Status Updates From Alef

Story of the warrior and the captive maiden - pretty good. Borges, I can tell, likes to explore these themes of unity: that all people are one and the same. I like this theme a lot. It’s especially clear in the way that the characters of this story come not to be defined by their identities (region, race, allegiance) but by their shared destruction of such identities.

The Theologians - didn’t love this one. Hardly a story, just a lot of dense stuff that I wasn’t entirely following. I liked the ending but didn’t entirely gleam its meaning.

The Dead Man - very enjoyable and super short story. One I’ll definitely have to reread. Explores power and the pursuit of it in an intriguing way. But I also like how the main character is motivated more deeply by a sense of respect, or wanting to be respected. Very cool. (Could also be about masculinity?)

The Immortal - really great story. I was enthralled with the narrator and then the reveal was very cool and unexpected. I love the idea that our entire idea of reality is centered in our mortality. Our finitude defines even our perception of the world and of ourselves.

Meh

cruz karanlıkta dövüşürken kısmında parantez içinde bedeni karanlıkta dövüşürken kısmı beynimde jameson'ın bize iki dönemdir anlatmak istediği o insanların orta çağ'da bedenlerini nasıl algıladığı konusunu doğurdu ve ondan sonra hikâyeye bir es vermek zorunda kaldım birkaç cümle kalmış olmasına rağmen. karanlıkta dövüş... göz gözü görmüyor. dover beach'te anlatılan gibi.

The Immortal - Interesting first impression of Borges. A line puzzles me, "someone is no one" I struggle with that. How could one who has lived through centuries believe themselves to be no one? Maybe the knowledge that every person you meet will only exist in a small moment of time compared to your eternal life. The narrator is a paradox, identifying themselves as both no one- and everyone all at once.