Available in cloth, paper, or audio CD
Through a twist of fate that the author of "Labyrinths" himself would have relished, these lost lectures g... read full description
reviews
Sep 03, 2007
Lucía
rated it: 
It goes without saying that Borges is a man of great learning; but in this series of lectures, his humility and self-deprecating wit outshine even his extensive knowledge of world literature. I suppose being honored at Harvard meant a lot to him. At any rate, it's a very quick and enjoyable read.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 14, 2008
Trevor
rated it: 
There is a wonderful moment in this where Borges talks of all of the possible metaphors there could be in the world - all of the things that could be compared to other things, the near infinity of metaphors, and yet we constantly (though ages and cultures) return over and over to the same metaphors. Stars and eyes, for instance - and that beautiful line from Plato (I wish I could be the night and then I would watch over you with a thousand eyes - sigh).
His discussion about believing More...
His discussion about believing More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 01, 2008
Michael
rated it: 
the craft of verse is a compilation of nearly-forgotten lectures borges gave at harvard in 1967-1968. i can just picture him standing at the podium in the yellow haze of his blindness. from these intimate talks it's plain to see that he's a man that has lived with books, like a lover.
i read this book about six years ago and have been so dazzled by his labyrinths, ficciones and the book of sand that i returned to it. these deceptively simple, candid addresses afford a beautiful window More...
i read this book about six years ago and have been so dazzled by his labyrinths, ficciones and the book of sand that i returned to it. these deceptively simple, candid addresses afford a beautiful window More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 15, 2011
Ameera
rated it:
- "افترض ان التفسير يمكن أن يكون في أنه ما أن يتم اقرار قالب معين، لا يبقى إلا تكراره. أما إذا جرّب النثر، فعندئذ لا بد من قالب أكثر رشاقة وخفة. إن الشعر الحر أشد صعوبة من الشعر الكلاسيكي".
-"نحن حديثون بفعل الواقع البسيط في أننا نعيش في الزمن الحاضر. لم يكتشف أحد بعد فن العيش في الماضي. وحتى المستقبليون لم يكتشفوا سر العيش على المستقبل. إننا حديثون، شئنا ذلك، أو أبيناه، وربما كان واقع حداثتي بحد ذاته هو طريقة في كوني حديثا".
- "لاشك أن هناك في قصصي ظروفاً وأحداث More...
-"نحن حديثون بفعل الواقع البسيط في أننا نعيش في الزمن الحاضر. لم يكتشف أحد بعد فن العيش في الماضي. وحتى المستقبليون لم يكتشفوا سر العيش على المستقبل. إننا حديثون، شئنا ذلك، أو أبيناه، وربما كان واقع حداثتي بحد ذاته هو طريقة في كوني حديثا".
- "لاشك أن هناك في قصصي ظروفاً وأحداث More...
Jul 20, 2010
M. D.
rated it:
This is a peculiar and intermittently charming little book…which sounds condescending even as I type it. I don’t know how else to put it…avuncular? Grandfatherly? As I found out in the afterward, Borges was mostly blind by the time he gave these lectures – the famed Charles Eliot Norton lectures (1967-1968) – and so he basically gave them off the cuff. Before I encountered this fact (I knew Borges was mostly blind, I didn’t know he had no way of consulting notes) I thought Borges had merely
More...
Jan 19, 2010
Mark
rated it:
Found this utterly lovely little book of lectures practically hidden away in the deepest bowels of the compressed stacks when I went looking for something else on poetry. Bought myself and my lady a copy almost immediately after I began reading it.
Whenever I have dipped into books of aesthetics, I have had an uncomfortable feeling that I was reading the works of astronomers who never looked at the stars. I mean that they were writing about poetry as if poetry were a task, and not More...
Whenever I have dipped into books of aesthetics, I have had an uncomfortable feeling that I was reading the works of astronomers who never looked at the stars. I mean that they were writing about poetry as if poetry were a task, and not More...
Jul 10, 2008
Mark
rated it:
These are some really fantastic lectures. They make me, like so much Borges, want to read EVERYTHING IMAGINABLE...they give you an appetite for so much more. Also it's filled with great quotes throughout. I especially loved the part on Old German, what the word 'King' actually means, and so on. Also he gives Finnegans Wake a much nicer treatment here than elsewhere.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 27, 2010
Keith
rated it:
"...as I understand it, anything suggested is far more effective than anything laid down. Perhaps the human mind has a tendency to deny a statement. Remember what Emerson said: arguments convince nobody. They convince nobody because they are presented as arguments. Then we look at them, we weigh them, we turn them over, and we decided against them. But when something is merely said or-better still- hinted at, there is a kind of hospitality in our imagination. We are ready to accept it."
