O Imortal

by Jorge Luis Borges, Flavio Jose Cardozo (Tradução)

El inmortal es el título de un cuento escrito por el escritor argentino Jorge Luis Borges. Se publicó por primera vez en 1947, en la revista Anales de Buenos Aires, y dos años después apareció de nuevo en el volumen El aleph, de la editorial Losada. A través de múltiples referencias culturales, el relato reflexiona en torno a las paradojas de orden metafísico que tendrían que afrontar los hombres si algún día alcanzaran la inmortalidad.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Philosophy, Literature, Fantasy, Mythology

10 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones (transl. Fictions) and El Aleph (transl. The Aleph), published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams, labyrinths, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers and mythology. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magic realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.
Born in Buenos Aires, Borges later moved with his family to Switzerland in 1914, where he studied at the Collège de Genève. The family travelled widely in Europe, including Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library and professor of English Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He became completely blind by the age of 55. Scholars have suggested that his progressive blindness helped him to create innovative literary symbols through imagination. By the 1960s, his work was translated and published widely in the United States and Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages.
In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first Formentor Prize, which he shared with Samuel Beckett. In 1971, he won the Jerusalem Prize. His international reputation was consolidated in the 1960s, aided by the growing number of English translations, the Latin American Boom, and by the success of Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. He dedicated his final work, The Conspirators, to the city of Geneva, Switzerland. Writer and essayist J.M. Coetzee said of him: "He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish-American novelists."

Reviews

[AiK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Великий Борхес показал нам ценность смерти. Только конечность жизни придает ей ценность, заставляет людей торопиться оставить в этой жизни след, вырастить детей, посадить пресловутое дерево и построить дом. Смерть придает ценность отношениям. Смерть придает жизни смысл, ибо если индивид бессмертен, то ему не нужна ни еда, ни одежда, ничего
.
«Иудеи, христиане и мусульмане исповедуют бессмертие, но то, как они почитают свое первое, земное существование, доказывает, что верят они только в него, а все остальные, бесчисленные, предназначены лишь для того, чтобы награждать или наказывать за то, первое.»

Действительно, восхитительно тонко подмечено неверие в бессмертие любой из конфессий, поскольку практически все люди, за исключением безумных или приближенных к святости отшельников и аскетов, предпочитают на земле иметь те или иные блага земные, даже «рискуя» своими грехами заполучить вечные муки. Слово «рискуя» заложено в кавычки только из доказательства Борхеса, что люди верят только в первую, земную жизнь.

«Жизнь Бессмертного пуста; кроме человека, все живые существа бессмертны, ибо не знают о смерти; а чувствовать себя Бессмертным – божественно, ужасно, непостижимо уму.»

Бессмертие, на мой взгляд, лишь частично уподобляет Бессмертных божественному, поскольку у них отсутствует способность создания чуда, из ничего, пустоты создать материю.


«Никто никем не является. Единственный бессмертный – все человечество. Концепция мира, как системы строгих соответствий сделала бессмертных неподвластных жалости».

Но почему? Потому что если человек бессмертен, то его не лишить жизни, главной ценности. Не совсем понятно, почему вечные или даже кратковременные муки бессмертие превращает в ничто. Выходит из концепции бесконечности времени, что муки рано или поздно кончатся? Это для мук, у которых есть конец. А у вечных мук? Здесь возникает интересная мысль, что жизнь – сама по себе наслаждение, радость бытия, как говорится. Что же в концепции бессмертия вечные муки? Бессмертная жизнь?

Вместо еды наслаждением становится размышление. Почему? Потому что человек больше не может умереть от голода. Если размышлять таким образом, то бессмертный не может умереть ни от какой причины – ни болезни, ни несчастного случая, ни убийства, никакой причины.

