Le lezioni americane di Borges (audio)

di Davide Orecchio
Nel 1967-68 Jorge Louis Borges tenne un ciclo di sei lezioni sulla letteratura all’Università di Harvard. Siamo nell’ambito delle Norton Lectures, che hanno ospitato dal 1925 a oggi letture prestigiose (le Lezioni americane di Italo Calvino nascono lì). Quanto espose lo scrittore argentino (quasi del tutto cieco, senza ricorrere a note scritte) è diventato anche un libro, pubblicato in Italia da Mondadori (L’invenzione della poesia).

Ora, grazie a UbuWeb (e via OpenCulture, e via The Funambulist) gli audio originali di quelle lezioni riemergono dagli archivi di Harvard (probabilmente dalla versione audio del libro, pubblicata nel 2000). La voce stessa, cadenzata e risonante nell’eco della sala, di Jorge Louis Borges.

Ecco i nove link ad altrettanti file audio:

• Introduction
• The Riddle of Poetry
• The Metaphor (part 1)
• The Metaphor (part 2)
• The Telling of the Tale
• Word-Music, and Translation
• Thought and Poetry (Part 1)
• Thought and Poetry (part 2)
• A Poet’s Creed

“Sono prossimo ai settant’anni, ho dedicato la maggior parte della mia vita alla letteratura e posso offrirvi solo dubbi.”

da UbuWeb:

Probably the best-read citizen of the globe in his day, he draws on a wealth of examples from literature in modern and medieval English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese, speaking with characteristic eloquence on Plato, the Norse kenningar, Byron, Poe, Chesterton, Joyce, and Frost, as well as on translations of Homer, the Bible, and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Though his avowed topic is poetry, Borges explores subjects ranging from prose forms (especially the novel), literary history, and translation theory, to philosophical aspects of literature in particular and communication in general. Throughout, Borges tells the very personal story of his lifelong love affair with the English language and its literature, ancient and modern. In each lecture, he gives us marvelous insights into his literary sensibility, tastes, preoccupations, and beliefs.

Whether discussing metaphor, epic poetry, the origins of verse, poetic meaning, or his own “poetic creed,” Borges gives a performance as entertaining as it is intellectually engaging. A lesson in the love of literature and language, this is a sustained personal encounter with a literary voice for whom the twentieth century will be long remembered.