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Funes el Memorioso
"Funes the Memorious" is the tale of one Ireneo Funes, who, after falling off his horse and receiving a bad head injury, acquired the amazing talent—or curse—of remembering absolutely everything.
Included in the collection of short stories "Ficciones."
Included in the collection of short stories "Ficciones."
10 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1942
15 people are currently reading
1965 people want to read
About the author
Jorge Luis Borges
1,594 books14.4k followersJorge 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."
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."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
August 26, 2024
Imagine if you couldn’t stop yourself remembering everything? All day and all night, every day and every night. You even find yourself remembering times when you were remembering a particular thing. Aaaarrrggghh!!!
This is the short story of a man called Funes, and the unnamed narrator describes the short life, and insatiable memory of this young man in Uruguay in the late 1800s. Funes can remember every fruit on a vine, every leaf, and the markings on each leaf on a tree. He also, devises his own language and numerical system – the systems currently used by everyone are too simple (of course).
There’s synaesthesia happening here too – this is when one of our senses can trigger other senses to come into play. Such as remembering a number as a colour, or a plant as a smell.
Poor Funes was debilitated by this condition. One may expect this ability would be beneficial. But this guy couldn’t communicate normally with anyone, he was in a world of his own, he couldn’t sleep – his mind was FULL.
Imagine that? Can our mind be full?
The irony here is, not all superpowers are beneficial. That’s my take home message anyway.
This is a fascinating short story and caused me to deep dive into lots of rabbit holes and read many analyses. Much of them over my head – this wee little beauty is certainly one for the mind.
If you do read it, and I recommend it, you may want to lie down afterwards.
4 Stars
This is the short story of a man called Funes, and the unnamed narrator describes the short life, and insatiable memory of this young man in Uruguay in the late 1800s. Funes can remember every fruit on a vine, every leaf, and the markings on each leaf on a tree. He also, devises his own language and numerical system – the systems currently used by everyone are too simple (of course).
There’s synaesthesia happening here too – this is when one of our senses can trigger other senses to come into play. Such as remembering a number as a colour, or a plant as a smell.
Poor Funes was debilitated by this condition. One may expect this ability would be beneficial. But this guy couldn’t communicate normally with anyone, he was in a world of his own, he couldn’t sleep – his mind was FULL.
Imagine that? Can our mind be full?
The irony here is, not all superpowers are beneficial. That’s my take home message anyway.
This is a fascinating short story and caused me to deep dive into lots of rabbit holes and read many analyses. Much of them over my head – this wee little beauty is certainly one for the mind.
If you do read it, and I recommend it, you may want to lie down afterwards.
4 Stars
October 26, 2024
3.75 stars
"To think is to ignore (or forget) differences, to generalize, to abstract. In the teeming world of Ireneo Funes there was nothing but particulars."
This is a short story about memory and a man who remembers everything - literally everything, down to the smallest detail.
The protagonist cannot forget anything, even if he tries. His mind resembles a gigantic storage of events, names, dates, shapes, and colors. Some would call such a perfect, almost miraculous memory a blessing. Others would see it as a curse. Either way, this was a thought-provoking little tale.
The inability to forget seems frightening to me. I would rather agree to have a bad memory than an extraordinary one like the one described here. But I must admit that the prospect of being able to master any foreign language effortlessly and quickly is tempting. Advertising the ability to easily memorize anything we want or need is something that can lure us into a trap.
"Funes perceived every grape that had been pressed into the wine and all the stalks and tendrils of its vineyard. He knew the forms of the clouds in the southern sky on the morning of April 30, 1882, and he could compare them in his memory with the veins in the marbled binding of a book he had seen only once, or with the feathers of spray lifted by an oar on the Rio Negro on the eve of the Battle of Quebracho. Nor were those memories simple - every visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, and so on. He was able to reconstruct every dream, every daydream he had ever had."
This passage speaks eloquently of the main character and what an everyday experience might be like when you memorize everything in meticulous detail.
"To think is to ignore (or forget) differences, to generalize, to abstract. In the teeming world of Ireneo Funes there was nothing but particulars."
This is a short story about memory and a man who remembers everything - literally everything, down to the smallest detail.
The protagonist cannot forget anything, even if he tries. His mind resembles a gigantic storage of events, names, dates, shapes, and colors. Some would call such a perfect, almost miraculous memory a blessing. Others would see it as a curse. Either way, this was a thought-provoking little tale.
The inability to forget seems frightening to me. I would rather agree to have a bad memory than an extraordinary one like the one described here. But I must admit that the prospect of being able to master any foreign language effortlessly and quickly is tempting. Advertising the ability to easily memorize anything we want or need is something that can lure us into a trap.
"Funes perceived every grape that had been pressed into the wine and all the stalks and tendrils of its vineyard. He knew the forms of the clouds in the southern sky on the morning of April 30, 1882, and he could compare them in his memory with the veins in the marbled binding of a book he had seen only once, or with the feathers of spray lifted by an oar on the Rio Negro on the eve of the Battle of Quebracho. Nor were those memories simple - every visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, and so on. He was able to reconstruct every dream, every daydream he had ever had."
This passage speaks eloquently of the main character and what an everyday experience might be like when you memorize everything in meticulous detail.
Read
July 10, 2021
Funes the Memorious - a tale of one man's accident (head injury falling from a horse), resulting in a dramatic transformation of his perceptions and memory - Funes can remember absolutely everything with astonishing clarity, each moment of his entire past life in exquisite detail, not only seeing in his mind's eye every leaf of every tree but each and every time he imagined a leaf or a tree.
Think about it - what makes you you? Philosophers throughout history have devoted much of their thinking to the nature of personal identity. One key element philosophers (and also psychologists) return to again and again: memory.
Ah, memory - how much of you would be left if you woke up one day without your memory, that is, an inability to remember even one detail of your past life? Or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, how much of you would remain if you woke up with the supercharged memory of Funes?
Paralyzed from the neck down, Funes now spends his life in his bed, passing the time with such things as recollecting a day of his childhood. Of course, with his laser sharp memory, it takes Funes an entire day to call to mind all the minutiae of that day.
