The Null Device

Adam Casey (of Seascapes of the Interior fame) just pointed me to this: The Secret Books, which appears to be a photographic art/coffee-table book inspired by Jorge Luis Borges. Some very nice photographs there; reminiscent of Dave McKean's found-object collages, or perhaps Joseph Cornell's boxes.

¶ art dave mckean jorge luis borges joseph cornell photography 1

I just found out that, at the time of his death, one of the projects Edward Gorey had lined up was the illustrations to a new edition of Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. It's a real pity he never got to do it. (via MeFi)

¶ art edward gorey jorge luis borges literature 6

Life imitates Borges: A professor in Japan plans to create a database of every human idea. Darryl Macer from the University of Tsukuba believes that the number of possible human ideas is finite and enumerable. The database is intended to shed light on cross-cultural differences and to be used to help come up with international agreements acceptable to all parties.

¶ ideas jorge luis borges ontology philosophy 0

Hey Mr. Taliban: A piece in the Hindustan Times claims that Mullah Omar, the chief of the Taliban, suffers from brain seizures, locking himself away for days at a time, with the official line being that he is having visions. He is also said to suffer from bouts of depression alternating with childlike behaviour. Then again, there's a good precedent for that kind of thing among Holy Men; St. Paul, the founder of the Christian church, apparently suffered from similar seizures, and doesn't the Bible tell believers to be like a child? (Not to mention the Borges story in which a madman is used as a judge in a religious court, on the grounds that the insane are in touch with the Godhead.) (via Follow Me Here)

¶ afghanistan epilepsy jorge luis borges neurology neurotheology religion religiots taliban terrorism 0

Slightly tongue-in-cheek Salon article proves that Borges wrote about the Web:

What are the "infinite stories, infinitely branching" of his character Herbert Quain's book "April March," if not hypertext? What is the purpose of Ireneo Funes, the paralyzed young man unable to forget any aspect of anything he has ever seen, if he is not to represent search engines burdened with memories of long-inactive links? What is Tlön, the virtual world in "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" that gradually overtakes the real one, if not the cyberspace for which the physical world is rapidly becoming a quaintly antiquated sketch?

¶ cyberculture hypertext jorge luis borges satire web 0

An interesting review of a new compilation of Jorge Luis Borges' non-fictions. (Washington Post, via Robot Wisdom)

¶ jorge luis borges literature review 0