Can anyone tell me what the twelve elements that make up the universe are? Borges lists them somewhere, but I can't find where. It is one of his fabulous lists.

Peter

At the moment, no.

Here's a link though, but I cannot see how this would be of any use to anyone besides myself

[hamete.org]

I think you have to go to a library and get one of his works. I'd try the U.C. Berkeley library, Peter. Interesting fellow: [www.uco.es]

Les

>Can anyone tell me what the twelve elements that make up the universe are?

Sure, According to Borges they are:

AEGRSYXXBR
AMGETB
DSC
OVTVLBLSTICPD
NEXPMPEPDBPHRLY
DPPPEGH
OSTTJER
QOOSSP
VNCT
ELVYRF
BVTXT and
CMB

Hmmm ... In French, his name would be pronounced 'zhorzh borzh', Spanish 'horgay borgays'? Prolly the source of the nursery rhyme, horgie porgie, puddin' & pie?

TThe question is one asked of me by my poet-engineer friend with the purple hair. I, myself, wrote a paper on the concept of play in Borges for a graduate course on postmodern fiction which I failed (with a grade of B), partly because I used too many sources (all of the book-length works in English of Borges). It was one of only two graduate courses I flunked in eight years (there other being a course on modern philosophy, because I fell asleep in class and because the professor would not admit that he did not understand and could not read my primary source (I was writing a paper on 'common sense' in the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Enough rambling for the moment. I will get back to you, perhaps. Thanks to all. Anyone know the specific text Borges' list comes from?

Peter, I would contact the people at the U.of Iowas, Borges center. There is a phone number and e-mail address. My guess is that if they don't know, nobody does: [www.uiowa.edu]


Les

DPPPEGH iisn't an element, it's a compound

In The Analytical Language of John Wilkins (El idioma analítico de John Wilkins), Jorge Luis Borges describes "a certain Chinese encyclopedia," the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in which it is written that animals are divided into:

1. those that belong to the Emperor,
2. embalmed ones,
3. those that are trained,
4. suckling pigs,
5. mermaids,
6. fabulous ones,
7. stray dogs,
8. those included in the present classification,
9. those that tremble as if they were mad,
10. innumerable ones,
11. those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
12. others,
13. those that have just broken a flower vase,
14. those that from a long way off look like flies.

#'s 12, 10, and 14 show Borges' ability to poke fun at the world and himself at the same time.

Les

Hey, howdja do that smiley thingy? Lemme try some experiments:



Remarkable how many of them have different names, but appear quite similar.

I wonder if this is one of the 12/14 elements.

Les

It is worth remembering that every writer begins with a naively physical notion of what art is. A book for him or her is not an expression or a series of expressions, but literally a volume, a prism with six rectangular sides made of thin sheets of papers which should include a cover, an inside cover, an epigraph in italics, a preface, nine or ten parts with some verses at the beginning, a table of contents, an ex libris with an hourglass and a Latin phrase, a brief list of errata, some blank pages, a colophon and a publication notice: objects that are known to constitute the art of writing.

* Evaristo Carriego (1930) Ch. 3

"Through the years, a man peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, tools, stars, horses and people. Shortly before his death, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the image of his own face."


well, there ARE 12, in any case

So far, an unsuccessful search...sigh.

If it is any consolation, I was at the local library last week and scanned through two collections of his writings. To no avail, right. Where did you get the idea? Maybe that would help, I mean.

Agree, Hugh, I think that Peter should take Les' suggestion of contacting the Borges Center, to see if they know anything about it.

I'm suspecting it's out there somewhere, but we're calling it the wrong name.

...a friend of mine asked me. It sort of rang a bell...but that leads nowhere. I'll just have to do some old fashioned research on this one. Thanks, all, for your attention to this one.

Peter