Funes also teaches himself foreign languages. "With no effort, he had learned English, French, Portuguese and Latin." The narrator, a man resembling Borges himself, goes on: "I suspect, however, that he was not very capable of thought. To think is to forget differences, generalize, make abstractions. in the teeming world of Funes, there were only details, almost immediate in their presence."
Reflecting on the Funes' gift regarding language, a person aside, if I may. I have a specific dyslexia in learning any foreign language - try as I might, I can not retain in my memory words or phrases from a language other than English. Thus I'm locked into being monolingual. Drat! If I only had a fraction of Funes' ability to instantly learn a foreign language.
But there's an upside: I'm compensated by my capacity to remember the content of the books I've read (especially short stories and novels) stretching back over the past fifty years as if I read those books last week, an ability that comes in mighty handy for a book reviewer.
So, what if I was given a choice: gain a special ability to learn foreign languages but lose the facility to remember the books I've read or will read; in other words, in one ear and out the other?
I keep this choice in mind whenever I reread Funes the Memorious.
Online link to Borges' tale: http://vigeland.caltech.edu/ist4/lect...
March 31, 2021
¡Meh! Esperaba algo mejor.
Si bien la idea que presenta Borges es atrayente y original, desafortunadamente este cuento no logró cautivarme ni emocionarme. No es un mal cuento, no obstante, el problema es que esta historia no cumple con las partes características del mismo: Inicio, nudo y desenlace. Tiene un buen inicio, no lo niego, pero la no existencia de un problema real que le suceda al protagonista da a entender que el cuento nunca terminó de iniciar. Cuando un cuento no tiene inicio, nudo o desenlace, el lector siente que lo que acaba de leer está incompleto, y eso mismo fue lo que me ocurrió con este pequeño cuento.
Lo único para destacar es lo relacionado a la memoria. Fue interesante imaginar la forma en que nos comportaríamos en caso de tener una memoria perfecta; es decir, si tuviéramos un cerebro con la capacidad de no olvidar absolutamente nada de lo vivido, sentido, observado, escuchado, etc. Ha sido una lástima que Borges no desarrollará mejor esta idea porque claramente pudo hacerlo. Todo sería tan diferente si tan solo el autor nos hubiera proporcionado las consecuencias, problemas y dificultades de vivir con un “don” como el que le proporcionó a Ireneo Funes. Sinceramente, me quedé esperando esto, y esa es otra de las razones de mi insatisfacción.
No es un cuento imprescindible y no recomiendo leerlo. Lo único que espero es poder encontrar la genialidad por la que es tan célebre Jorge Luis Borges en los próximos cuentos que lea en el futuro del autor.
Si bien la idea que presenta Borges es atrayente y original, desafortunadamente este cuento no logró cautivarme ni emocionarme. No es un mal cuento, no obstante, el problema es que esta historia no cumple con las partes características del mismo: Inicio, nudo y desenlace. Tiene un buen inicio, no lo niego, pero la no existencia de un problema real que le suceda al protagonista da a entender que el cuento nunca terminó de iniciar. Cuando un cuento no tiene inicio, nudo o desenlace, el lector siente que lo que acaba de leer está incompleto, y eso mismo fue lo que me ocurrió con este pequeño cuento.
Lo único para destacar es lo relacionado a la memoria. Fue interesante imaginar la forma en que nos comportaríamos en caso de tener una memoria perfecta; es decir, si tuviéramos un cerebro con la capacidad de no olvidar absolutamente nada de lo vivido, sentido, observado, escuchado, etc. Ha sido una lástima que Borges no desarrollará mejor esta idea porque claramente pudo hacerlo. Todo sería tan diferente si tan solo el autor nos hubiera proporcionado las consecuencias, problemas y dificultades de vivir con un “don” como el que le proporcionó a Ireneo Funes. Sinceramente, me quedé esperando esto, y esa es otra de las razones de mi insatisfacción.
No es un cuento imprescindible y no recomiendo leerlo. Lo único que espero es poder encontrar la genialidad por la que es tan célebre Jorge Luis Borges en los próximos cuentos que lea en el futuro del autor.
July 3, 2025
Highly Memorablest.
Ireneo Funes is an awkward and below average student, all his life super discreet and low key. All that changes one day when, due to a fall in the street, he hits his head so hard he remains crippled for the rest of his life. Yet, for all his *misfortune*, his memory starts to increase to bewildering levels, gaining an almost reversible and exponentially eidetic memory.
This is one of the most approachable stories I've ever read by Borges. Readable (for the most part), with an interesting concept, a quick and reasonably consistent progression, and an overall memorable character, redundancy aside. Having the guy in the title also helps a lot.
Under specific conditions I feel I could even recommend it, though it's not like I am a fan of the story, and least of all Borges. In essence, just good enough but far from great story.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1942] [10p] [Fiction] [3.5] [Conditional Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★☆☆☆ Ficciones <--
★★☆☆☆ Borges: Cuentos
★☆☆☆☆ Borges profesor: Curso de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ El tamaño de mi esperanza [0.5]
-----------------------------------------------
Altamente Hipermemorable.
Ireneo Funes es un estudiante extraño y por debajo del promedio, toda su vida discreto y callado. Todo eso cambia un día cuando, debido a una caída en la calle, se golpea con tanta fuerza la cabeza que queda lisiado de por vida. Sin embargo, a pesar de toda su *desgracia*, su memoria comienza a aumentar a niveles desconcertantes, adquiriendo una memoria casi reversible y exponencialmente eidética.
Esta es una de las historias más accesibles que he leído de Borges. Leible (en su mayor parte), con un concepto interesante, una progresión rápida y razonablemente consistente, y un personaje dentro de todo memorable, valga la redudancia. Tener al muchacho en el título también ayuda mucho.
