We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 March 2017
The Remains of Sur
In the entry for July 18, 1963, the diary Borges, that masterpiece of malicious gossip and resentment with which Adolfo Bioy Casares redeems himself from the silliness and detachment of his fiction, records an appropriate and, in many ways, telling episode:
Después del almuerzo voy a Sur, donde hay una reunión que se repite cada dos o tres años. Están Murena, Girri, Pezzoni, María Luisa Bastos, Borges, Mallea, González Lanuza y Victoria. VICTORIA: “Los he llamado para ver qué se puede hacer para dar vida a Sur.” (Yo pienso que se podría prender una estufa eléctrica.). ALGUIEN: “Hay gente que ya no colabora.” OTRO: “¿Quién?” ALGUIEN: “Algunos por causas obvias, como Martínez Estrada. Otros como Soto …” GONZALEZ LANUZA: “Porque es perezoso. Si se le pide colaborará. (“Estamos salvados,” me dirá después Borges). Se podría llamar a Martínez Estrada a un debate.” BORGES: “Yo no quiero hablar con Martínez Estrada.” GONZALEZ LANUZA: “Bueno, eso es lo que no hay que hacer. El diálogo …” BORGES: “Para discutir hay que estar de acuerdo sobre algo. Si yo quiero jugar al truco y vos al tute no podemos jugar un partido … Además, no sé por qué Sur se va a convertir en una tribuna para comunistas.” ALGUIEN: “Los debates de antes …” UN SEGUNDO: “Eran otros tiempos. Estaban Pedro [Henríquez Ureña], Amado [Alonso] …” (925)
[After lunch I go to Sur, where there is a meeting that is repeated every two or three years. Present are Murena, Girri, Pezzoni, María Luisa Bastos, Borges, Mallea, González Lanuza and Victoria. VICTORIA: “I have called you to see what can be done to give life to Sur.” (I think that one could turn on a space heater.) SOMEONE: “There are those who don't participate.” ANOTHER: “Who?” SOMEONE: “Some for obvious reasons, like Martínez Estrada. Others like Soto …” GONZALEZ LANUZA: “Because he is lazy. If you ask him he will cooperate (“We're saved,” Borges will later tell me.) One could invite Martínez Estrada to a debate.” BORGES: “I don't want to talk to Martínez Estrada.” GONZALEZ LANUZA: “Well, that is what should not be done. Dialog …” BORGES: “In order to argue one must be in agreement about something. If I want to play truco and you tute we cannot play a game … Besides, I don't know why Sur should become a forum for communists.”
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