More...
Jul 16, 2010
Richard
rated it:
I read this book over breakfast. I found that the format lended itself to such a casual reading-- short lectures, larger print (I really liked the layout of the book. Well done, typesetter. You made reading this book a pleasure). In typical Borges fashion, a single page will move effortlessly through quotes and references to Don Quixote, Arabian Nights, Old English grammar and Milton-- most of the quotations are delivered from memory in their original language.
Only three stars, howev More...
Only three stars, howev More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Hosein
rated it:
A unique lecture of art. a presentation of a fascinating understanding of verse and poetry amongst all analytical misunderstandings. a brilliant show, a deep shout; shining poem itself... all in all... a craft of lecture!
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 27, 2011
أحمد أبازيد
rated it:
بورخيس إذ يهدي قلقه و شكوكه في هذه المحاضرات الست فإنّما يُهديك معنى الخيال و موسيقى الكلمات و كنه المجاز و جماليّة العمر الذي مرّ بين الكتب ... إنّه ببساطة يفتحُ لك باب الشعر :
قصيرٌ دربُ هذا الكتاب في صفحاتِه طويلٌ دربُه في معناه , و فيما سيجنيه على لغتك ... بعباراته و اقتباساته و ارتياباته السريعة الموحية بالومض الذي في الكلمة . More...
قصيرٌ دربُ هذا الكتاب في صفحاتِه طويلٌ دربُه في معناه , و فيما سيجنيه على لغتك ... بعباراته و اقتباساته و ارتياباته السريعة الموحية بالومض الذي في الكلمة . More...
May 31, 2011
Taylor
rated it:
Not formal lectures so much as charming, erudite conversation. Transcript of recorded 1967 lectures, tapes collecting dust in library, rediscovered 30 years later, published in 2000. Delivered without notes, since Borges was by this time blind. Favorites lines: “If Chan[g] Tzu had a dream he was a typewriter, it would be no good at all”; and “I have spoken of several poets today, and I am sorry to say that in the last lecture I shall be speaking of a lesser poet — a poet whose works I never read
More...
Jul 13, 2011
Fahad
rated it:
صنعة الشعر
في عام 1967 م ألقى بورخيس في جامعة هارفرد ست محاضرات عن الشعر، ضمن برنامج نورتون ليكتشرز، هذه المحاضرات حفظت في شرائط ولم يتم تفريغها ونشرها إلى بعد سنوات، لتكون هذا الكتاب الجميل، الذي ترجمه صالح علماني إلى العربية، ليعطي للقراء العرب مدخلا ً آخر إلى عوالم وفلسفة بورخيس.
كنت قد كتبت عن بورخيس في مدونتي ثلاث مقالات، بعدما أمضيت مع مجموعاته القصصية عدة أسابيع، كان هذا الكتاب أحد الكتب التي قرأتها في تلكم الفترة، ولكني لم أخصصه بشيء، لأني ببساطة بعيد عن ال More...
في عام 1967 م ألقى بورخيس في جامعة هارفرد ست محاضرات عن الشعر، ضمن برنامج نورتون ليكتشرز، هذه المحاضرات حفظت في شرائط ولم يتم تفريغها ونشرها إلى بعد سنوات، لتكون هذا الكتاب الجميل، الذي ترجمه صالح علماني إلى العربية، ليعطي للقراء العرب مدخلا ً آخر إلى عوالم وفلسفة بورخيس.
كنت قد كتبت عن بورخيس في مدونتي ثلاث مقالات، بعدما أمضيت مع مجموعاته القصصية عدة أسابيع، كان هذا الكتاب أحد الكتب التي قرأتها في تلكم الفترة، ولكني لم أخصصه بشيء، لأني ببساطة بعيد عن ال More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 26, 2011
Hayfa
rated it:
” لقد أمضيت حياتي وأنا أقرأ واحلل وأكتب ( أو أحاول أن أكتب ) وأستمتع وقد اكتشفت أن هذا الأمر الأخير هو الأهم ”
- بورخيس
محتوى هذا الكتاب مبني على ستة محاضرات القاها خورخي لويس بورخيس في جامعة هارفارد ( خريف ١٩٦٧ م ) وعنونت كالتالي :
| لغز الشعر
| الإستعارة
| فن حكاية القصص
| موسيقى الكلمات والترجمة
| الفكر والشعر
| معتقد الشاعر
وكلّ هذه الأبواب تدور حول فكرة رئيسية وحيدة هي ” الشّعر ” . لا يعدكم بورخيس بأنكم ستصلون إلي حلّ للغز الشعر في نهاية القراءة More...