En ciertas condiciones siento que hasta podría recomendarla, aunque no es que sea un fanático de la historia, y mucho menos de Borges. En esencia, una aceptablemente buena pero lejos de genial historia.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1942] [10p] [Ficción] [3.5] [Recomendable Condicional]
-----------------------------------------------
Ireneo Funes is an awkward and below average student, all his life super discreet and low key. All that changes one day when, due to a fall in the street, he hits his head so hard he remains crippled for the rest of his life. Yet, for all his *misfortune*, his memory starts to increase to bewildering levels, gaining an almost reversible and exponentially eidetic memory.
This is one of the most approachable stories I've ever read by Borges. Readable (for the most part), with an interesting concept, a quick and reasonably consistent progression, and an overall memorable character, redundancy aside. Having the guy in the title also helps a lot.
Under specific conditions I feel I could even recommend it, though it's not like I am a fan of the story, and least of all Borges. In essence, just good enough but far from great story.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1942] [10p] [Fiction] [3.5] [Conditional Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★☆☆☆ Ficciones <--
★★☆☆☆ Borges: Cuentos
★☆☆☆☆ Borges profesor: Curso de literatura inglesa en la Universidad de Buenos Aires [1.5]
★☆☆☆☆ El tamaño de mi esperanza [0.5]
-----------------------------------------------
Altamente Hipermemorable.
Ireneo Funes es un estudiante extraño y por debajo del promedio, toda su vida discreto y callado. Todo eso cambia un día cuando, debido a una caída en la calle, se golpea con tanta fuerza la cabeza que queda lisiado de por vida. Sin embargo, a pesar de toda su *desgracia*, su memoria comienza a aumentar a niveles desconcertantes, adquiriendo una memoria casi reversible y exponencialmente eidética.
Esta es una de las historias más accesibles que he leído de Borges. Leible (en su mayor parte), con un concepto interesante, una progresión rápida y razonablemente consistente, y un personaje dentro de todo memorable, valga la redudancia. Tener al muchacho en el título también ayuda mucho.
En ciertas condiciones siento que hasta podría recomendarla, aunque no es que sea un fanático de la historia, y mucho menos de Borges. En esencia, una aceptablemente buena pero lejos de genial historia.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1942] [10p] [Ficción] [3.5] [Recomendable Condicional]
-----------------------------------------------
July 3, 2024
5,0 ✨✨✨
February 19, 2025
Begotten through purity of pain, knowledge is the reminder of harsh acquisition & escapism. Intellect rumbles in the cerebellum as a denoted constant in the human species, something we know so well as to be able to spot in others. The Orca, Crow, Grey Wolf, & unflinching eye of our older-tree-crawling kin, the Chimpanzee, all rank in a system of casts & coos; How wonderful it is that the Elephant experiences symptoms similar to depression when his kin die. How classically uncouth that the Ants work together to assassinate the murderous Hornet. What luck we have as human beings to watch over the barbarous & mad menagerie of the animal kingdom. As though we, God’s favourite plaything, were not sickly to the sweet throng of ignorance.
I came across this story while clearing out my virtual library shelves. It had come time for me to be honest & rather than allow these reminders of casual clocked interest to burden my mental lists, I culled them. In this practice was found this older title, a short story to sweeten the week filled with rainstorms singing me to sleep & a blustery windy sunshine that kissed my skin as it dawned forward throughout the day.
What I did not expect when reading this story was the plot held within. Silly as this might seem, it is true. Whereas I have met the author once or twice before, I find that I remain ignorant of their power; the prowess of what they have left behind, nearly lost of me. Ironically, the narrator appeared to have been waiting for me for just this reason.
In essence, this is a story about the acquisition of intelligence. The narrator recounts his memories of the man who has died, the titular character of Borges’ story. This individual was, previously, a man of common mental abilities. He was perhaps nothing special nor was he to be looked over.
In fact, Funes was a person the likes of which the reader might have met any day of their life; he may even resemble the reader in ways that count most. However, following an unfortunate accident involving a horse, a concussion, a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), & a diagnosis of paralysis; Funes’ brain suddenly developed an agility of thought & processes beyond reasoning.
I have spent time wondering about the message within this story. After I finished reading, I found myself seeking out the opinions & perspectives of other readers. What had they thought? Had we understood the tale to mean the same thing? This is not an unusual practice for readers yet, I mention it specifically because I hardly engage in this type of activity.
Recently I watched a video essay from Skylar Earnhart—“is the five-star rating system destroying literature?”—wherein she spoke about modern social readers & the tendencies they have adopted while reading. I was shocked to learn that many readers & reviewers alter their opinions of a book if they note that others have felt differently.
Skylar’s video explains the difficulty experienced by many readers when forming opinions & deconstructing material. This is not the first video of its kind I have consumed. As a lifelong book lover & a Methuselah of the story-consuming world, I admit to being utterly flummoxed by this realization. I have never once changed my stance on a book because someone else had a different opinion or interpretation than I did.
Rather than sit around negatively judging these invisible readers, the book-Gods brought me this story. So opportune was my meeting that I felt inclined to mention the YouTube video essayists who have flooded my recommendations with commentary about experiences that differ from mine.
Here, I admit to you that I was in ignorance & I hadn’t realized how deeply I was until clarity shone on me. Similarly, the narrator of this story recounts his friend’s experience with gaining new knowledge & ultimately, increased ability to wander the panelled caves of his mind. What is a person to do when faced with information that they are, perhaps, unaccustomed to processing?
Although I cannot state with gumption that this story is worthy of reading, it was good, nonetheless. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that the story works as well as it does because it is not inconceivable. Medical accounts note the altered brain activity of people who have suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or those who have been knocked about, to be blunt.
In Borges’ story, the character suffers a loss of their physical functions—their body autonomy is stripped. In its place, Funes has more freedom than most for he has been allowed to dissect the world. Readers will be at their leisure to decide whether this was a fair trade-off.
The narrator mentions that the intellectual abilities that Funes gained were not easy for him. One must note that he died of something that, by today’s standards, would be deemed a small & inconsequential medical fix.
Was it that his mind was too tied up with thoughts, decoding minuscule facets of existence, that he could not grovel to the feet of men whose thoughts focused on pictures of different dimensions than him? Perhaps it is unkind to posit the position of a person whose thoughts & mental capabilities exceed my own in such a narrow-minded fashion. I must ask though, what else am I to do?