Смерть (или память о смерти) наполняет людей возвышенными чувствами и делает жизнь ценной. Ощущая себя существами недолговечными, люди и ведут себя соответственно; каждое совершаемое деяние может оказаться последним; нет лица, чьи черты не сотрутся, подобно лицам, являющимся во сне. Все у смертных имеет ценность – невозвратимую и роковую. У Бессмертных же, напротив, всякий поступок (и всякая мысль) – лишь отголосок других, которые уже случались в затерявшемся далеке прошлого, или точное предвестие тех, что в будущем станут повторяться и повторяться до умопомрачения. Нет ничего, что бы не казалось отражением, блуждающим меж никогда не устающих зеркал. Ничто не случается однажды, ничто не ценно своей невозвратностью. Печаль, грусть, освященная обычаями скорбь не властны над Бессмертными.

То есть только смерть, конечность бытия делает человека человеком, делает его цивилизованным, чувствующим, любящим, но также делает его порочным из-за жажды благ. То есть наша цивилизация стала тем, что она себя из себя представляет только из-за осознания смерти.

«Чтобы стать смертным, нужно стать всем».

[Glenn Russell]

We have all experienced different dimensions in our life, to name just three: waking, deep sleep and dreaming. Yet when it comes to describing or imagining the afterlife, I’ve read very few accounts postulating how awareness could shift between various levels; rather, life (or lack of life) after death tends to be portrayed as an uninterrupted hum all at one frequency, the three major frequencies:

1) awareness within a specific form, like a light body ;

2) formless awareness, that is, our consciousness merging with undifferentiated oneness, an ocean of universal consciousness;

3) complete obliteration without a trace of conscious awareness.

Why is this? Why can’t we think in terms of alternating between various frequencies or modes of awareness, perhaps even with an occasional shift into oblivion? And these questions are compounded if we also think of our bodily existence on Planet Earth continuing forever, that is, if we, in effect, become part of the race of The Immortals. Welcome to the world created in this Borges tale.

FRAMEWORK
A narrator, a man we can envision as having much in common with Jorge Luis Borges, provides a verbatim transcription of a document a French princess purchased in an old London bookshop after a conversation she had with the grubby old bookdealer in various languages: French, English, Spanish, Portuguese.

Ah, that extraordinary document. As we learn, the princess walked out of the shop with Alexander Pope's rendering of Homer’s Iliad in six volumes and later found this rare document on The City of the Immortals squeezed in the pages.

Oh, yes, vintage Borges: the narrator isn’t claiming to invent the story; quite the contrary, he's sharing a story contained in a rare document.

NARRATOR OF THE IMMORTALS
The document’s narrator provides us with his backstory: he's an officer in the Roman army in Egypt, part of the Roman legions that have recently defeated Egyptian forces. However, since he himself didn’t participate in any of the bloody combat, he's inspired to embark on an adventure through the deserts in quest of the secret City of the Immortals.

Interesting to note: the narrator is an adventurous soldier, hale, hearty, a bold leader of men and lover of the god Mars. In many ways, he functions as the complete opposite, the alter ego, to the frail, bookish, solitary Borges.

THE SPARK
Here's how it all began: one day a stranger, exhausted, covered in blood, rides into the Roman camp and, prior to dropping dead that very evening, speaks of how he is searching for the river that purifies men of death. He goes on to say beyond the river lies the City of the Immortals, a city filled with bulwarks, amphitheaters and temples.

With the inclusion of amphitheaters as part of his description of the City of the Immortals, we are given a direct signal that what is contained within its walls shares a common culture with the Greco-Roman world.

Anyway, the stranger’s words fire the narrator's spirit and imagination - thus, primed for an astonishing discovery, off he goes with two hundred soldiers under his command, soldiers provided complements of a high-ranking military commander.

GOING SOLO
As the narrator informs us, the first part of the journey proves harrowing, grueling and strenuous beyond endurance - most of his men are either driven mad or die, while others, attempting desertion, face torture or crucifixion. Also in this initial phase, the seekers cross lands and deserts inhabited by fantastic tribes, including the Troglodytes who “devour serpents and lack all verbal commerce.”

Events reach such a pitch he's informed by a soldier loyal to his cause that the remaining men wish to avenge the crucifixion of one of their comrades and plan to kill him. The narrator subsequently flees camp with several soldiers but disaster hits: in the fury of blinding desert whirlwinds he quickly gets separated - from now on, he is on his own.

