A Certain Melancholy Vanity: Sir Thomas Browne in Borges’s “El Aleph”

Pablo Maurette

From his youth until the end of his life, Jorge Luis Borges cultivated with Sir Thomas Browne a unique form of friendship that one could label me- tempsychotic. Unlike those English friendships that first do away with in- timacy and eventually with dialogue, such as that held by Herbert Ashe and the narrator’s father in “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” Borges never ceased to converse with Browne. Impervious to the constrictions of time and space (for Borges, friendship is a bond stronger than romantic love precisely because it can dispense both with frequency and with physi- cal presence), the kinship that the Argentine writer established with the seventeenth-century English physician was based on intellectual and tem- peramental affinities, something one can appreciate in their shared wit, an exquisite sense of style, and a common love for extravagant notions. Browne, a man who in Coleridge’s words had “a little twist in the brains,” was responsible for many ingenious conceits. He speculated, for example, that just like for some ancient pagans there was a transmigration of souls, there is also a transmigration of ideas. Borges was particularly fond of this

Variaciones Borges 51 » 2021 Pablo Maurette 60 “Fragmento sobre Joyce,” publishedin 4 1643” included in in 1643” included 1 3 2 Wednesday, September 26th1956, thatBorges “está porescribirun cuentito sobre Sir Thomas Browne” (Woodall 68). Sotoo, borrowing anexpression from cian was called as an expert in witness a trial against two in women accused of witchcraft Urn Burial The themewas byanepisode inspired outof Browne’s biography. In1664, thephysi Thomas Browne (203). quemadebrujas” yla Sadly, theideadidnotcome tofruition. can appreciate thediligent attempts pupil’s toimitate themaster. Baroque, would claim that in his youth “he played hisyouthwould thatin “he claim thesedulous ape toSirThomas even, thatmanyyears tothepoint later, toying withthetrope of trans of theendof “Tlön” andof thenarrator’s project totranslate Browne’s Robert LouisStevenson (who was alsoafervent Browne admirer), he he was Spain. living in That first impression was powerful, overwhelming abstruse and attimes—toborrowabstruse a compliment thatBorges would later as well asBorges’s only prose text entirely dedicated to him. Browne” 131). (Irwin at thestake (Barbour365ff.). For more on Borges’s taste for biographical writing, see music had never been surpassed any language in (Rodríguez Monegal 147). See also more on thissee Stephens. likelypiece thefirst ever writtenin Spanishaboutthephysician andwriter, sal es la historiadeunascuantassal esla metáforas” ( 89), theyoung writer’s prose this earlycollection in of essays reminds one journal reincarnate. to propose that he saw himself as a fitting vessel for Browne’s ideas to from thecomplete works. not intendtopublish. migration, heconfessed beSir thatasayoung manhedidhisbest“to notion. In“Laesfera dePascal,” herephrases it: “Quizá historiauniver la in thevillagein of BurySt. Edmonds. The women were ultimately found guilty andburned Fontana. pay toascene Dante’s in Interestingly, Borges never allowed The interest metempsychosis in isone of manyshared byBorges andBrowne. For The only othertext Borges dedicated entirely toBrowne isthepoem“Religio Medici, Borges elevated Borges first came across the work of Brownein 1919, or1920, while Proa into Quevedo’s into Spanish—atranslation, headds, thathedoes 1 (2.7)andlater thatyear thecollection in

El oro delos tigres Urn Burial 2 4 His1925essay on Browne,in the publishedfirst Infact, Borges thatearlyessay in includes passages tothestatus of Purgatorio (1972). Bioy Casares reports adiaryentryfrom in Sur Inquisiciones , 1941( in —“de unacomplicada ( fealdad” Hamlet Borges enSur tobereprinted andexcluded it, andargued thatthequalityof its OC 636). Itisnotoutlandish Inquisiciones 169). 3 In it, one , ismost NED - - -

“literary” isone of Browne’s manycoinages. Borges’s enthusiastic butnot “Quevedo andSaavedra Fajardo their own stood in stiff, arid, Spanishway (seventeenth-century French physician Guy Patin) hadpreviously used to 5 guage, English sothislatinate allows himtoreach wideraudiences the in Greek, Latin, andnewly coined terms, was actually thereflection of anef Continent andengage dialogue in withhispeers withalexicon thatpre cía, Blanco (38), andJohnson (175). For theJavier Marías fiasco of the fake attribution doing my best to write Latin in Spanish” mybesttowritein doing Latin ( Spanish. century, (and, Latin to alesser degree, Greek) was still theeducated lan catalogue for collection. animaginary Interestingly, theEnglish adjective vented misunderstandings. The young Borges took note of this lesson in exercise. On occasion, hewrote poetry ( hiscareer: manyyearses claimed in later thathewas atthispoint doing ography. A“literato” isamanwho 6 has shown his examination in of Borges’s engagement enduring with ele a “mystic”—a word that, asfar asIknow, only one otherreader of Browne see Marías, Rosenstein (301-302), andGarcía. and 5 of more on theconnections between “Tlön” andthe style, famously obscuresyntax with its labyrinthine and its abundance of Hurley (75). fort toachieve perspicuity. We themid-17th thatin mind shouldbearin for that less sharpreading of Browne thephysician alsoleadshimtolabel for the same kind asSirThomas of writing Browne in from treatise, theletter andthediary, thecommonplace book andthespiritual the importance of asheelaborated clarity hisown style. As Andrew Hurley refer tohim. Finally, andmore importantly, Borges argues thatBrowne’s is more thansimplyamanof letters, oramaster stylist, ashewas com number of unclassifiable thathaveworks elements of theessay andthe monly perceived England after in thepublication of Samuel Johnson’s bi poems), hewas quite fond of listsandenumerations, andhepenneda brilliant insights. First, Borges understands Browne asa“literato,”which Rosenstein compares some of these fragments with the translation of chapters 4 For more on Borges’s Spanishanditsbaroque latinate origins see Blanco (45)and In spite of itsrhetorical extravagance, “SirThomas Browne” contains Urn Burial Urn Burial 5 The andconvoluted latinate stylereflects precisely what Borg that Borges and Bioy Casares published in and Religio Medici translated aGoldenAge into redolent makes Religio Medici literature. Browne wrote asmall Sur The Aleph translation see Weed (38-42), Gar 160). includes a few includes of his Sur Urne Buriall (111), 1944. in For 6