As I pondered the nature of readers & reviewers who could not stand by their own opinions, for perhaps they did not trust themselves, I mirrored their behaviour in a bid to understand them. I cannot say that I was brimmed with a newfound appreciation for relying on others to make up my mind. However, I can see why it would be attractive to wait before saying something with certainty.
If you have read a review of mine before you will have a decided impression of me, of the reader I am, & the way I might approach writing my very long-winded reflective pieces. I do a fair bit of research before deciding to state something in my review, especially if it is on a subject that I know is peer-reviewed & well researched.
When deciding to introduce the reviewer who has no bones, I faltered. I cannot begin to know the person who cannot stand by their experiences or opinions but, through books, testimonies, video essays, & getting out into the world, I can bridge the gap between what is happening & my lack of understanding.
Had the narrator wished for his friend to explore more of the world? Would further exposure to reality, the complicated nature of lives different than his own, have influenced Funes’ choices? Would his mind have been able to gauge the dastardly doom that would soon befall him as he disregarded the physical aspects of his person?
We all have choices to make & each of us wades into waters of ignorance & naivety. The undercurrent of such realities is their sullen slumbering in varying hemispheres. Though we may never fully comprehend what makes us different in a way that will allow us the peace of co-existence, we are at liberty to decide whether our ignorance is a feature of our abilities or an adversary we have the wherewithal to slay.
When I think about the reviewers who fear being honest, wrong or right in their opinions, I worry that they have missed the point in reading, entirely. I am reminded of the fortune in my history that has allowed me the fortitude to believe in my convictions & simmer on the truth; not all have been doused in so much gold.
Certainly, what the narrator will miss the most, now that Funes is no longer around, is the person, not his genius ability to hyperfocus on details & lists. I understand that this may link to our own experiences in the literary world; alone our opinions stand as melting ice cast off from the glacier. Together, we cull the movement that teeters backward, thrusting it forward instead.
Ultimately, readers who come upon this story hoping for something revolutionary may indeed be disappointed. My experiences with this story have little to do with the actual plot and rather a great deal to do with the timing & situation during which I consumed the narrative.
Yet, I do believe that this is how good stories work. They find their way to the reader when it is time & nestle in close whispering to us like paranormal ghouls in the night. We are not always so lucky to be the right reader or the target consumer, nor will the clock’s bow strike just right, that a story be as good as it intended.
Consuming information develops the inner workings of a beaten barrel that haunts the lands of all species. Whether one keeps this truth to themselves or syphons it like nails to a cross is to their discretion. Perhaps the next reader will see fit to rumble inward like a calcified volcano, waiting for a reader like me to wander at its base & question its tombstone appearance.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
I came across this story while clearing out my virtual library shelves. It had come time for me to be honest & rather than allow these reminders of casual clocked interest to burden my mental lists, I culled them. In this practice was found this older title, a short story to sweeten the week filled with rainstorms singing me to sleep & a blustery windy sunshine that kissed my skin as it dawned forward throughout the day.
What I did not expect when reading this story was the plot held within. Silly as this might seem, it is true. Whereas I have met the author once or twice before, I find that I remain ignorant of their power; the prowess of what they have left behind, nearly lost of me. Ironically, the narrator appeared to have been waiting for me for just this reason.
In essence, this is a story about the acquisition of intelligence. The narrator recounts his memories of the man who has died, the titular character of Borges’ story. This individual was, previously, a man of common mental abilities. He was perhaps nothing special nor was he to be looked over.
In fact, Funes was a person the likes of which the reader might have met any day of their life; he may even resemble the reader in ways that count most. However, following an unfortunate accident involving a horse, a concussion, a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), & a diagnosis of paralysis; Funes’ brain suddenly developed an agility of thought & processes beyond reasoning.
I have spent time wondering about the message within this story. After I finished reading, I found myself seeking out the opinions & perspectives of other readers. What had they thought? Had we understood the tale to mean the same thing? This is not an unusual practice for readers yet, I mention it specifically because I hardly engage in this type of activity.
Recently I watched a video essay from Skylar Earnhart—“is the five-star rating system destroying literature?”—wherein she spoke about modern social readers & the tendencies they have adopted while reading. I was shocked to learn that many readers & reviewers alter their opinions of a book if they note that others have felt differently.
Skylar’s video explains the difficulty experienced by many readers when forming opinions & deconstructing material. This is not the first video of its kind I have consumed. As a lifelong book lover & a Methuselah of the story-consuming world, I admit to being utterly flummoxed by this realization. I have never once changed my stance on a book because someone else had a different opinion or interpretation than I did.
Rather than sit around negatively judging these invisible readers, the book-Gods brought me this story. So opportune was my meeting that I felt inclined to mention the YouTube video essayists who have flooded my recommendations with commentary about experiences that differ from mine.
Here, I admit to you that I was in ignorance & I hadn’t realized how deeply I was until clarity shone on me. Similarly, the narrator of this story recounts his friend’s experience with gaining new knowledge & ultimately, increased ability to wander the panelled caves of his mind. What is a person to do when faced with information that they are, perhaps, unaccustomed to processing?
Although I cannot state with gumption that this story is worthy of reading, it was good, nonetheless. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that the story works as well as it does because it is not inconceivable. Medical accounts note the altered brain activity of people who have suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or those who have been knocked about, to be blunt.
In Borges’ story, the character suffers a loss of their physical functions—their body autonomy is stripped. In its place, Funes has more freedom than most for he has been allowed to dissect the world. Readers will be at their leisure to decide whether this was a fair trade-off.
The narrator mentions that the intellectual abilities that Funes gained were not easy for him. One must note that he died of something that, by today’s standards, would be deemed a small & inconsequential medical fix.
Was it that his mind was too tied up with thoughts, decoding minuscule facets of existence, that he could not grovel to the feet of men whose thoughts focused on pictures of different dimensions than him? Perhaps it is unkind to posit the position of a person whose thoughts & mental capabilities exceed my own in such a narrow-minded fashion. I must ask though, what else am I to do?
