ΟΜπορχες - amorphy.org

e n g l i s h t r a n s l a t i o n s
e n g l i s h t r a n s l a t i o n s
director’s statement p.26-29
Borges believed that a well-constructed plot
is a moral imperative, in the sense that it
promises no more than literature should offer
to its reader: the pleasure of formal perfection
with little interference from the living world.
Fantastic literature offers hypothetical worlds
based on the powers of an imagination unspoiled
by the constraints imposed by representative
aesthetics.
Borges had loved adventure stories since
childhood. The pleasure to be derived from
them depended on a well-thought out plot with
no loose threads and little reference to deep
psychological motives and impulses. Also,
adventure novels do not face the problem of
‘length’, which for Borges always led to a weak
plot, because they are generally organized into
‘episodes’ that begin and end within the span of
a chapter.
In this respect, ΑΩ resembles the structure
of a typical adventure novel, but is devoid of
many elements that consist of a one-linear
plot; catharsis, a hero character, good and evil,
betrayal.
Borges was a classic case of an encyclopedic
mind, just like Greenway, Poe, and Darwin. His
most recognizable tool to explore seemingly
unrelated ideas, objects, or people, is in the
use of heterogeneous classification, an order
that respects no logical principle of exclusion
and inclusion, no logical formation of groups,
species and genres and, above all, one that
includes itself in the classification. Under the
cover of the encyclopedia he manages to explore
conventions, because ‘there is no classification
of the universe that is not arbitrary and
conjectural. The reason is very simple: we do
not know what the universe is.’ This is the main
thesis tackled by Borges in the story of Library
of Babel, a ‘Kafkaesque fiction’.
The hypothesis the story presents is that
the Library, or our known universe, contains
precisely everything. As a consequence of the
nature and the contents of the books in the
Library, Borges states that the solution of the
‘basic mysteries of humanity’ should be found
there, ‘but that centuries have elapsed since
man began looking for this solution without ever
finding it’. Today, adds Borges, ‘nobody hopes
to find anything’. This is the statement that ΑΩ
takes as it’s starting point and adds to it the
following question and challenge:
Human knowledge has been expanding at
an exponential speed. Yet, all accumulative
knowledge up to this point, still cannot decipher
the ‘basic mysteries of humanity’, those
ageless questions; ‘is there god?’, ‘is there an
after-life?’, ‘are we in control of our choices
or is our life predestined?’ So, now I stand at a
point of flux, of a personal crossroad; do I have
any reason to believe that I or those to come
will ever answer these questions? The logical
answer is no, taking into consideration the
history of knowledge and the answers provided
by that search. And, although, I truly doubt the
positive outcome of this ancient search, I, a
rational human being, cannot stop the quest for
answers. So, then I ask, ‘is it in our nature to
be hopeful, to seek and to persist even when all
point at the fallibility of this search?’.
The logic of the Library is planned in such
a way that it cannot be grasped, and, since the
Library signifies the universe, the logic of the
universe is inaccessible. Everything is in the
Library but nothing can be found. Besides, the
Library is presented as a predestined universe
for the very reason that everything, past, present
and future is written somewhere, in a book
that has little chance of revealing its contents.
This unhappy prospect does not diminish, but
rather emphasizes, predestination. Life itself
is tautological, because everything that can be
performed, thought or said has been written
in the past in one of the books of the Library.
The same process of finding the key to all the
‘mysteries of humanity’, and the way to reach
that particular book, are also written; and the
place of that book is marked in a catalogue. If
this is true, the quest of humanity in the Library/
universe is pointless. But, nobody can establish
the truth or falseness of an organization, whose
rules are secret until the moment somebody
finds them in a book.
In this philosophical situation, life is either
predetermined by laws, which cannot be
identified instead they have forever defined an
order that leaves no space for the prospect of
change. Or society is randomly organized up to
the point, where mere chance, the eccentricity of
fortune (somebody, without reason, stumbles on
the key-book), is as strong as a predetermined
organization of the world. In either case, the
rules that govern the world are secret and
concealed from its subjects. Both cases lead,
logically, to a dilemma. This dilemma is explored
in ΑΩ, as well as the obscurities we deal with
in our personal quest of, finally, realizing what
moves and what disturbs us.
Ash Bulayev, October 2007
The quote that accompanies this statement on
p.26 reads:
“There is no universe in the organic, unifying
sense of that ambitious word. If there is, then
we must speculate on its purpose, we must
speculate on the words, definitions, etymologies,
and synonyms of God’s secret dictionary.”
J.L. Borges
visual text p.30-31
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the books
Book of Reality p.34
Once upon a time there was a poor child with
no father and no mother. And everything was
dead and no one was left in the whole world.
Everything was dead. And the child went on a
search, day and night. And since nobody was
left on the earth, he wanted to go up into the
heavens. And the moon was looking at him so
friendly. And when he finally got to the moon,
the moon was a piece of rotten wood. And then
he went to the sun. And when he got there, the
sun was a wilted sunflower. And when he got to
the stars, they were little golden flies, stuck up
there. And when he wanted to go back down to
the earth, the earth was an overturned piss-pot.
And he was all alone, and he sat down and he
cried. And he is there to this day. All alone.
Okay, there’s your story! Night-night!
Biography of Relative Time p.36
1968 – Birth.
1969 – Just some blurry faces.
1970 – Refuse to talk.
1971 – Start trimming my eyelashes.
1972 – Swim without a life-vest.
1973 – Learn what money is.
1974 – Tell my first joke.
1975 – My mother cannot read the truth in
my eyes. Therefore, I can lie.
1976 – Start wearing glasses.
1977 – Fall in love. With my brother.
1978 – First period and we buy a colour TV.
1979 – First migraine.
1980 – Pack my bag and leave the house.
1981 – First cigarette.
1982 – First kiss.
1983 – Sleep all day. No other recollection.
1984 – Try to laugh at the circus.
1985 – Making love in the dark. I don’t like
being watched.
1986 – Start collecting notes.
1987 – Shave my head.
1988 – First attempt to appreciate travelling.
1989 – Decide to change.
1990 – First habit: on Sundays I drive to the
airport and back.
1991 – First nervous breakdown.
1992 – Rape. Loose 15 kilos in one month.
1993 – My first dog: Booby.
1994 – Quit smoking. I start smoking.
1995 – Tries to remember, but cannot.
1996 – Tries to remember. She remembers
something, but she hides it.
1997 – Try to see how long I can go on
without speaking.
1998 – A cockroach gets stuck in my hair.
1999 – First time without a roommate.
2000 – Pose for a painter. Hours of stillness.
2001 – Funerals, one after the other. I buy
new black clothes.
2002 – Civil marriage. Grey day. High
humidity. No flowers at all.
2003 – Start painting. In secret.
2004 – Loose him, but I don’t wear black.
2005 – God’s eye stops following me.
2006 – A whole month of vacation after
twenty years.
2007 – Freezing in rehearsals.
2008 – We’ll see.
Book of Perspectives p.40
It’s never quite right, he said,
the way people look,
the way the music sounds,
the way the words are written.
It’s never quite right, he said,
all the things we are taught,
all the loves we chase,
all the deaths we die,
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