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Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 61 Pablo Maurette 62 Whereas oftentimes heisreferenced andcited, justasoften heisnot; his graph graph 9 7 cal, construction of “the aliterary work withpurely, oralmostpurely, literary elements” (Christ 159). I would like todraw attention tolesser known Borges momentsin that die loviodesembarcar enla Tertius” remains thatbyKaplan, who argues thatthestoryitself istheactual translation vain, logic andmisleading thatoverlooks thefact thateverything isper whelmingly onof theone “Tlön, atthe ending Uqbar, OrbisTertius”), who studiedBorges’s engagement withSirThomas Browne have almost evoke Browne. example), andnever lostthattaste for “Baroque shocks” which he had acquired from Browne andQuevedo (Hurley 78-79). history hasdriven certain, usually powerful, mentohave funerary monu and Álvarez, lectura de Browne “la fue tan profundamente por asimilada son argues thattranslation for Borges istheultimate form of Borges que formaba parte de su repertorio (71). personal” While critics Caballero (64-82). literary imagination, duration.” fallacy in First “the expressed byBrowne unpublished. For more on theearlyreception of Borges theAnglo-Saxon in world, see travagances showingupwithoutattribution, appropriated byBorges and the English physician makes periodic appearances Borges’s in work. the argentine writer continued touse these etymologized adjectives (“Na rests upon what Browne calls duration” the“fallacy in (308), a self-serving, ishable and that nothing is eternalishable and that nothing but eternity itself; Browne’s in words, in invariably centered theirattention on these explicit references (andover incorporated hisown into literary imagination. referenced bythenarrator. upon thisnotion Building of translation asrewriting, John ments built for them in the hopes of persisting afterments builtfor thehopesof persisting death. themin This delusion notions andconceits, his elaborate syntax, andhistaste for all kinds of ex ments from theBaroque styleof hisearlywritings, throughout hiscareer lished in English,lished in after ahandful of doctoral dissertations from the1960sthatremain 8 Urn Burial The mostbrilliant reading of Browne’s role of “Tlön, attheending Uqbar, Orbis Ronald Christ examined this habit of adjectives etymologizing his 1968 mono in Christ argues thatthemostvaluable lesson Borges learnsfrom Browne ismethodi Let us begin withanideathatplaysLet usbegin akey role theArgentine in writer’s Even thoughhenever againdedicated awhole prose piece toBrowne, The Narrow Act (1658), thisnotion describesthevanity thatthroughout (35). This isthefirst full-length analysis of Borges’s work pub unánime noche”isperhaps themostfamous 8 Inthewords of Rosato imitatio 7

(175). 9 ------

“pyramids [are] of pillars snow, andall that’spastamoment”(309). In“La 10 Burial del estilo se ahueca en otra más patética vanidad, perfección”; de la la in edly swears tokeep hermemoryalive againstthe overwhelming forces of him. The allusion here isnotto a staunch agnostic, duration thefallacy in collides againstthehope(and stylistic perfection (249). Urn Burial adversaries accused himof; a cold, cerebral andlifeless obsession withstylistic perfec ter toaFriend lies, Borges adds, the“falacia enperduración (SirThomas Browne: to guaranteeument destined the writer’s immortality ( some of hiscontemporaries—one for which heultimately blames funda stitious ethics of thereader, Borges meansadogmatic thesupe beliefin supersticiosa ética dellector,”anessaylaterin 1930and firstpublished tion is nothing but afatuous fixation.tion isnothing Andhe goes on, “[e]sta vanidad that theimportance andendurance of awork like traits thatthey consider of tobemarks quality. riority of form (orstyle)over content. Andhedenounces atrend among tion of it that he sees as prevalent among writers andcritics. By the super time. Borges Inthefirstline reaches outtoBrowne withoutmentioning tember of 1945. Ayoung woman diesandamanwho loved herunrequit tion, complete andutter oblivion. the fear) thatdeathbetheinstance of total dissolution, absolute annihila included in in included tion (154). Berveiller, turn, in outaneven points bigger irony: Borges, who considered mortality brought upon byresurrection upon Judgement Day, for Borges, mundane vanities form a spiritual is Christian faith of and the belief in im mentalists of stylelike Flaubert who read looking for particular stylistic particular, thenotion thata“perfect” work of literature constitutes amon ple, whose prose is excessive and unpolished, proves that stylistic perfec begins, This ideainforms theplotof “ElAleph,”in firstpublished Piglia outtheirony points of this denunciation since itis precisely what Borges’s La candente mañanadefebrero enqueBeatrizViterbo murió, despuésde una imperiosaagonía quenose rebajó unsoloinstante nialsentimenta ).” Whereas for Browne, Anglican, apious theantidote againstsuch tobestylistically perfect, uses ideasfrom ittodenounce the obsession with Discusión , publishedposthumouslybyBrowne’s 1690. son in Borges (1932), Borges takes up this idea to condemn a varia Urn Burial buttoalesser known text, 10 Borges argues instead Don Quixote OC 203). Herein Sur , for exam in Sep in A Let Urn ------