As I pondered the nature of readers & reviewers who could not stand by their own opinions, for perhaps they did not trust themselves, I mirrored their behaviour in a bid to understand them. I cannot say that I was brimmed with a newfound appreciation for relying on others to make up my mind. However, I can see why it would be attractive to wait before saying something with certainty.
If you have read a review of mine before you will have a decided impression of me, of the reader I am, & the way I might approach writing my very long-winded reflective pieces. I do a fair bit of research before deciding to state something in my review, especially if it is on a subject that I know is peer-reviewed & well researched.
When deciding to introduce the reviewer who has no bones, I faltered. I cannot begin to know the person who cannot stand by their experiences or opinions but, through books, testimonies, video essays, & getting out into the world, I can bridge the gap between what is happening & my lack of understanding.
Had the narrator wished for his friend to explore more of the world? Would further exposure to reality, the complicated nature of lives different than his own, have influenced Funes’ choices? Would his mind have been able to gauge the dastardly doom that would soon befall him as he disregarded the physical aspects of his person?
We all have choices to make & each of us wades into waters of ignorance & naivety. The undercurrent of such realities is their sullen slumbering in varying hemispheres. Though we may never fully comprehend what makes us different in a way that will allow us the peace of co-existence, we are at liberty to decide whether our ignorance is a feature of our abilities or an adversary we have the wherewithal to slay.
When I think about the reviewers who fear being honest, wrong or right in their opinions, I worry that they have missed the point in reading, entirely. I am reminded of the fortune in my history that has allowed me the fortitude to believe in my convictions & simmer on the truth; not all have been doused in so much gold.
Certainly, what the narrator will miss the most, now that Funes is no longer around, is the person, not his genius ability to hyperfocus on details & lists. I understand that this may link to our own experiences in the literary world; alone our opinions stand as melting ice cast off from the glacier. Together, we cull the movement that teeters backward, thrusting it forward instead.
Ultimately, readers who come upon this story hoping for something revolutionary may indeed be disappointed. My experiences with this story have little to do with the actual plot and rather a great deal to do with the timing & situation during which I consumed the narrative.
Yet, I do believe that this is how good stories work. They find their way to the reader when it is time & nestle in close whispering to us like paranormal ghouls in the night. We are not always so lucky to be the right reader or the target consumer, nor will the clock’s bow strike just right, that a story be as good as it intended.
Consuming information develops the inner workings of a beaten barrel that haunts the lands of all species. Whether one keeps this truth to themselves or syphons it like nails to a cross is to their discretion. Perhaps the next reader will see fit to rumble inward like a calcified volcano, waiting for a reader like me to wander at its base & question its tombstone appearance.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2018
HOW CREEPY WAS THIS!?!?!?!?!?
I need to talk to someone :O Funes is so lost due to his ability to remember each and every detail of his life and this short story had me freaking like no other read has ever had... The whole idea of Ireneo suffering even due to having exact memories of his own different grimaces, and consequently not even recognising himself whenever he stared in the mirror gave me chills! I found it so innovative and unique, and it was all condensed in 8 pages! JUST WOW!
I need to talk to someone :O Funes is so lost due to his ability to remember each and every detail of his life and this short story had me freaking like no other read has ever had... The whole idea of Ireneo suffering even due to having exact memories of his own different grimaces, and consequently not even recognising himself whenever he stared in the mirror gave me chills! I found it so innovative and unique, and it was all condensed in 8 pages! JUST WOW!
November 23, 2024
«حافظه مانع اندیشیدن است.»
فیونز بر اثر یک تصادف قادر است همه چیز را به یاد آورد. اما به یاد آوردن “چیزها” در کنار “ زوال چیزها” برای او طلسمی باطل نشدنی و برای ناظران قدرتی ماورایی تلقی میشود.
تصور کنید میتوانید هر زبانی را در مدت زمان کمی یاد بگیرید، اما قدرت خوابیدن را از دست بدهید.
میتوانید هر خاطرهای را با بو و رنگ متصور شوید اما از جزییات بیشمار آن به ستوه بیایید.
طبق مفهوم اخلاق بردگی، فراموشی غیرممکن میشود. «بردگان فراموش نمیکنند.»
ماورای سایرین بودن یا بردگی؟
فیونز بر اثر یک تصادف قادر است همه چیز را به یاد آورد. اما به یاد آوردن “چیزها” در کنار “ زوال چیزها” برای او طلسمی باطل نشدنی و برای ناظران قدرتی ماورایی تلقی میشود.
تصور کنید میتوانید هر زبانی را در مدت زمان کمی یاد بگیرید، اما قدرت خوابیدن را از دست بدهید.
میتوانید هر خاطرهای را با بو و رنگ متصور شوید اما از جزییات بیشمار آن به ستوه بیایید.
طبق مفهوم اخلاق بردگی، فراموشی غیرممکن میشود. «بردگان فراموش نمیکنند.»
ماورای سایرین بودن یا بردگی؟
February 18, 2023
“Pensar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer.”
October 4, 2017
De la magia de la pluma de Borges surge este impactante cuento que narra la vida de Ireneo Funes, quien posee el poder de la memoria perfecta: no olvida nada, ni el más mínimo detalle. Muchas interpretaciones se pueden hacer, pero tal vez una inquietante es que el relato invita a reflexionar sobre la memoria. Ese poder que dio la naturaleza al ser humano y que este entrega cada vez más a los dispositivos… cumpleaños, citas, tareas, eventos, invitaciones, las grandes fechas de la vida… nada de eso queda en la memoria biológica, sino en el PC o en la tablet… Y cuando se quiere saber algo, no se hace ningún esfuerzo sino que se recurre a la red, donde todo está a un clic. Lo primero que ve un bebé de hoy al nacer, no es la cara sudorosa de la madre o el aspecto nervioso y feliz del padre, sino un smartphone al frente. Y más adelante cuando vaya al colegio, los orgullosos padres no disfrutarán de los avances de su hijo, sino que los guardarán en un video que subirán a las redes sociales… y que probablemente luego olvidarán. El avance de la tecnología nos ha aportado ventajas en muchos campos, excepto en los poderes del pensamiento. Ya no se piensa sino que se almacena información en forma de gigabytes. Y con todo ello estamos perdiendo algo poderoso y profundamente humano: la memoria afectiva.
