pynchon/borges

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 03/08/2006 Michael J. Hußmann wrote:

>> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/books/14895289.htm
>
> Hadn't we discussed that one a couple of weeks ago? Enrique Fernandez'
> claim that Pynchon had been quoting verbatim from Borges' "Es Sur" is
> patently false. Agreed, the source of the notion that Rivadavia Street
> is where the true south begins is probably "El Sur"

Yes, I think that's correct on both counts.

'El Sur' in the original Spanish:
http://www.ciudadseva.com/textos/cuentos/esp/borges/sur.htm

'El Sur' translated into English:
http://www.akirarabelais.com/borges/elsur.html

> (and for all I know,
> it may not even be an actual saying among the inhabitants of Bunenos
> Aires, but have been invented by Borges), but that's where the
> similarity ends, even when labyrinths and Borges himself are referred 
> to
> (more than once) in this chapter.

I'd argue that von Göll's couplet later on in the novel -- "I can take 
down your fences and your labyrinth walls, I can lead you back to the 
Garden you hardly remember" (388) -- is a fairly straightforward 
reference to 'The Garden of Forking Paths':

http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lt/lt204/forking_paths.htm

And Springer's mention of Squalidozzi's "dream of pampas and sky" just 
before that does have resonance with 'El Sur'.

> In GR, Squalidozzi goes on educating
> Slothrop about the political situation in Argentina, whereas in "El
> Sur", Dahlmann continues on his way to the station, musing about a cat
> in a cafe. There's no quote, verbatim or otherwise, from "El Sur".

No, there's no quote, but you can sort of map Slothrop onto Dahlmann in 
a couple of ways (particularly the description of Dahlmann's treatment 
at the sanitarium on the Calle Ecuador.) But I think that if there is 
an intentional allusion in that episode (263-4), it's in a similar 
ironic vein to the comparison between Tyrone and "Tannhauser, the 
Singing Nincompoop" later (364). Slothrop, costumes and disguises 
notwithstanding, is nearly as much an anti-hero as Benny Profane.

best