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June 07, 2005

The Grave of Jorge Luis Borges

Rui: We're going to Switzerland, do you want us to bring you anything?
Claudia: Well... a bar of solid gold; if you happen to go to Basel, bring a catalog from the museum of modern art; and if you go to Geneva, a photo of Jorge Luis Borges' grave which is in the Cimitière des Rois.

So, a big hug to R&M for fulfilling the entire order...even though I'm a bit disappointed at the chocolate gold bar ;-)

"The inscription 'And ne forhtedon na', formulated in old English, has been translated over and over again - perhaps by the influence of Maria Esther Vázquez's book "Borges, esplendor y derrota" - as "the doors of the sky were opened to him"; nevertheless, this seems like an error condemned to repeat itself, and the correct translation - according to the article "Siete guerreros nortumbrios" by Martín Hadis, published in the magazine Idiomanía - is in fact "and who did not fear".

"The engraving of the seven soldiers is a copy of the engraving of another tombstone - possibly the tombstone erected in the IX century in the monastery of Lindisfarne, in the north of England, which commemorates the viking attack suffered by the monastery in the year 793 and that Borges related to 'La balada de Maldon'."

Translated from here (in spanish).

Posted by claudia