December 17, 2023
i'll simply never understand the appeal of this kind of writing. might be due to the old-timey Croatian translation, but tbh i doubt it? i just don't think i'm cut out for this shit. literally almost fell asleep in the middle of the day reading a 5-page story. wonder if there is some other Borges stuff that would work better for me? i'll ask when we meet up for book club lol
October 6, 2021
First of all, reading Jorge Luis Borges isn't an easy task. His level of erudition makes him virtually unintelligible for the average reader, since his works are filled with references to literature, history, science, and so on. But on the other hand his knowledge enriches his work to a great extent.
I'm a native speaker of Spanish, so I read this short story in the original language. This is a big advantage, since Borges wrote extremely well. His prose is clear and extremely precise.
"Funes el memorioso" is about a man who suffers an accident and is thereafter endowed with a prodigious memory (by the way, the videogame Syberia might have stolen this idea). The eponymous protagonist can vividly and accurately recall each and every incident of his life. He remembers the most minute detail about everything he has experienced. The narrator, however, makes a subtle distinction between having a great memory and being able to think. To him, the latter consists of generalizing and abstracting. This apparently trivial observation was a clever addition by Borges: he's telling us that Funes isn't necessarily a smart person; he's just lucky (or unlucky?) to have a God-like memory.
Anyway, read Funes. Trust me on this one.
I'm a native speaker of Spanish, so I read this short story in the original language. This is a big advantage, since Borges wrote extremely well. His prose is clear and extremely precise.
"Funes el memorioso" is about a man who suffers an accident and is thereafter endowed with a prodigious memory (by the way, the videogame Syberia might have stolen this idea). The eponymous protagonist can vividly and accurately recall each and every incident of his life. He remembers the most minute detail about everything he has experienced. The narrator, however, makes a subtle distinction between having a great memory and being able to think. To him, the latter consists of generalizing and abstracting. This apparently trivial observation was a clever addition by Borges: he's telling us that Funes isn't necessarily a smart person; he's just lucky (or unlucky?) to have a God-like memory.
Anyway, read Funes. Trust me on this one.
August 6, 2017
Borges's fiction reads like a magic incantation. Partly because he does indeed write beautifully, and partly because sometimes his Spanish vocabulary goes right over my head :D
This short story tells us about a guy who became paralyzed while simultaneously gaining some super-human abilities. I kind of didn't get what the point of it was... or if there was one.
This is my general grudge against short stories: they are not long enough for me to develop an emotional connection and become invested, and not long enough to have an arc or a particular message. Which makes reading them pointless for me. So generally I avoid short stories, but this one I've read to make progress with my Spanish.
This short story tells us about a guy who became paralyzed while simultaneously gaining some super-human abilities. I kind of didn't get what the point of it was... or if there was one.
This is my general grudge against short stories: they are not long enough for me to develop an emotional connection and become invested, and not long enough to have an arc or a particular message. Which makes reading them pointless for me. So generally I avoid short stories, but this one I've read to make progress with my Spanish.
September 21, 2023
| "He was the solitary and lucid spectator of a multiform, instantaneous and almost intolerably precise world."
Starting off the MA reading list.
It's almost like fantasy. There's an interesting concept here; guy has a memory so precise and vivid it borders on Biblical but that's where it ends, literally . This would work amazingly if the Godlike and fanatical aspect of it was more developed but it's only about 8 pages so I'm not surprised.
Sorry to my seminar leader if you see this.
Starting off the MA reading list.
It's almost like fantasy. There's an interesting concept here; guy has a memory so precise and vivid it borders on Biblical but that's where it ends, literally . This would work amazingly if the Godlike and fanatical aspect of it was more developed but it's only about 8 pages so I'm not surprised.
Sorry to my seminar leader if you see this.
December 17, 2023
i kinda liked it? borges's style of writing works quite well for short stories, it urges you to slow down with your reading pace and demands critical reader
it definitely made me think a lot, and i wrote down a lot of notes that i can't wait to discuss with others in book club
it definitely made me think a lot, and i wrote down a lot of notes that i can't wait to discuss with others in book club
January 16, 2023
es que a veces borges me cae mal, pero hay excepciones.. igual sigue siendo jorge.
May 1, 2021
"La mia memoria, signore, è come un deposito di rifiuti"
"Aveva imparato senza fatica l'inglese, il francese, il portoghese, il latino. sospetto tuttavia, che non fosse molto capace di pensare.. nel mondo sovraccarico di Funes non c'erano che dettagli, quasi immediati."
"Aveva imparato senza fatica l'inglese, il francese, il portoghese, il latino. sospetto tuttavia, che non fosse molto capace di pensare.. nel mondo sovraccarico di Funes non c'erano che dettagli, quasi immediati."
June 8, 2019
Ireneo Funes, the protagonist, after an accident, was bestowed with the absolute memory and the keenest perception. Looking at a forest, he noticed each and every leaf, looking at a face, he noticed each and every nuance and movement. And he remembered everything. His memories were visceral, as they were linked to his body sensations. He learned Latin immediately using a dictionary and a book by Pliny. He could compare the setting of the clouds that he saw one day, with the veins on the cover of a book. His memories were so precise and detailed that when he recalled a day from his childhood it took him an entire day to recall it.
Not alike was his thinking. He was not able to generalize, he only saw the particulars, and he thought that each thing should have been named differently.
