tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post6622548973794408927..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: A passage that I can no longer find - Borgesian Brownian Sebaldian SebaldAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53174405231661002662012-05-06T13:29:34.838-05:002012-05-06T13:29:34.838-05:00The Rings of Saturn is an especially Borgesian exe...<i>The Rings of Saturn</i> is an especially Borgesian exercise, but yes, Borges is a major figure for Sebald. And what would be the point, as Rise suggests, of getting Borges <i>exactly right</i> in a work of fiction? Would kinda violate the spirit of the thing.<br /><br />Thanks for the always-useful Browne information. One would hope that Sebald was <i>not</i> an expert on Browne, regardless of his birth.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-32761897619545571332012-05-05T04:56:23.973-05:002012-05-05T04:56:23.973-05:00Given that Borges was a great admirer of Browne it...Given that Borges was a great admirer of Browne it looks as if my reply combined with Rise's Tom, suggests that Sebald's literary and aesthetic appreciation may have been highly influenced by the Argentian master. My main grievance with some of Sebald's writing and the gathering cult surrounding him is that as a literary magpie, he's credited with far more than achieved in reality.Kevin Faulknerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15482886706239506749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-31236423556799581622012-05-05T01:06:30.988-05:002012-05-05T01:06:30.988-05:00A probable Borgesian bluff by Sebald was also appa...A probable Borgesian bluff by Sebald was also apparent when he referred to the "twenty-sixth volume" (in my <i>Rings</i> edition) containing the four unaccounted-for pages of the encyclopedia. In the actual story, the questionable entry on Uqbar was contained in the 46th volume (Volume XLVI) of the encyclopaedia. And Sebald paraphrased Borges's "On occasion, a few birds or a horse have saved the ruins of an amphitheatre" (trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni) into "I read of how a few birds saved an entire amphitheatre".Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-134230345240625342012-05-04T23:58:08.415-05:002012-05-04T23:58:08.415-05:00Pseudodoxia Epidemica is a voluminous writing whic...Pseudodoxia Epidemica is a voluminous writing which few readers are fully acquainted with. W.G. Sebald's knowledge of Browne though appreciative was extremely slender, (he lived near Norwich teaching at UEA for over 25 years before 'discovering' Browne when recuperating at hospital encountering a mould of Browne's skull, NOT the real skull). It's therefore most likely he's playing a Borgesian bluff here confident he was unlikely to be challenged on this statement. A clever academic literary smoke and mirrors passage, he once admitted to me he was no expert on Browne. Note well when reading RoS he never uses quotation marks when citing Browne thus making it near impossible to discern where Browne's imagery ends and his begins. German-born academics not always the best authorities on 17th century Brit. lit.Kevin Faulknerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15482886706239506749noreply@blogger.com