so the last couple nights i've been reading short stories by borges. They are so insane. I first read the lottery of babylon. This was interesting after reading the poem "the election". In the poem it talks about the babylonian system. In the short story although its from a different time it is about the same thing. Both are about randomness.
In the poem it is interesting because it trakes something like an election that should be the opposite of random but rather based on evidence and choice and says it was completely random.
The short story is about how the Babylonians started with a normal lottery but then it progressed to become even less out of the control of people. With each new drawing there was a chain of new drawing to make sure that every possible outcome was available. In a sense it was possible to just keep drawing for ever. This goes beyond just a simple drawing.
When this is applied to the poem, to me, it is saying that the winner of the election was not only drawn, but it was a complicated series of fates that led him to be drawn.
This is hard to write down and i realize my point doesn't seem that profound but i guess what i am trying to say is there is only one way things work out and there is a series of random events and decisions that lead up to them. Therefore the same man would be elected no matter what if you think about it in terms of fate.
This reminds me also of that vallejo poem " a black stone lying on a white stone"
The idea that he knows he is going to die and he has already seen it to me reflects a theme of fate. There is no option that he will die in paris but according to borges there would be a series of drawings deciding the date the time the method and etc. I'm not sure where i am going with this really, i suppose i am just posing ideas and questions... regardless it's interesting to me
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3 comments:
Good, Corey. I'm glad that you're enjoying Borges and that you are seeing his roots in the avant-garde. Check out his poetry from that same time period (there is a section on his poetry in your book). Also, since you're interested in the "randomness" take a look at the 'Library of Babylon', another one of his stories. I think that it is in Fictions.
Hey Corey, did you spot any politics in the short stories? That seems to be a common theme of the time. You said that one of the stories reminded you of "The Election."
I think the idea that the same result will happen no matter what is interesting. I believe that the choices that lead to it in real life are probably not random and usually well thought out but there are definitely many paths to lead to the same place.
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