"He was, let us not forget, almost incapable of general, platonic ideas. It was not only difficult for him to understand that the generic term dog embraced so many unlike specimens of differing sizes and different forms; he was disturbed by the fact that a dog at three-fourteen (seen in profile) should have the same name as the dog at three-fifteen (seen from the front). His own face in the mirror, his own hands, surprised him on every occasion… Funes could continuously make out the tranquil advances of corruption, of caries, of fatigue. He noted the progress of death, of moisture. He was the solitary and lucid spectator of a multiform world which was instantaneously and almost intolerably exact… I repeat, the least important of his recollections was more minutely precise and more lively than our perception of a physical pleasure or a physical torment… I suspect, nevertheless, that he was not very capable of thought. To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details, almost contiguous details. "
Reading this short story, I thought about the Luria's patient of a great memory, and of the Buddhist sati, and if we still need thinking if we have perception.
Was Funes the perfect Vipassana practitioner? Did he had the perfect mindfulness? Thus was he liberated afterwards? The only things that could have stayed in his way is that he still tried to rely on the language, and name everything. Plus, it is not clear, how much he was an observer and how much he identified with what he was?
Funes had a synesthetic memory, similar to Solomon Shereshevski described by Luria, and both had difficulties generalizing and reasoning. Do we need thinking if we are able to perceive? We can assume that thinking is an instrument that our mind uses in order to overcome the limitations of perception. With perfect perception, like Funes's, our reasoning becomes unnecessary. In that configuration, however, we would integrate with difficulty in the current society, similar to Sereshevski.
Not alike was his thinking. He was not able to generalize, he only saw the particulars, and he thought that each thing should have been named differently.
"He was, let us not forget, almost incapable of general, platonic ideas. It was not only difficult for him to understand that the generic term dog embraced so many unlike specimens of differing sizes and different forms; he was disturbed by the fact that a dog at three-fourteen (seen in profile) should have the same name as the dog at three-fifteen (seen from the front). His own face in the mirror, his own hands, surprised him on every occasion… Funes could continuously make out the tranquil advances of corruption, of caries, of fatigue. He noted the progress of death, of moisture. He was the solitary and lucid spectator of a multiform world which was instantaneously and almost intolerably exact… I repeat, the least important of his recollections was more minutely precise and more lively than our perception of a physical pleasure or a physical torment… I suspect, nevertheless, that he was not very capable of thought. To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details, almost contiguous details. "
Reading this short story, I thought about the Luria's patient of a great memory, and of the Buddhist sati, and if we still need thinking if we have perception.
Was Funes the perfect Vipassana practitioner? Did he had the perfect mindfulness? Thus was he liberated afterwards? The only things that could have stayed in his way is that he still tried to rely on the language, and name everything. Plus, it is not clear, how much he was an observer and how much he identified with what he was?
Funes had a synesthetic memory, similar to Solomon Shereshevski described by Luria, and both had difficulties generalizing and reasoning. Do we need thinking if we are able to perceive? We can assume that thinking is an instrument that our mind uses in order to overcome the limitations of perception. With perfect perception, like Funes's, our reasoning becomes unnecessary. In that configuration, however, we would integrate with difficulty in the current society, similar to Sereshevski.
May 28, 2025
8. Notas de Funes el memorioso:
Con ganas de no decir nada de este cuento. Trata de un joven llamado Funes que es tan listo que es tonto; tiene una memoria espectacular y por esto le cuesta entender conceptos básicos. Por ejemplo, su cerebro no es capaz de asociar las imagenes de un perro de frente y el mismo de costado como el mismo perro, para el son criaturas distintas y deberían tener nombres diferentes.
Ideas interesantes narradas de maneras aburridisimas.
"Había aprendido sin esfuerzo el inglés, el francés, el portugués, el latín. Sospecho, sin embargo, que no era muy capaz de pensar. Pensar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer. En el abarrotado mundo de Funes no había sino detalles, casi inmediatos."
Final thoughts: Mentiría si dijera que lei esto en todas mis facultades.
Con ganas de no decir nada de este cuento. Trata de un joven llamado Funes que es tan listo que es tonto; tiene una memoria espectacular y por esto le cuesta entender conceptos básicos. Por ejemplo, su cerebro no es capaz de asociar las imagenes de un perro de frente y el mismo de costado como el mismo perro, para el son criaturas distintas y deberían tener nombres diferentes.
Ideas interesantes narradas de maneras aburridisimas.
"Había aprendido sin esfuerzo el inglés, el francés, el portugués, el latín. Sospecho, sin embargo, que no era muy capaz de pensar. Pensar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer. En el abarrotado mundo de Funes no había sino detalles, casi inmediatos."
Final thoughts: Mentiría si dijera que lei esto en todas mis facultades.
November 14, 2024
Funes es mi abuelo recordando cuando en la mili le robaron sus colegas una anguila en salsa que le había hecho su tía.
Sería un 3'5 maomeno. Forma indecorosa de terminar el desafío de lectura 2024 con un relato de 6 páginas ajdjajsjsk
Sería un 3'5 maomeno. Forma indecorosa de terminar el desafío de lectura 2024 con un relato de 6 páginas ajdjajsjsk
April 18, 2024
Ipuin politaa!! Borges💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 además, muy evocador para quienes pensamos constantemente en el olvido y la memoria
May 5, 2024
"Sospecho, sin embargo, que no era muy capaz de pensar. Pensar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer. En el abarrotado mundo de Funes no había sino detalles, casi inmediatos."
March 28, 2022
co jest, nawet mi się podobało :0?????
December 8, 2025
no entendí, pero luego sí.
November 3, 2020
This fascinating story follows a technical format that Borges uses in his many stories. First he takes a simple yet elegant idea: A man who can remember everything. Then he subtly explores along that idea, it's many intriguing aspects till us readers are presented with a whole universe based on that simple idea which is vastly different from our own subjective universe. But it reflects and contrasts basic themes of our own universe giving us new perspectives on things we take for granted.
First the idea of how our own thought process works. We ourselves with a limited memory spans are nevertheless creatures of abstract thinking. Our own brains function by generalizing and categorizing specific objects which our perceiving senses gather. The thinking pattern itself occurs to these generalized categories rather than specific objects (which are rare in our memory of limited capacity). We tend to build models of how things work and compare how each individual things we perceive fit into that generalized model. This idea is contrasted with Funes who can only see individual values of each object in each moment sees no point in categorizing them.