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 63 Pablo Maurette 64 (Huntley). Loveday was ayoung man, awriter andtranslator, who diedof To thenarrator, thenew billboards Plaza in Constitución stark bring gering thepresent absorption in mystery creeping upon theworld before confirmation thattimeisalready moving on andwill continue todoso ways which in cultures throughout historyhave handledthebodiesand with Borges’s “incesante yvasto universo” thatslowly recedes away from on thememorialsof thepast”(508). This isasensible suggestion, not and thevanity thatimpelsmentobuildmonuments tothemselves in ally ametaphysical turninto meditation on death, eternity, theafterlife, a strange text thatdefies comparison andeludes generic distinctions. It and 1658. away. The notion of aprogressive advance towards itresonates strongly Beatriz Viterbo. least because bothtexts were written around thesame time, between 1656 understood asacommunity formed byall thathave thethings passed largely addethuntothatdarksociety”(391). This “dark society”isdeath live well andon how toface theinevitability of andmoral deathwithpiety sibly amannamed Robert Loveday who was alsoadearfriendtoPettus tho’ heleftthisworld notvery manydays past, yet every houryou know to agrieving friendthatendswithaseries of pieces of advice on how to tuberculosis 1656. in Browne’s letter isawise andcompassionate appeal to hisfriendSirJohn Pettus thedeathof one of hispatients, very pos relentlessly, sinking thebeloved more andmore theabyss into of the the very eyes of thewatcher like anall-obliterating shadow outof theinfi in a field in Old afield in Walsingham, not far from Norwich, butitimmediately integrity. As hebreaks theunfortunate news toPettus, Browne writes: “for nite, may be regarded as a complement to the preserved thememoryof thedeparted. Like all of Browne’s works, itis forgetfulness.past andinto In becomes an eruditesurvey of funerary practices across historytoeventu asanarcheologicalbegins examination of agroup of funerary urnsfound Paul ElmerMore hassuggested that que ese cambio era elprimero deunaserie infinita. ( habían renovado nosé quéaviso decigarrillos rubios; elhechomedolió lismo nialmiedo, noté carteleras quelas defierrola de Plaza Constitución pues comprendí queelincesante yvasto universo ya se apartaba deella y Urn Burial centers on theaftermath of deathandon thedifferent A Letter toaFriend A Letter toaFriend Urn Burial , Browne communicates OC withitsrhapsody 617) , itslin “with - - - - 11 greatness of one’s own thatderives spirit affectation in of grandeur (OED). Itisworth glory, andwildenormitiesof ancientmagnanimity”(314). cólica vanidad violence thanthatwithwhich theprocess of corruption treats the corpse— erary imagination […] there strictly immortal isnothing butimmortality” (312). And, later on, headds: “Pyramids, arches, were obelisks buttheirregularities of vain- all are todisappear fact things destined in andBrowne’s (andBorges’s) an extemporaneous position; determinedtopreserve thememoryof Bea ancholy andvanity, thenarrator embodiesatonce themisguided hopeto butafewand memorieslast generations atbest. That earlyawareness of after all, fossils bones turninto andendure for millennia, whereas names Browne’s conclusion iscategorical: “Invain doindividuals hopefor im unlikeliest corner of theuniverse thatcontains andpreserves everything simultaneously two in different spheres of reality. Appropriately, theco fantasy of theAleph isprecisely that,in the hidden aninfinitesimalpoint durationfallacy in isafair critiqueof anyattempts toprevent that, thelit time going by relentlessly uponthe new noticing billboards isfollowed time isboundtohandlethememoryof thedeceased withmuchmore tempts tofightagainsttheimplacable forces of oblivion. Heknows that rememberedthe hopesof being and (so they hope)becoming immortal. that hisproject isinvariably doomed since, asGeorge Harrison para sings triz from forgetfulness like a in duration.in Borges’s narrator stands acontradictory, thusin orrather in its own superfluity: “ nundrum findsastrictlynundrum literary solution. Whereasin thenatural world must pass.” mortality, oranypatent from oblivion, preservation in below themoon phrasing Timothy Leary’spsychedelic gloss of the perpetuate the memory of the dead pointing outthat“magnánimo” isone ofpointing theexamples provided byHurley of Borges’s by aromantic outburstimmediately mitigated bytheacknowledgment of baroque habit of adjectives etymologizing (74-75). The narrator’s enterprise isquixotic thestrictest in sense; itunfolds In “ElAleph,” thenarrator understands earlyon thefutility of anyat “Magnanimity” here means notsomuchgenerosity, butnobilityandaperceived ” ( OC is abletocreate worlds where ever nothing passes. The 617). Inrealizing thatthethoughtisfueled bymel Cambiará eluniverso pero yo no, pensé con melan porteño Dante, while atthesame timeaware and an understanding of the fallacy Tao Te Ching 11

