quite grasp which hint at other things more fearfully alarming. The title is an allusion to Hamlet's lines "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet I.5:159–167).

Lovecraft's writing brought him neither fame nor fortune in his lifetime. Like many other writers before and since, he died poor but not forgotten.

*Wikipedia on Lovecraft

The Walter Benjamin Labyrinth Game

"Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up to a turbine and pour machine oil over it; one applies a little to hidden spindles and joints that one has to know." ~Walter Benjamin

From my youth I have been fascinated by labyrinths. Perhaps this is what later led me to take an interest in the writings of Jorge Luis Borges after my first encounter with his story The Garden of Forking Paths, as did many other readers and writers who have encountered his brilliance.

When I first discovered the World Wide Web in 1994 it became apparent to me that in a certain sense it was like a gigantic, ever-expanding labyrinth. Most people look at pages upon pages of information, in visual form. But what I saw was a network of rooms, each hyperlinked to other rooms.

When I designed my first website in 1995 I constructed it along those lines, as a network of connected rooms. I mapped it out much like the board game Clue where there were hidden passages to take you from one corner to the other. Online, you do not see those passages, you only see the rooms.

For the fun of it, and to illustrate my idea, I built a labyrinth of sorts on my website. The way it worked was that you enter where it says "Enter" and that links to a next room and a next. It was a fairly simple construct, with occasional places along the journey to make a decision between one link or another. Hard to believe that this was twenty years ago. You can still visit it here.

This week I decided to use this labyrinth concept to make a game for readers of this blog. I call it The Walter Benjamin Labyrinth Game because of Michael J. Gilmour's The Gospel According To Bob Dylan, which I reviewed the other day.

Gilmour opens the preface of his book with the quote at the top of the page, which is intriguing in and of itself, an interesting start-point. Then for four pages he presents his premise that Walter Benjamin, a German philospher and essayist who died in 1940, and Bob Dylan have a lot in common. The theme is returned to in several places along the way and in greater depth around page 100.

All this led me to seek to learn more about Walter Benjamin.

My guess is that many you are unfamiliar with Walter Benjamin, so I thought a link to his Wikipedia page would be interesting. But as I considered this the idea emerged to turn this blog entry into another labyrinth, to make a game and see where it goes.

The game goes like this. Beginning at the Walter Benjamin Wikipedia page, find the correct "door" to the next "room" in this immense labyrinth. When you click on the Walter Benjamin hotlink below it will open another tab and you can return here to retrieve your next clue while working your way through over there. Work your way through the "labyrinth" by retrieving a new clue each time the next page opens.

After a day or so I will share a comment regarding the last clue, which also has to do with Borges, and labyrinths.  Have fun.

Walter Benjamin Hotlink

Clues
1. Major 19th century French poet. (Wait for the re-direct.)

2. His muse and onetime mistress. (There is a picture of her on the page.)

3. Her longtime lover was a Belgian tycoon

4. People who died the year he died.

5. The Royal Naval Officer whose last name begins with the letter A.

6. The ship he joined in 1804 had 38 guns.

7. In 1866 the Admiralty sold this ship for $2000 to this company....

8. ..that was founded by....

9. The country in South America where the man helped develop transportation systems.

10. The largest city in this country is....

11. This city formed a partner city relationship with what other city in 1997?

12. What famous author from this city is pictured on this page?

13. Where was he buried?

And your bonus question: What does this burial place have to do with Jorge Luis Borges? If you can answer that one, you're pretty darn good.

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Meantime, life goes on all around you. Celebrate it. Happy Pi Day!