This one is presented directly with a single sentence that doesn't require much explanation from the author because he has explored the idea within the character of Funes.
Another idea that was fascinating to see is how interrelated memory and observation/sensory perception are. As mentioned at the very beginning of the story Funes observes an individual object (a passion flower) to the level of miniscule because to him it is not complete without even the tiniest amount of detail. His mental picture of a flower needs to contain every detail because he either can't fill up the gaps with imaginary parts form the general idea of a flower or he abhors the very idea of creating hybrids of units.
Borges also gives us a generalized overview of our own clever human methods of keeping records of the vast universe, bypassing the restrains of our puny memory. His example is the numbering system which is infinite and thus escapes the limits of our own mental capacity yet cleverly harnessed by a simple decimal system.
According to Borges this whole story is about insomnia. I found a good article on that aspect.
The real magic here is he doesn't succumb to scientific or mathematical jargons to present us these ideas. He uses a fascinating story which is enjoyable on its own. He creates an outsider among us by tinkering with a single function of the brain which is more fascinating than all the absurd creatures we meet in the popular fantasy genre. His creation of an universe to reflect upon our own human nature within few pages is itself a marvel.
First the idea of how our own thought process works. We ourselves with a limited memory spans are nevertheless creatures of abstract thinking. Our own brains function by generalizing and categorizing specific objects which our perceiving senses gather. The thinking pattern itself occurs to these generalized categories rather than specific objects (which are rare in our memory of limited capacity). We tend to build models of how things work and compare how each individual things we perceive fit into that generalized model. This idea is contrasted with Funes who can only see individual values of each object in each moment sees no point in categorizing them.
This one is presented directly with a single sentence that doesn't require much explanation from the author because he has explored the idea within the character of Funes.
Another idea that was fascinating to see is how interrelated memory and observation/sensory perception are. As mentioned at the very beginning of the story Funes observes an individual object (a passion flower) to the level of miniscule because to him it is not complete without even the tiniest amount of detail. His mental picture of a flower needs to contain every detail because he either can't fill up the gaps with imaginary parts form the general idea of a flower or he abhors the very idea of creating hybrids of units.
Borges also gives us a generalized overview of our own clever human methods of keeping records of the vast universe, bypassing the restrains of our puny memory. His example is the numbering system which is infinite and thus escapes the limits of our own mental capacity yet cleverly harnessed by a simple decimal system.
According to Borges this whole story is about insomnia. I found a good article on that aspect.
The real magic here is he doesn't succumb to scientific or mathematical jargons to present us these ideas. He uses a fascinating story which is enjoyable on its own. He creates an outsider among us by tinkering with a single function of the brain which is more fascinating than all the absurd creatures we meet in the popular fantasy genre. His creation of an universe to reflect upon our own human nature within few pages is itself a marvel.
June 15, 2022
Pues resulta que he entrado en una conversación, he expresado por qué me gusta este relato... y ahora no me apetece decirlo otra vez. Acabo de hacerlo.
Comentaba que la forma particular en que Funes almacenaba su ingente cantidad de datos, alude no sólo a una memoria portentosa sino a una framentación, una descomposición de sus instantes más nímios, percibidos como instancias diferentes. Si lo piensas bien... de puntos de vista, almacenados como independientes, sobre un mismo ser o momento.
Esa forma de percibir el momento, desde todos sus ángulos y matices, aumenta enormemente su complejidad y capacidad de sugerencia y por ello, de ser un momento positivo, el placer que extraes de él crece de modo exponencial.
Hay historias capaces de cambiar tu forma de mirar: la vida, a tus semejantes, tu forma de leer, de escuchar o, como en este caso de mirar un ser o instante desde las variables que encierra, no sólo la que se materializó como evidente desde donde tú miras.
Este es un relato muy corto y divertido que hizo eso por mí, con una ligereza tal, que pareciera que fuera sin querer.
Comentaba que la forma particular en que Funes almacenaba su ingente cantidad de datos, alude no sólo a una memoria portentosa sino a una framentación, una descomposición de sus instantes más nímios, percibidos como instancias diferentes. Si lo piensas bien... de puntos de vista, almacenados como independientes, sobre un mismo ser o momento.
Esa forma de percibir el momento, desde todos sus ángulos y matices, aumenta enormemente su complejidad y capacidad de sugerencia y por ello, de ser un momento positivo, el placer que extraes de él crece de modo exponencial.
Hay historias capaces de cambiar tu forma de mirar: la vida, a tus semejantes, tu forma de leer, de escuchar o, como en este caso de mirar un ser o instante desde las variables que encierra, no sólo la que se materializó como evidente desde donde tú miras.
Este es un relato muy corto y divertido que hizo eso por mí, con una ligereza tal, que pareciera que fuera sin querer.
September 21, 2017
Es increible la manera en que delata al cerebro del ser humano y lo afortunados que somos por simplemente poder pensar.
May 24, 2020
La memoria es un mecanismo que cumple una función adaptativa. Es gracias a conductas realizadas en el pasado o experiencias adquiridas de forma indirecta, que podemos actuar de una manera más eficiente y cautelosa cuando nos encontramos en situaciones de una índole similar. La pérdida de esta facultad, digamosle parcial o total es algo comúnmente temido, puede ser debido a un momento de estrés que nos impida recordar ese dato que tanto estudiamos para ese examen tan importante. Así como con otras afecciones más graves, por ejemplo el alzheimer o algun tipo de amnesia, abarcando desde una que te impida recordar fechas que fueron tan importantes para ti u otra en la que no seas capas de retener información a partir de un evento, viviendo permanentemente en el pasado. Y aún si, ¿quién se ubiera detenido a pensar en las consecuencias que vendrian implicadas en una perfecta e infalible evocación de estos recuerdos?
November 11, 2020
Funes the Memorious has been my favorite short story by Borges so far in the Ficciones. This felt more like an actual story, complete with exceptional writing and painting great pictures, as opposed to the more metaphysical and elusive "stories" of the first half of the Ficciones. Didn't like the ending so much but I can't complain about anything else.
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