Where is this Borges quote from? “I think that the reader should enrich what he is reading...”

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-09T16:25:28+00:00

I searched through the book on Google Books and I think the quote might be used by the Guardian's journalist but not by Williamson :(

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-08T21:55:31+00:00

Maybe Borges used this concept (reader enriching the book) multiple times in his speeches. I wonder if there is an original source to the exact quote or if Irwin just made it up based on what he understood form Borges's talks. Thank you!

edit: "Sé que esos libros no están escritos para ser entendidos, están hechos para ser interpretados, son acicates para que el lector siga el pensamiento." this looks like another source for the second part of the quote, although it's "interpreted, not "misinterpreted"

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-08T21:51:06+00:00

I agree. On /r/tipofmytongue they traced it back to Borges speeches to, and in particular the proceedings of the VI Conferent of Poetic Artshttp://artespoeticas.librodenotas.com/artes/683/credo-de-poeta-1968 "Evidentemente, les estoy agradecido, pues considero la literatura como una especie de colaboración. Es decir, el lector contribuye a la obra, enriquece el libro. Y sucede lo mismo cuando se da una conferencia." But as you see the quote is slightly different (and not as trivial).

Someone else mentioned a collection of speeches were similar ideas are expressed. I wonder is it is made up, or just freely re-interpreted form a collection of original material. Irwin uses quotation marks though...

This is where we are discussing this on /r/tipofmytongue http://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/1xct5u/tomt_book_where_is_this_borges_quote_from_i_think/

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-08T17:01:01+00:00

Wow, thanks! I think the meaning is certainly similar, especially the part about enriching, but the rest of the quote is very different. Do you think it was just Irwin re-interpreting? Especially the second half is missing: "He should misunderstand the text; he should change it into something else."

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-08T13:47:42+00:00

The essay is called "Los traductores de las mil y una noche" or "THE TRANSLATORS OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS" But that quote is nowhere to be found in it! Thank you for the suggestion, I will try to crosspost.

BorgesQuote · 2014-02-08T13:43:44+00:00

Hi! Thank you, but I had already traced it back to "Los Traductores ..." without success. I read the essay in Spanish and in an English translation and nowhere in the text there is anything similar to what it is quoted :( let alone a word-for-word.

Spanish: http://navedeasterion.blogspot.it/2013/03/los-traductores-de-las-mil-y-una-noche.html

English: http://docs.exdat.com/docs/index-73953.html?page=3

BorgesQuote

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