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Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 65 Pablo Maurette 66 “incesante yvasto universo” might move away from herwithevery pass Aleph” adoptstheattitude of theantiquarian. Andwhile Michael Drayton Against thisattempt tocontain thewhole universe, thenarrator “El in Aleph and his project, as he boastfully announces to the narrator, consists 12 quently in 1622 in an extended 1622 in quently in version), a maniacal portrait of England where atree once stood, abreast tumor. BeatrizViterbo lives anob on in world ispreserved asarandom collection of fragments. London isabro with Michael Drayton’s of cartography amap large byimagining asthe territory thatitrepresents. hay. Eselolvido.” an attempt tocontain thecountry abook thatmakes in of one “Del think as the Aleph is, the hopelessly in abbreviated description that accounts for her mortaland in remains, reliquia “una atroz.” As complete and universal Querétaro,a sunset in anemptybedroom BuenosAires, in acircle of dirt after byvainglorious men. Init(or, rather, thedescription in of it), the serves astheexplicit modelfor Carlos Argentino Daneri, Thomas Browne scene letter thatsheonce wrote tohercousin, Carlos Argentino Daneri, some two of “Everness,” decades thefirstline later in “Solouna cosa no that Borges, borrowing from Thomas deQuincey, will capture beautifully that is. We see thenthatthecontradiction of thenarrator’s emotional state rigor ciencia” en la (1946), where Borges presents a rator’s description thuspresents analternative toCarlos Argentino Da in itstopography,in geography, hydrography, history, andmore—basically, acompletein description of theplanet. The narrator compares “LaTierra” an impossiblein poemtitled“LaTierra.” Danerihasregular access tothe it, itbecomes more something akin of toacabinet curiosities. The nar untothedarksociety, hour adding ing butshewill always that remain in is resolved the climacticthe beginning in in epiphany of the Aleph. The neri’s naïveneri’s andpretentious attempt togive afull account of theAleph mysterious vortex of totality. The extemporaneous vantage of the point immortality Borges’s in “Funes DeQuincey’s elmemorioso” and in (212-13). writings ken (postWorld labyrinth War II? After theGreat Fire of 1666?). There is provides asilentprototype for thenarrator who, aware asheisof thelimi beginning of thestorythusprefiguresbeginning a itsclimaxintimating realization Although theAleph guarantees permanence, itisnotthekind sought Christ points outtheconnectionChrist points between thenotion of forgetting asanantidote to 12 Poly-Olbion (first published in 1612, (firstpublished andsubse reductio adabsurdum ------

14 13 Musæum Clausum, orBibliotheca Abscondita (Browne mistakenly took themtobeRoman), thehistorical survey that collector’s attitude. Faced withthe nightmarish perspective of ahomogenous future His house in Norwich,His house in according to John Evelyn who visited1671, himin opinion, more exemplary andpraiseworthy) seventeenth-century texts undergo. Fish’s of thetools tooversee theprocess of self-consumption Fish’s thatsomanyother(in was a“cabinet of rarities” (Barbour396); andamong the ensues leadsBrowne tothefallacy of duration andtotheassertion that exquisitely curated enumeration. analítico deJohn Wilkins,” Pierre Menard’s bibliography, thecast of past istheliteraryating equivalent of collecting. Borges too was immensely the Civilheads during War. His most remarkable collection is, however, als andcoins, andeven acatalogue themanyrelics thatincludes and a collection published posthumously, there are fragments on mummies, antiquities, relics, andothermemorialstothedeadare futile andvain. In shortsighted andmalicious reading resulted over in two decades of critical neglect of lives from are “El inmortal” only thebest-known examples, butthere are spite of this, Browne’s antiquariansensibility impregnates all of hisworks. suming. Browne’s work. Browne astheepitome of thecontrolling writer who prevents thereader from engaging with no linguistic variety, the narrator undertakes a flight to thepast and to a world of with thetext productive in andtransformative manners. Browne, for Fish, bad is“the fond of enumerations—the “Elidioma emperor’s inventory Chinese in treasures of Norwich cathedral, ransacked and destroyed bythe Round tations of language, behaves as a collector of wonders and offers a brief but instructions on howinstructions todissect andembalmanimals, discussions on med ism, butitisalsoatext thatmutates sostrangely thatendsupself-con moral enterprise grounded acceptance the humbling in of the inevitabil many more, thedescription of theAleph. including museum-cum-library. As a“literato,”Browne understood thatenumer infinite variety—the past of theantiquarianand collector of rarities; the world of Francisco deQuevedo and SirThomas Browne. physician” who infantilizes thereader anddeniesthemanyagency bydepriving them Urn Burial For Browne, asfor thenarrator, collecting isatonce anaesthetic and The of “Tlön, ending Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” can also be read as a vindication of the Ironically, thevery in influential 13 While theshorttreatise asastudyof Anglo-Saxon begins urns might beBrowne’s best-known exercise antiquarian in Self-Consuming Artifacts , thecatalogue of anon-existent 14

