| BORGES: EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW |
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| Borges in his apartment at Maipú Street, Buenos Aires downtown, interviewd by Renato Modernell on 7th March, 1984 (Photo Milton Shirata) |
| RENATO
MODERNELL - So
in Argentina your personal life is greatly affected by your fame... JORGE LUIS BORGES - Well, when I go out, yes. When I stay home, no. Sometimes I stay at home for 10 days. I don't have so many friends anymore... I was born in the penultimate year of the last century, in 1899... MODERNELL - In the same year as Hemingway. BORGES - Oh, yes? I didn't know that. MODERNELL - But I know that you never appreciated Hemingway very much... BORGES - No, not at all. But is Hemingway already dead or not? MODERNELL - Yes, he is. He died in 1961. He committed suicide. BORGES - Oh, yes, it's true, he committed suicide. Yes, yes, he killed himself... I, myself, have thought of suicide, but I have never had the courage. Leopoldo Lugones (argentinian writer) took poison, it's very quick, but it appears to be very painful. A friend of mine killed himself in front of the mirror. And there were people who hanged themselves, like Lugones's grandson. Other courageous people have jumped through a window, but I think it's too uncertain, of course, because you can break your leg without dying. Anyway, it's easier to use a gun, isn't it? MODERNELL - Now I'm convinced that longevity has never been in your plans... BORGES - It's a mistake, as I told you before. My mother was very afraid of turninng 100. It's terrible for one to get to an age like this and become too incapacitated to care for oneself. Besides that, I think that it's convenient for a writer to die earlier... but I don't know. I'm not courageous enough to commit suicide. After all, even life is a bad habit. MODERNELL - Like Buenos Aires? BORGES - Yes, longevity is also a bad habit, like Buenos Aires. |
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