TURNING POINT
Our narrator wanders for days in the desert, forever scorched by the sun and parched by thirst until his living nightmare shifts and somehow he finds himself bound hands behind his back and lying in a stone niche the size of a grave on the slope of a mountain. There’s a stream running at the foot of this mountain and beyond the stream he beholds the dazzling structures of - miracle of miracles, the City of the Immortals.

Marcus Flaminius Rufus (yes, at this point the narrator lets us know his name) can also see numerous holes riddling the mountain and valley and from these holes emerge grey skinned naked men with scraggly beards, men he recognizes as belonging to the race of Troglodytes.

INITIAL EXPLORATION
After many days and having finally freed himself from his bonds, Marcus enters the City of the Immortals. Soon after he explores the periphery, we read, “The force of the day drove me to seek refuge in a cavern; toward the rear there was a pit, and out of the pit, out of the gloom below, rose a ladder. I descended the ladder and made my way through a chaos of squalid galleries to a vast, indistinct circular chamber. Nine doors opened into that cellar-like place; eight led to a maze that returned deceitfully, to the same chamber; the ninth led through another maze to a second circular chamber identical to the first.”

Anybody familiar with Jorge Luis Borges will recognized recurrent themes: mazes, caverns, ladders, doors, circular chambers.

FURTHER EXPLORATION
Having spent what appears an eternity underground, Marcus spots a series of metal rungs on a wall leading to a circle of sky. He climbs the ladder, sobbing with tears of joy, until he emerges into a type of small plaza within the brilliant City.

Marcus senses the city's antiquity and wanders along staircases and inlaid floors of a labyrinthine palace thinking how all what he sees is the work of the gods or, more accurately, gods who have died or, even, perhaps, since much of the architecture appears to lack any trace of practical purpose, gods who went mad.

“I had made my way through a dark maze, but it was the bright City of the Immortals that terrified and repelled me.” And this is only the beginning: as Marcus further discovers, there are revelations even more astonishing, including the shocking true identity of one of those Troglodytes.

UNIVERSAL QUESTIONS
The second half of the tale takes a decidedly philosophical turn and, in the spirit of this Borges classic, I will conclude with a series of question posed either directly or indirectly by the narrator:

• How does memory relate to immortality? Is the erasure of our memory the first step in achieving immortality?

• Likewise, how does time relate to immortality and is the erasure of time a critical step in experiencing immortality?

• If we were to experience a state free of memory and time in this life, through powerful hallucinogens, deep meditation or otherwise, have we achieved a kind of immortality, at least for a time?

• What part does ecstasy and bliss play in the state or experience of immortality?

• How far does the consequences of our action extend? To a subsequent rebirth or afterlife in another state?

• How much weight should we give to history or a specific epoch of history? To our own personal history? How much of history is so much smoke and mirrors?

• What role does transformation on any level, physical, mental, artistic, spiritual, play in our life?

[Ila ♡⁎⁺˳✧༚ ☆⁎⁺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Nadie, es alguien. Un solo hombre inmortal es todos los hombres. Cómo Cornelio Agripa, soy dios, soy héroe, soy filósofo y demonio, soy el mundo. Todo lo cual es una fatigosa manera de decir que no soy nada”.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immortality, infinity, stories, labyrinths, mazes and travel (through place and time).

[Camila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta Borges porque leerlo es como recibir un masaje en el cerebro, lo estimula al hacerlo visualizar conceptos que no nos caben, como la eternidad, lo paradójico, la misma mente humana, el lenguaje, lo cíclico.
Bello relato, buen plot twist, hermosa prosa, intelectualmente estimulante.

[giada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it’s because they were part of the same literary movement, but it’s incredible how much Borges reminds me of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino.

In this short story, a found manuscript depicts a man who narrates his decision to find the city where immortals live. After a long trip between many cultures of the world he gets stuck in a labyrithine city (modelled after the Piranesi prisons) and later on finds his objective.

In his beautiful mastery of language, Borges brings forth his thoughts on immortality and the relative uniqueness of umanity. I don’t know if I got all the entire meaning of the story, it was a bit too philosophical for me maybe, but I certainly enjoyed the trip.