, Stanley Fish portrays Miscellany Tracts ------,

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 67 Pablo Maurette 68 al Quintilian, BenoîtdeCourt, andGiambattista della Porta) focused merely do catch will beinvariably fragmentary. cuncial window allows ustosee through itwhile itsnet-patterned frame cities, armies, adizzying array of living organisms, planets, etcetera; then, a worlds. Like with windows ( exhaustivity. Collections are always fragmentary andagood collector is elation of theunfathomable abyss thatliesbeyond. Andso, thequincunx egorizing, andcompartmentalizing, while through thewarp theholesin of looms thequincunx thenever-ending ocean of theunknown. The epis on gardening, for Browne thepattern transcends thesphere of planta and records its pervasiveness across the natural, artificial, andspiritual authors who discussed (among thequincunx them, Browne cites Virgil, les porque la naturalezales porquela eselarte deDios,”Borges summarizes quoting some scraps of understanding andaware of the fact thatall knowledge we from fully cognizant of theirown limitations. This awareness, consonant with tions; itsubiquity, fact, in provides concrete evidence of theconnection (Brownethe quincunx alsocalls it“rhombus,”“lozenge,” and“texture”) tive paradigm suggested Browne’s in the denunciation of vanities duration, suchasthefallacy in alsocomes temology of conflates thequincunx ourquest for knowledge withthe rev is thenetthatwe cast on theuniverse tocatch simultaneously hoping is. Amidsttheformidable variety of examples, Browne lattice includes playinto what in Iwill epistemology call “the of acogni thequincunx,” ity of ultimate loss but, more importantly, impermeabletotheillusion of marks thelimitsofmarks ourperception. As such, itsuggests away of conceiving nature of Christ, atonce visibleandinvisible, fleshandspirit. The quin meditation on thevery design thatinforms divine creation. Whereas other knowledge. The represent lines themethodof knowing bydividing, cat planting treesplanting and bushes forming a rhomboidal shape. And like phenomenon; this case, in a particular gardening technique that calls for between human, natural, anddivine design. “Todas cosas las son artificia , itsoon becomes else. something First, asurvey of The network pattern of isthe fabric the quincunx of everything that Urn Burial Religio Medici fenestræ reticulatæ Urn Burial , The Garden Cyrus of in “Del culto aloslibros” in (1951)( , thetext with an analysis begins of aconcrete ) in which) in hesees asymbolof thedouble introduces thegeometric pattern of The GardenCyrus of OC quincuncial 716). . Published along artifacts, Urn Buri ------“Sumas” thatwas due tobepublishedbyEmecé. Unfortunately, theproject never saw the Auguste Dupin, thestorycalls attention toPoe’s work pioneering “The 16 1944 and1947Borges andBioy Casares spentlong and—according toBioy—very happy 15 (307). This Lönnrot’s notion bespeaks motto: reality hasnoobligation Murders theRue in Morgue” (1841), which openswithanepigraph from vendetta Urn Burial It features theyellow in lozenges of awindowatEmmaZunz’s child drunken harlequins in yellow,drunken in harlequins red, andgreen lozenge-pattern outfits, ciously, andnotjust women, althoughpuzzling questions, are notbeyond all conjecture” emotional reminder of thepressing need tomove forward withthe of thehouse atTriste-le-Roy draws amapErikLönnrot leading tohis of moderndetective fiction. The quotations reads, “What song theSy and, finally, the(also yellow, red, and green) lozenges on thewindow her virginity, thusconnecting thetwo spaces, herasan in andacting hood home, Lanús, in thelobbyof theapartment andin where sheloses y la brújula” withBrowne. brújula” y la Bycomparing Lönnrot withthe la brújula.” The brújula.” la connection between thered andyellow rhombuses on fake victim), which makes that RedScharlach thefifthpoint completes tragic fate. Lönnrot isthefourth victim (Iam, of course, the including the front store of thepaint where thesecond crimeiscommitted, the makesthe quincunx key appearances someof his best-known in texts. tually himinternational recognition, win hewas reading Browne vora tures are drawn lines tomake sense of thehorror of murder. In turn, the to beinteresting; hypotheses, on theotherhand, do. Adetective’s conjec rens sang, orwhat name Achilles assumed when hehidhimself among the quincunx. ful take on thesignificance of therhomboidalpatternin thestory see (8-14). DeIpola morass of humanpassions thisstory, (in like “EmmaZunz,”thekiller in hours editing andannotating avolumehours editing of selected works by Browne for acollection of light of day. For more on thissee Balderston (174). brújula” and brújula” In theearly1940s, when Borges wrote thestoriesthatwould even But there isamuchsubtlerandsignificant allusion linking “Lamuerte The first one who noticed this and drew a connection between “La muertela y Apart from thefragmentary translation of . More notably, thepattern plays role “Lamuerte acrucial in y . this, Indoing Borges recognizes Browne asthepatron saint The GardenCyrus of 16

Urn Burial was Christ(130and142, note 34). For anotherinsight asthisessay hasargued. Urn Burial , 1944, publishedin between 15 The figure of Ur -detective ------