- بورخيس
محتوى هذا الكتاب مبني على ستة محاضرات القاها خورخي لويس بورخيس في جامعة هارفارد ( خريف ١٩٦٧ م ) وعنونت كالتالي :
| لغز الشعر
| الإستعارة
| فن حكاية القصص
| موسيقى الكلمات والترجمة
| الفكر والشعر
| معتقد الشاعر
وكلّ هذه الأبواب تدور حول فكرة رئيسية وحيدة هي ” الشّعر ” . لا يعدكم بورخيس بأنكم ستصلون إلي حلّ للغز الشعر في نهاية القراءة More...
Sep 26, 2011
Eeh
rated it:
It is always delightful to follow Borges, particularly through these gathered lectures as he saunters through poetry and literature with a very distinct path. What matters to him is brought to light, instead of a particular syllabus set by someone else, and he lingers here and there, quoting large passages in Spanish to an English audience, bringing up obscure little details and even discussing his love for Old English. The man's deep love for literature in all its forms shines through, and it's
More...
Sep 17, 2009
Doug
rated it:
Charmingly casual -- there's no ideology here, no hard-angled pomo poststructuralism and the like. Certain of ambiguity, and richly read, Borges has something in common with Hayek, I posit -- or rather the reverse, though I don't know if any influence is there -- and that's the thing, somehow, what's linked by literature pervades, what was it, the oversoul a la Emerson?
Mar 06, 2011
Phillip
rated it:
Only Borges, with his lifelong commitment to languages, could write (and deliver, this is a series of lectures) such a deceptively simple, humble, and insightful meditation on the pieces that put poetry together.
Feb 09, 2011
Marcelo
rated it:
If you write or are interested in writing poetry, you will learn more about what it takes to write it from this short collection of lectures Borges gave at Harvard than from many, many literature books. It's amazing.
Oct 26, 2010
Lucio
rated it:
Fascinating. My father gifted me the audio for these lectures as well. Even-paced, clever, and at times disorienting (in a good way)--everything you'd expect from Borges.
Aug 05, 2010
ditto what i said about northrop frye's "educated imagination." while you read this you'll feel like you're learning something that qualitatively changes your life.
Jan 01, 2010
This Craft of Verse (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures) by Jorge Luis Borges (2002)
Feb 01, 2012
Alex
rated it:
In this delightful monologue, Borges shares his deep passion for language and literature.
Oct 11, 2008
Zane
rated it:
Think you are smart, but don't really like poetry? Read these lectures. He makes classic and modern poets sound interesting. The main question he keeps returning to is how people take language, which evolved out of everyday needs for communication, and combine it to make people feel. The answer is: magic... or was it metaphor? Regardless, this is thoughtful and simply-written because it was spoken by an old Borges.
Feb 06, 2011
James
rated it:
"Whistler said, 'Art happens.' That is to say, there is something mysterious about art. I would like to take his words in a new sense. I shall say: Art happens every time we read a poem." In these lectures Borges expands upon this notion and shares his view of the craft of Poetry. Like all of Borges' work it is magical and worthy of consideration by readers and writers alike.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 26, 2011
Kofiia
rated it:
محاضرات مهمة جداً ألقاها بورخيس في جامعة هارفرد.
بورخيس متواضع و ودود جداً وهذا ما لاحظته بالإضافة لأنه يملك ذاكرة ضخمة جداً وقوية ولديه حس شعري عالي.
بورخيس متواضع و ودود جداً وهذا ما لاحظته بالإضافة لأنه يملك ذاكرة ضخمة جداً وقوية ولديه حس شعري عالي.
Jun 08, 2009
Rochelle
rated it:
this is best considered a love letter to poetry, and a list of poetry's perplexities, challenges, delights, and attributes. Simple, lovely, and full of the presence of the gifted Borges himself.
Jan 25, 2010
Ellee
rated it:
Fabulous! I really enjoyed listening to the lectures since you could hear when he was making jokes and also hear the audience's responses. I think to get the full value of the material, it'd be beneficial to read the content also.
Aug 31, 2007
i didn't want josh to sell this, so i stuck it in my night-table drawer. i also took it on vacation and never touched it. maybe someday i will write a poem again.