[Spiritblue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia interesante ¡Impactante! Me gustó la manera en que se va presentando el relato, es entretenido, inspirador y te lleva a la meditación.

[Federico DN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Labyrinthine.

The story of one Marco Flaminio Rufo, a Roman military tribune, as he reaches and uncovers the lost City of the Immortals, last dwelling and home of the imperishable. Impossible mazes, inscrutable troglodytes and the clandestine secrets of time and eternal life. Or the curse, maybe.

One of the few rare exceptions when Borges is both readable AND interesting. This was mostly ok, nearing 3 stars even, right until just about the end when he goes, as usual, absurdly nonsensical, explaining things that can't be explained and unloading a truckload of obscure, possibly non-existent references, that can only muddle more than clarify, leaving me one final impression that I, in truth, really didn't understand a thing, which is, in all honesty, probably true.



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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1968] [14p] [Fiction] [2.5] [Not Recommendable] [Homer's Iliad] [Argos] [Ulises' Odyssey]
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★★☆☆☆ Ficciones
★★☆☆☆ Borges: Cuentos
★☆☆☆☆ Borges profesor: Curso de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ El tamaño de mi esperanza [0.5]

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Laberíntico.

La historia de un Marco Flaminio Rufo, tribuno militar romano, mientras llega y descubre la Ciudad perdida de los Inmortales, último hogar y morada de los imperecederos. Laberintos imposibles, trogloditas inescrutables y los clandestinoz secretos del tiempo y la vida eterna. O la maldición, tal vez.

Una de las pocas raras excepciones en las que Borges es a la vez leible E interesante. Esto estuvo mayormente bien, incluso acercándose a las 3 estrellas, justo casi hasta el final, cuando se vuelve, como siempre, absurdamente sin sentido, explicando cosas que no se pueden explicar y descargando un montón de referencias oscuras, posiblemente inexistentes, que solo pueden confundir más que aclarar, dejándome una última impresión de que realmente en verdad no entendí nada, lo cual, con toda honestidad, probablemente sea cierto.



-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1968] [14p] [Ficción] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
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[Thorin Raa · Rating 5 out of 5]

El Inmortal....

Es el primero cuento que leo de este autor y en verdad me encantó, en dónde te hace reflexionar sobre que sucedería si alcanzarás la inmortalidad y en mi opinión perdería la magia de esto que llamamos vida ya que la muerte nos establece un límite de tiempo que aveces se corta de manera abrupta y hace que aprovechemos ese periodo de tiempo y se disfrute de manera intensa.La historia narra los viaje de un hombre interesado en la ciudad de los mortales y que en cada travesía descubría retos nuevos y obstáculos que lo hicieron reflexionar sobre su meta pero a medida que avanzaba encontró lo que ya consideraba perdido. En verdad es fascinante, le comparto un pequeño fragmento..

El pensamiento más fugaz obedece a un dibujo invisible y puede coronar, o inaugurar, una forma secreta. Sé de quienes obraban el mal para que en los siglos futuros resultara el bien, o hubiera resultado en los ya pretéritos... Encarados así, todos nuestros actos son justos, pero también son indiferentes. No hay méritos morales o intelectuales. Homero compuso la Odisea; postulado un plazo infinito, con infinitas circunstancias y cambios, lo imposible es no componer, siquiera una vez, la Odisea. Nadie es alguien, un solo hombre inmortal es todos los hombres. Como Cornelio Agrippa, soy dios, soy héroe, soy filósofo, soy demonio y soy mundo, lo cual es una fatigosa manera de decir que no soy......

[Verano por siempre · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿No les pasa que ciertos autores, después de leerlos, destruyen por completo tus ganas de escribir por los magníficos que son sus relatos? Bueno, en la línea anterior acabo de definir mi relación con Borges. Sus cuentos son magníficos, narrativos pero también estadísticos; no buscan verdades; sino la reflexión del manuscrito. Invitan a la lectura activa así como a la búsqueda de preguntas y respuestas...

DICHO LO ANTERIOR
¿QUÉ ESTÁS ESPERANDO PARA LEER ESTE CUENTO TAN MARAVILLOSO?