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 69 Pablo Maurette 70 “infinite greatness“infinite of place” that functions asspatial correlate tothenotion Aleph andthesuccessive nature of language, resonates strongly withthe 17 Hobbes (incidentally, anotherseventeenth-century English writer), we ( In the second epigraph that introduces the story, a quotation by Thomas of of of understanding coexist harmoniously withtheacceptance of agreat of deathwhen heswears tokeep BeatrizViterbo’s memoryalive while ac and thelimited andsuccessive nature of language, collide an resulting in as hisnemesis, Carlos Argentino Daneri—alsoawriter—cannot helpbut a materialist manyof whose have writings apungent smell of atheism, have thetheoretical distillation of theAleph prefigured asan account—an enumeration—that isineluctably fragmentary. Inthenarra unfathomable mystery. This ambivalent certainty alsoinforms themain lies beyond. sibility. The epigraph therefore functions asadisclaimer, awarning to tor’s words,tor’s “ElAleph.”theme in The totality andsimultaneity of thenarrator’s vision the quincunx, theneed for order andthedrive towards theadvancement try. The acceptance of thecontradiction between thesimultaneity of the the reader thatnoone can understand eternity justlike nobodywould is motivated byathirstfor revenge) stands for thebackground chaosthat the narrator muchedumbres among hesees deAmérica” includes themanythings “las mentions these concepts order in toassert incomprehen theirintrinsic in whichin Browne evokes America” in waking the“huntsmen uptostart theirday ashe knowledging the melancholy vanityknowledging the melancholy of his oath. In the epistemology of prepares toputthependown andgo tosleep (387). be able to comprehend an Aleph. And yet the narrator—a writer—as well OC nunc-stans 625). This attheendof hints The narrator of “ElAleph” alsoevinces understanding aquincuncial There is amuchmore explicit allusion to vieron misojosfue simultáneo: loquetranscribiré, sucesivo, porqueel deleitables oatroces; ninguno measombró como elhechodequetodos conjunto infinito.instante Enese gigantesco, hevistomillones de actos el problema central esirresoluble: enumeración, la siquiera parcial, deun ocuparan el mismo punto, transparencia. superposición ysin sin Loque lenguaje loes. Algo, embargo, sin recogeré. ( 17 by means of which eternity. Scholastics explained Hobbes,

The Garden Cyrus of The GardenCyrus of andtheextemporaneous vision OC 625) in “ElAleph” in when hic-stans , an - - - 18 dressee’s attention amostpeculiar phenomenon hewitnessed thedyingyoung during (136). Butthere isalsotheidea, which Borges “Laescritura picks upin deldios,” thatthe Urn Burial crete (funerary topic/object urns, a plantation technique) of which they chapters each (ie. quincuncially), they bothtake asdeparture acon point where Browne attention brings tothegreat mystery of eternity andtothe with theinsight about the inexorably accumulative force of time, act as each otherbutare alsomirror images of one another. Divided five into all faces seem familiar; thenarrator hasseen themall. has seen every nook andcranny of theuniverse. Walking down thestreet, ashes,” tosay itwithDaniloKiš, who was too atransmigratory friendto are complementary, too. Whereas surface of thebodyisaparchment where Godwrites hismasterpiece, thenatural world. Browne andtoBorges (andDeQuincey, andW.G. Sebald, sion, thenarrator knows each andevery existence in thing single andhe siders life, verdancy, growth, design and the invisible of creation. “Garden, tion, theafterlife, andthefate of mortal remains, really), andeventually mutate metaphysical into meditations. Their topics the beloved vanity. butmelancholy asnothing the face of thatinexhaustibleandineffable vision thatistheAleph. This tary enumeration. Heprefaces hisselection withanexpression of awe in to describe what he saw, he realizes that he can only produce a fragmen tive. The epistemology of duration, and the fallacy the quincunx in along rivers andbecome one stream single of influence thatshapes thenarra is reminiscent of of both theending anillustration.include Earlyon they bothbecome surveys (enumerations, from terest physiognomy in andmarveled atthefact thatnotwo human faces are exactly alike them themotto of our Soules”(135). Andin never-ending enterprise thathumanknowledge entails. narrator’s acknowledgment initial of hisgoal topreserve thememoryof Newton deMolina outtheconnection (37)points between thatstoryand this passage building blocks forbuilding thestory. Towards thatend, when thenarrator tries As Imentioned earlier, In Borges’s story, however, total knowledge In “ElAleph,” Browne’s companion essays converge like underground Faces play akey role Browne’s in writings. The writer cultivated along-standing in Religio Medici . The two are companion treatises; they notonly complement : “[T]here are mystically ourfaces in certaine characters which carry in The Garden Cyrus of Urn Burial The GardenCyrus of A Letter To AFriend reflects upon death, corrup was publishedalongside The Garden Cyrus of is possible. After his vi , Browne calls tohisad 18 The realization and et al .). Urn Burial con ------

