J.L. Borges"Critical Approaches to Latin American Literature" seminar met for first time today. Profe Ana was her endearing self and this afternoon my mind engaged in an entirely different way...a slow opening and absorption of everything but the name of the author of a critical work I need on Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera.
Brief but detailed explanation of the works on the syllabus.
Introductions. Very cool to hear how my classmates' ideas for specialization have either evolved, narrowed, or completely changed. And very refreshing to hear how candidly the new ones spoke about "not knowing what to expect" and being "nervous"... Intimidating presence of 4 students from Comp. Lit.
Ended with a recording of Borges reading his "Poema conjetural" (1942) and a quick and dirty analysis of the poem. I was the first to answer the opening question - what could Borges be saying about the death of his ancestor? Yes, very uncharacteristic of me, but the wait time was elongating uncomfortably and I didn't want Profe Ana to have to answer her own question. As punishment for that, I got a probing, "Do you agree with that?" Yes, I did. It was a death digna de un "argentino"...a death contrary to the life of this doctor, a man who lived in a world of studies and books and laws who longed to express himself as another type of man - South American del campo...argentino...to fight al estilo gauchesco, but not being able to do that, to be able to die in a violent manner. The borgesian ideas of the double, the mirror, the reconciling of lo europeo/el criollo (even the idea of the eternal image as seen in "El otro") ... I couldn't help but read this is the poetic version of "El sur".
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