[Ahmed Oraby]

"عندما تقترب النهاية لا تبقى صور بالذاكرة وتبقى فقط الكلمات"

[Daisy Garzón León · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Borges escribe tan hermoso!

[Nigar Makhmud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mənə elə gəlir daha yaxşı anlamadığım üçün az bal verdim. Bu əsərə yenidən qayıdacam.

[Mark Mateo · Rating 5 out of 5]

hoooooly shit i might make this my honors project. or at least start here. check back in a year. but oh my god. thank you Mr. Jakovljevic.

[Paul LaFontaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The diary of a a Roman tribune is found in an old book in 1929. It describes how he encounters a wounded man who tells him of the City of Immortals, and how he journeys to find it. When he does, he meets Homer who is an Immortal. He lives with them for centuries until they scatter to find the power to reverse their immortality.

This is one of Borges better stories as it has character and action in the context of a big idea. There is enough mystery to keep the reader guessing, and it ends in a satisfying way as the whole idea comes together.

Highly recommend.

[Viri Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente libro, me gusta como describe que el tiempo como pierde sentido, como la memoria juega un papel fundamental y es lo que hace que seamos quienes somos.

Amo las historias de inmortales.

[Yas (whatifitsbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest with you: I'm hella confused, but I think that's a post-Borges mood.

[mishu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me sorprendió cuanto lo disfruté.

[JCyborg Aperture · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the story itself is incredibly dense for its length and boasts a myriad of intriguing concepts, one thing not to be overlooked is the clear basis for the description of the city found in Piranesi's Carceri.

[Alex Kiaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borges simplemente es inconmensurable

[Anymunoz04 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borges what the fuck.

[Juan Bernal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer relato de "El Aleph" de Borges

¿Que harías si consiguieses ser inmortal? Este pequeño cuento de Borges nos narra cómo la brevedad de la vida es lo que hace que esta tenga sentido.

"Cada acción que realizas puede ser la última". Me gusta la visión que se le da al hecho de saber que la inmortalidad, más que felicidad, lo que trae es una ausencia total de emociones.

Cuando ya has vivido cada experiencia centenares o miles de veces, nada consigue estimular tu ansia por volver a experimentarla. Es precisamente porque sabemos que nuestro tiempo en esta vida es limitado por lo que sentimos felicidad, tristeza, euforia, dolor y todo el espectro de sentimientos y emociones que hacen que te sientas vivo.

[Anjali · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In my view, the Wheel conceived by certain religions in Hindustan is much more plausible; on that Wheel, which has neither end nor beginning, each life is the effect of the previous life and engenderer of the next, yet no one life determines the whole.... Taught by centuries of living, the republic of immortal men had achieved a perfection of tolerance, almost of disdain. They knew that over an infinitely long span of time, all things happen to all men. As reward for his past and future virtues, every man merited every kindness-yet also every betrayal, as reward for his past and future iniquities."

[Fayçal · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذا هو السحر

[Claudia Sánchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

He leído la reseña de un usuario que decía: "Borges what the fuck". Y no puedo estar más de acuerdo.

[Ting Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. 🤯

[annarraissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitivamente, eu ainda não tenho maturidade pra ler Borges...

[Rudy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es el tercer texto que leo de Borges, con este puede decir que su prosa es un gusto adquirido que las primeras veces puede resultar chocante y algo confuso.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

"La muerte, o su alusión, hace preciosos y patéticos a los hombres. Éstos conmueven por su condición de fantasmas; cada acto que ejecutan puede ser el último; no hay rostro que no esté por desdibujarse como el rostro de un sueño. Todo, entre los mortales, tiene el valor de lo irrecuperable y lo azaroso"

[Rocio Fleitas]

Sin calificación por el momento.
No se si estoy media dormida o que pero me costó leerlo y entenderlo.
A momentos me recordaba a Lovecraft, un poco oscuro. A momentos ni siquiera sabía quién era el narrador.
Uf complicado.
Estoy leyendo el Aleph, de donde pertenece este cuento. Solo quería remarcar mi poco entendimiento con este.