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 71 Pablo Maurette 72 19 We endwhere we began, Plaza Constitución, ageneric, gray, massive trans The apostscript where storyincludes thenarrator expresses hisdoubts of Teodelina Villar how “en losvelorios el progreso corrupción dela hace queelmuerto was demolishedandhewas deprived of anyfurther access totheAleph, even one vote. a fake. Ofcourse, hecannot besure of itbecause ultimately—and with sick andlanguishing alterations, we puton new visages: ourretreat andin toEarthmay and invisible in hishealthful visage in and invisible before: for wethrough asfrom run ourbeginning not hisproper Countenance butlooked like hisUncle, of whose thelines face lay deep man’s finalmoments,“that oddmortal symptom[…]notmention’d byHippocrates, Bioy Casares underthepseudonym H. Bustos Domecq(278). us” (392). This very idea appears when “El Zahir” the narrator in notices at the funeral variety of looks before we come toconsistent andsettled faces; sobefore ourend, by was the title of an anarchist essay written circa 1919, that Borges later burnt. As Aguilar we learnthatthework submitted bythenarrator was titled the narrator’s hated adversary published aselection of “trozos argenti tive twist. The postscript alsoinforms thereader that, afterhouse Daneri’s regarding theauthenticity of theAleph hesaw, aclassic Borges metanarra terrifies himand one of theatrociouscannot butthink plight of Funes, el these words thestory the narrator thensuggests thattheAlephhouse on in Garay street was in whichin thenarrator alsoparticipates, althoughhiswork doesnotreceive impossibly comprehensive account of earth, planet thisfragmentary piece features more thanonce hisdetective in fiction,in thestoriespennedwith including fall upon such looks which from community of originals seminal were before latent in recupere suscaras anteriores” ( that istolose hisown face andlook like someof hisnearRelations; for hemaintain’d nos,” fragments from hismanyviewings. Unlike hisprevious project, the memorioso. Intheend, oblivion comes totherescue like a passing space, the portation hub; anon-place thatfunctions asanantidote totheall-encom points out,points isalsoaword “tahúr” used todescribeErikLönnrot ( by Daneriiswell received andiseven awarded thesecond prize atacontest Borges’s typical self-deprecation acquires here a metanarrative dimension when sorprenderme, temí quenomeabandonara jamás impresión la devolver. olvido. ( En la calle,En la escaleras enlas deConstitución, enelsubterráneo, meparecie Felizmente, alcabo deunasnochesinsomnio, metrabajó otra vez el ron familiares caras. todaslas Temí quenoquedara cosa unasola capaz de OC 19 626) Ever theunderdog toDaneri, resentful anddisgruntled, hic-stans does finally end—“Nuestra mente esporosa para el OC of theAleph. However, thisisafake ending. 590). Los naipes del tahúr OC 499)andone that deus exmachina . This - - - - - . 20 The firsttwo lines referin the in style and contentreader both to 52). gues; knowledge isbuiltgradually aswe forget all of ourfalse notions and Burial clopedia of vulgar errors andsuperstitiousbeliefs, each one carefully as vanishing. way to new incarnations. It is actually the other way around, Browne ar erroneous beliefs. Therefore, oblivion, for Browne, is both the fate of all embodied soulsonce learnedandforgot after crossing theLetheon their one, takes and to the inevitability us back to the beginning of Beatriz’s olvido; yo mismoestoy falseando yperdiendo, bajo trágica la erosión de of SirThomas Browne isasclearitprofound. In one tofocus on theworld intelligently andtounderstand all itin itsfrag accept theineluctability of forgetfulness torealizing thatoblivion allows vein,a similar “ElAleph” describesthejourney of manfrom resisting to imaginarios Borges’s literary career isbookended bytwo texts which in theinfluence Borges knew this work well and used it as a source for los años, losrasgos deBeatriz” ( sessed bytheauthorandultimately erudition debunked. withdaunting that ever lived andthecondition of possibility for humanknowledge. In the fledgling poetwrites,the fledgling mentary andoverwhelming variety. notion according towhich thatourdis knowing isremembering things In 1646, Thomas Browne published See thechapters on theAmphisbaena, theBorametz, andtheBasilisk(13, 60, and Y serán otros asuvez tuinmortalidad tierra. enla

Gárrulas excepciones omnipotencia ala delolvido. Cuando túmismoeres continuación la realizada Cuando tieneasegurada la envidasajenas Ciegamente reclama duración elalmaarbitraria [...... ] De quienesnoalcanzaron tutiempo No arriesgue elmármoltemerario asthey warn duration. against thefallacy in Buttowards the end, (1967). 20 Intheintroduction, Browne disputes thePlatonic “Inscripción en cualquier sepulcro” OC 628). The actual ending, like thefake Pseudodoxia Epidemica Fervor deBuenosAires El libro delos seres , anency Urn - - - - - ,

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 73 Pablo Maurette 74 The address totheLord isformulaic. This istheprayer of asuperstitious death. Butlike thenarrator “ElAleph,” in Borges knew thatthistoo was a concludes. Inhisoldage, Borges hiswish wouldtimeandagain in insist expression of vanity. melancholy Nearing theendof hislife, theoldpoet hope projecting itsbright shadow thefuture. into The plight of having agnostic who stands between theburden of thepastandvanity of literature. says aprayer, famously say interviews when in asked reality abouttheimpending of from Browne’s. Neither asdisembodied soulsawaiting JudgmentDay, that dying would utter bring annihilation. “Estoy harto de Borges,” he’d the poet asserts his own idea of immortality, one that differs dramatically ruminate on thisfundamentalruminate dilemmaaswell aswords toturnitinto to persist. Inhislife-long friendship withBrowne, Borges found tools to impatient desire for hisname, written marbleoron thecover in of abook, nor on marbleandstone dowe live on, andthrough butin others, Borges been and the fear of continuing to be for all eternity alternates with the Apetito deser mármolyolvido;

