tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71583210366880805552024-02-07T17:13:07.025-08:00AlephUnbuilt Workshop Project
ThalamusUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158321036688080555.post-61428243999121225052008-07-21T06:06:00.000-07:002008-07-21T06:08:44.157-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD051QHAWnvzZZDT_0J6QPmsKeG5qd5LxwmxTMAChIoynsZmbVCjSunEtIFSIXjEfyRHd-tsApD3kpCH7EW6zkLITfrj_qi3LeU8zsSOfqBFejfJUGMSWG0_lIeoQ2_VpesKpPM6O3BKiB/s1600-h/P1011002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD051QHAWnvzZZDT_0J6QPmsKeG5qd5LxwmxTMAChIoynsZmbVCjSunEtIFSIXjEfyRHd-tsApD3kpCH7EW6zkLITfrj_qi3LeU8zsSOfqBFejfJUGMSWG0_lIeoQ2_VpesKpPM6O3BKiB/s400/P1011002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225453474516819154" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158321036688080555.post-19699323926629546882008-07-14T03:18:00.000-07:002008-07-14T03:28:17.284-07:00How 2.0<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dygr4rmgg-4qwhOJHagwYwqn4XpPH3NUXG49Tn36VN4bNZFANkKwq0QvVfM1PgNlbW9f2sh--JWXjicsKJm8Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158321036688080555.post-21978039539454419462008-07-14T02:46:00.000-07:002008-07-14T03:18:07.832-07:00<h1 style="font-weight: bold;" class="firstHeading"><span style="font-size:130%;">The Aleph (short story)</span></h1> <span style="font-size:85%;">"The Aleph" is a short story by the Argentinian writer and poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges" title="Jorge Luis Borges">Jorge Luis Borges</a>. It is one of the stories in the short story collection, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aleph_%28short_story_collection%29" title="The Aleph (short story collection)">The Aleph and Other Stories</a>, first published in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_in_literature" title="1949 in literature">1949</a>, and revised by the author in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_in_literature" title="1974 in literature">1974</a>.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="mw-headline"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Plot summary</span></span></span> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">In Borges's story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping or confusion. The story continues the theme of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>infiniti found in several of Borges's other works, such as <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Sand" title="The Book of Sand">The Book of Sand</a></i>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">As in many of Borges's short stories, the protagonist<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> is a fictionalized version of the author. At the beginning of the story, he is mourning the recent death of a woman whom he loved, named Beatriz Viterbo, and resolves to stop by the house of her family to pay his respects. Over time, he comes to know her first cousin, Carlos Argentino Daneri, a mediocre poet<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> with a vastly exaggerated view of his own talent who has made it his lifelong quest to write an epic poem that describes every single location on the planet in excruciatingly fine detail.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Later in the story, a business on the same street attempts to tear down Daneri's house in the course of its expansion. Daneri becomes enraged, explaining to Borges that he must keep the house in order to finish his poem, because the cellar contains an Aleph which he is using to write it. Though by now he believes Daneri to be quite insane, Borges proposes without waiting for an answer to come to the house and see the Aleph for himself.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Left alone in the darkness of the cellar, Borges begins to fear that Daneri is conspiring to kill him, and then he sees the Aleph for himself.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Though staggered by the experience of seeing the Aleph, Borges pretends to have seen nothing in order to get revenge on Daneri, whom he hates, by giving him reason to doubt his own sanity.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">In a postscript to the story, Borges explains that Daneri's house was ultimately demolished, but that Daneri himself won second place in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine" class="mw-redirect" title="Argentine">Argentine</a> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premio_Nacional_de_Literatura" title="Premio Nacional de Literatura">National Prize for Literature</a></span><span style="font-size:85%;">. He also states his belief that the Aleph in Daneri's house was not the only one that exists, based on a report he has discovered by a British consul describing the Amr Mosque in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo" title="Cairo">Cairo</a>, within which there is said to be a stone pillar that contains the entire universe; although this Aleph cannot be seen, it is said that those who put their ear to the pillar can hear it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Notes</span></span></span></p><p><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_%28Hebrew%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Aleph (Hebrew)">Aleph</a></i> or <i>Alef</i>, א, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the number 1 in Hebrew. Its esoteric meaning in Judaic Kabbalah <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah" title="Kabbalah"></a>, as denoted in the theological treaty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sefer-ha-Bahir&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Sefer-ha-Bahir (page does not exist)">Sefer-ha-Bahir</a>, relates to the origin of the universe, the "primordial one that contains all numbers".<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></p><p>(all information from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Wikipedia</a>,the free encyclopedia)</p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Link:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.phinnweb.org/links/literature/borges/aleph.html"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">http://www.phinnweb.org/links/literature/borges/aleph.html</span></span></a><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0