Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

Poetry
(New York: Dutton Books, 1954).
12. Jorge Manrique (1440–1479), a major Spanish poet whose main work is
Coplas a la muerte de su padre
(
Stanzas about the Death of his Father
). See appendix for Longfellow’s translation of “The Grave.”
13. This poem was translated into Spanish by Borges and published in his
Brief Anglo-Saxon Anthology.
14. This story, which appears in several collections of stories by Eduardo Wilde, was included by Borges in his collection
Cuentistas y pintores argentinos
[
Argentine painters and short-story writers
], Ediciones de Arte Gaglianone, 1985. Eduardo Wilde (1844–1913) was one of the most prominent intellectual figures of his time in Argentina.
15. Alfonso Reyes (1889–1959), Mexican writer, philosopher, and diplomat.
16. Borges includes this book by Leopoldo Lugones as volume 12 in his collection
Biblioteca personal.
17. In Old English,
cnif.
18. William the Conqueror (ca.1028–87), duke of Normandy and king of England after he defeated the Saxon king Harold at Hastings in the year 1066.
19. King Alfred (849–99), known as Alfred the Great. From the moment of his coro- nation as king of Wessex in 871, Alfred was forced to confront constant threats from Viking invaders. In the year 878, the Danish captured Wessex, and Alfred was forced to flee. But he returned soon thereafter and defeated the invaders at Eddington. In the year 886, Alfred and the Danes signed the Treaty of Wedmore, which established the partition of England. The north and east of the island re- mained under Danish control, but in exchange, Alfred was able to extend his do- main beyond the border of Wessex, thereby King Guthrum converted to Christianity. Alfred never ruled over all of England, but his reforms and military victories marked the beginning of a territorial consolidation that allowed his suc- cessors to carry out the unification of Anglo-Saxon England.
20. This episode appears in
King Harald’s Saga
, part II, chapter 94, of
Heimskringla
, by Snorri Sturluson.
21. Borges is probably referring here to James Lewis Farley (1823–85), English writer and journalist, born in Dublin. He was consul to Turkey in Bristol and contributed to the improvement of relations between Turkey and England. Some of his works include:
Two Years Travel in Syria, The Massacres in Syria, New Bulgaria, The Druses and the Maronites, Mondern Turkey, The Resources of Turkey,
and
Egypt, Cyprus and Asiatic Turkey.
22. Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), Icelandic poet, scholar, and historian, was the most famous medieval writer of Iceland. He wrote
Heimskringla
or
Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
and
Prose Edda
or
Younger Edda
.
Egil’s Saga
is also attributed to him. Snorri Sturluson studied in Oddi under the tutelage of Jon Loptsson, and was not only the most outstanding scholar of his time but also probably the man of most noble lineage in all of Iceland. In addition to scholarship, Snorri was interested in wealth and power, and lacked neither. He participated in political intrigues involving the king of Norway, Haakon IV, and promised to give Iceland to his crown; then—for reasons no longer fully understood—he delayed turning it over to him for a long time. As Borges points out, Snorri Sturluson’s life has been described as “a complex chronicle of betrayals.” In the year 1241, after being snubbed by Snorri Sturluson, King Haakon lost his patience and ordered his assassination. Borges explores these fundamental aspects of his life in
Medieval Germanic Literature
, OCC, 950–51. See also Borges’s prologue to his translation of the first part of the
Prose Edda
or
Younger Edda
, titled
Gylfaginning
or
The Tricking of Gylfi.
23. The famous movie by Sergei M. Eisenstein, first shown in 1938.
24. The “ancient English chronicle” mentioned by Borges is the
Gesta Regum Anglorum
, or
The History of the English Kings
, written by the English historian William de Malmesbury (ca.1090–1143) around the year 1125.
    CLASS 8

1. Jerónimo Lobo (1596–1678), a Portuguese Jesuit. He joined the Jesuit Order in Lisbon and devoted his life to being a missionary.
2. Decimus Junius Juvenalis (ca. 60–140), Latin poet. The two poems by Samuel Johnson mentioned by Borges were inspired by his work. “London: A Poem,” from 1738, is based on Juvenal’s Satire 3. “The Vanity of Human Wishes,” from 1749, is modeled after Satire 10.
3. Paul Groussac (1848–1929), Argentine writer born in France.
4. Published in 1755.
5.