El queya hesidoirreparablemente. Defiéndeme,la esperanza. de sino Defiéndeme de ser elque ya hesido, Defiéndeme, Señor, delimpaciente No roja espadaodela dela lanza “Religio Medici, 1643”( Florida State University OC 1103) Pablo Maurette De Ipola, Emilio. “El enigma delcuarto (Borges política).” filosofía yla Christ, Ronald. Caballero, María. Browne, SirThomas. Borges, Jorge Luis yAdolfo Bioy Casares. —. “SirThomas Browne.” —. —. —. —. Borges, Jorge Luis. “Autobiographical Essay.” Blanco, Mercedes. “Arqueologías deTlön: Borges yelUrnBurialde Bioy Casares, Adolfo. Berveiller, Michel. Barbour, Reid. Balderston, Daniel. “AProjected Stevenson Anthology (BuenosAires, Aguilar, Gonzalo. Works Cited Obras completas Nueve ensayosdantescos El libro delos seres imaginarios Borges en Punto deVista Books, 1995. Editorial Complutense, 1999. Classics, 1977. Aires: Emecé, 2002. Bantam Books, 1970. (1933-1969) Browne.” Destino, 2006. Sorbonne,de la 1973. 1968-70).” Aires: Santiago Arcos Editor, 2009. Sur Sir Thomas Browne: ALife The Narrow Act: Borges’ Allusion Artof Variaciones Borges . 1931-1980 Variaciones Borges El nacimientodeunclásico: Borges yla crítica . Ed. andtrans. Norman Thomas diGiovanni. New York: Episodios cosmopolitas enla cultura argentina Le cosmopolitisme deJorge Luis Borges . BuenosAires: Emecé, 1974. 9.33(1988): 8-14. Borges The Major Works . BuenosAires: Sudamericana, 2011. Inquisiciones . BuenosAires: Emecé, 1999. . Ed. DanielMartino. Barcelona: Ediciones . BuenosAires: Emecé, 1978. 15(2003): 19-46. 23(2007): 173-82. . Ed. C. A. Patrides. London: Penguin . BuenosAires, 1925: 33-41. . Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Museo: textosinéditos The AlephandOtherStories . New York: Lumen . Paris: Publications . Madrid: . Buenos . Buenos

Sir Thomas Browne in Borge’s “El Aleph” 75 Pablo Maurette 76 Fish, Stanley E. Rosato, Laura and GermánAlvarez. “Acerca deSirThomas de un ejemplar Rodríguez Monegal, Emir. Piglia, Ricardo. “Borges como crítico.” Newton deMolina, David. “ANote on SirThomas Browne andJorge Luis More, Paul Elmer. “SirThomas Browne.” Marías, Javier. “The Apocryphal Apocrypha/El apócrifo apócrifo.” Kaplan, Marina E. “‘Tlön, Uqbar, OrbisTertius’ yUrnBurial.” Johnson, Christopher. “Intertextuality andTranslation: Borges, Browne, Irwin, John. Hurley, Andrew. “The BuriedBaroque: AnArcheological Excavation of Huntley, Frank Livingstone. “The Occasion andDate of SirThomas García, Carlos. “Borges ySirThomas Browne: escolio.” Fontana, Patricio. “AMode OfTruth: Borges biografía yla entres La Biblioteca Browne perteneciente biblioteca ala personal deJorge Luis Borges.” 1983. Debolsillo, 2017. 149-69. Borges.” Barcelona: deRedonda, Reino 2002: 289-306. Hydriotaphia (Elenterramiento enurnas) In S Literature and Quevedo.” Story Borges’s ‘Classical’ Style.” Browne’s ALetter toaFriend.” htm https://cvc.cervantes.es/trujaman/anteriores/febrero_04/24022004. diaria detraducción episodios.” Century Literature ir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici (Lareligión deunmédico) y . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. The MysterytoaSolution: Poe, Borges, andtheAnalyticDetective The Antigonish Review 36.4(1984): 328-42. Self-Consuming Artifacts: The Seventeenth- Experience of Variaciones Borges 13(2013): 66-90. Translation andLiterature . LosAngeles: Uof California P, 1972. , Centro Virtual Cervantes, 24defebrero de2004: Borges porélmismo Variaciones Borges 47(2019): 3-24. 2.2(1971): 33-40. Modern Philology Crítica yficción The Nation . Ed. andtrans. Javier Marías. . Barcelona: EditorialLaia, 11.2(2002): 174-94. 22(2006): 61-83. 86(1908): 508. . BuenosAires: 48.3(1951): 157-71. El Trujamán: revista Comparative Woodall, James. Weed, Ethan. “Aspectos citación dela en‘Tlön, Uqbar, OrbisTertius’.” Stephens, Cynthia. “Borges, SirThomas Browne, andtheTheme of Rosenstein, Roy. “Browne, Borges, andBack: Phantasmagories of Variaciones Borges 268-79. Metempsychosis.” Reid BarbourandClaire Preston. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. 296-310. Imaginative Learning.” Borges: ALife 17(2004): 21-42. Forum for Modern Language Studies . New York: Basic Books, 1997. Sir Thomas Browne: The World Proposed 28.3(1992): . Eds.

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