Borges: Spinoza's Sonnet

English translations:

1 (literal).
The translucent hands of the Jew
Work in the penumbra, crystals
& the evening, dying, is dread & chill.
(Evenings to evenings are equal.)

The hands & space of hyacinth
Waning in the confines of the Ghetto
Almost do not exist for the man so quiet
Who is dreaming a clear labyrinth.

He's not perturbed by fame, that reflection
Of dreams in the dream of another mirror,
Nor by the timorous love of maidens.

Free from metaphor & myth
He works a hard crystal: the Infinite
Map of That which totals His stars.

2.
The Jew's hands, translucent in the dusk,
polish the lenses time and again.
The dying afternoon is fear, is
cold, and all afternoons are the same.
The hands and the hyacinth-blue air
that whitens at the Ghetto edges
do not quite exist for this silent
man who conjures up a clear labyrinth—
undisturbed by fame, that reflection
of dreams in the dream of another
mirror, nor by maidens' timid love.
Free of metaphor and myth, he grinds
a stubborn crystal: the infinite
map of the One who is all His stars.


"In that sonnet, I refer specifically to the philosopher Spinoza. He is polishing crystal lenses and is polishing a rather vast crystal philosophy of the universe. I think we might consider those tasks parallel. Spinoza is polishing his lenses, Spinoza is polishing vast diamonds, his ethics."

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• jorge
• luis
• borges
• spinoza

[GordonMorrice]

There's an Irish brogue to Borges when he speaks in English! A great, great man, very humble, but a treasure house of vast learning and deep, though wry thought.

[morfo1010]

es triste, un documento tan grande como es este video solo tiene pocas visitas, cuando videos de idioteces tienen millones de personas viendolos, eso dice mucho de la generacion en la que vivimos, solo triste

[syncopath]

10x. if Borges did not exist, it would have been necessary to invent him ......

[dragonblue1995]

I lolo

[juanloprada]

amazing document

[Harikrishnalove]

El parentesco intimo que une a Schopenhauer y Borges mas alla de una evidente oposicion de temperamentos, que podia ofrecer de fascinante ese personaje fundamentalmente sombrio, frustrado, vengativo, misogino hasta el delito, racista, antisemita, como Schopenhauer de un narcisismo atrabiliario y paranoico, ese personaje enfatico sobre todo, a los ojos del apolineo adolescente de Ginebra y, mas tarde, ala memoria del sobrio poeta ciego, una fascinacion nunca oculta.

[sebastian909]

his work will survive for centuries...

[wsmith49]

Many thanks for posting this. First I have ever heard Borges speak in English, and I am a devoted fan of this man's magnificent accomplishment. Thank you for such pleasurable edification.