# Borges

*The Urth list — 4 messages, 3 voices, 29 Apr 1998*

<https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/520>

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### Alice Turner
*29 Apr 1998, 19:53*

Pedro Jorge,

For fun, can you tell us where Ultan is quoting Borges?

Good news for Borges fans: In September Viking is putting out a huge omnibus
of Borges's shorter works which will includes FICCIONES, IMAGINARY BEINGS
and a slew of other stuff, much of which has hardly been seen in English.
Viking usually does a nice package, so this should be a must-have. With
luck, there will be a nice compact bio in the intro.

Derek,

I agree that Oliver Sacks is really more suited to the Latro books (but he
is certainly a fascinating read!). I'm going with Byzantium and Kafka for
Week Two and can hardly begin to think of Three! How many weeks will there
be? Akkk!

-alga-

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### Pedro Jorge Romero
*30 Apr 1998, 05:51 · follows Alice Turner*

> For fun, can you tell us where Ultan is quoting Borges?

I do not have my copy of Torturer (I have the sort of quotes underlined
in my copy) right here. In a couple of days I'll have it again (over the
weekend)

Pedro Jorge

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### Pedro Jorge Romero
*18 Jun 1998, 20:37 · follows Pedro Jorge Romero*

Sorry for the delay.

Alice Turner escribió:

> [Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]
> 
> Pedro Jorge,
> 
> For fun, can you tell us where Ultan is quoting Borges?

Ok, Here it goes:

At one point of TOOT Ulan tells about becoming blind and adds: "He who
had given all books into my keeping made me blind so that I should know
in whose keeping the keeper stand" (chapter VI).

That's very similar to a poem by Borges ("Poem of the Gifts", my own
translation of the title) where talking about God and commenting about
been made head of the National Library he writes: "...with great
irony/he gave me both the books and the darkness". I am not sure, but in
his "Autobiographical Essay" (in THE ALPHA AND OTHER STORIES) there seem
to be a similar sentence commenting on the irony of receiving 800,000
books and darkness.

So, to me it has always been pretty obvious that Master Ulan is really
Brogues.

A good biography of Brogues: James Wood's The Man in the Mirror of the
Book.

Best

Padre Gorge

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### Jim Jordan
*07 Sep 1998, 01:03 · follows Pedro Jorge Romero*

Along Borgesian lines, it is worth remembering that Borges was quite a fan
of Chesterton, and Wolfe cut his teeth on Chesterton, claiming (to me) to
have read everything of Chesterton's. 

Nutria (Jim Jordan)

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