Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

Byron,
Don Juan
, canto II, stanza LIII: “A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry / Of some strong swimmer in his agony.”
5. Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936), Spanish essayist, novelist, playwright, and philosopher.
6. “Troy Town” was written in 1869.
7. See Class 10, note 8. “The Unobtainable Cup” [
La copa inhallable
] is a long eclogue from Leopoldo Lugones’s book,
Lunario sentimental
(1909).
8. Borges refers to these two words in his essay “Blindness” [
La Ceguera
] in
Seven Nights
[
Siete Noches
], OCC Vol III, 280.
9. Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was a Scottish poet, critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology.
    CLASS 22

1. In 1856. The full name of this student publication is
Oxford and Cambridge Magazine
.
2. See Class 21, note 9.
3. Published in 1858.
4. Jean Bodel (ca.1167–1210), epic poet, playwright, and author of French
fabliaux
. The work Borges refers to and later quotes is
La Chanson des Saisnes
[Song of the Saxons], written by Bodel around the year 1200.
Charlemagne was defeated by the Basques on August 15, 778, in Roncesvalles, a mountain pass in the western Pyrenees (between France and the Spanish province of Navarre). It has been idealized by many poets as an example of glorious military martyrdom.
5. Joseph of Arimathea, according to the Gospels, is the man who donated his own tomb for the burial of Jesus.
6. According to the source of the legend, the name can also appear as Galaor or Galehaut.
7. Avalon is a mythological country ruled by Morgan, the sister of King Arthur. According to the legend, Arthur is taken there after his last battle. In spite of the efforts of several researchers, the historical existence of Arthur has never been proven.
8. He is referring to Olaf II Haraldsson (995–1030), king of Norway from 1015 to his death. He spent his reign uniting Norway and converting his people to Christianity. His death in the Battle of Stiklestad, in the year 1030, turned him into a saint and the eternal king of Norway, and contributed to the consolidation of the monarchy as well as the establishment of the church in that country.
9. The battle took place on the outskirts of the city of Alcácer Quibir, in Morocco in August 1578. There the king of Portugal, Don Sebastian (1554–78), and in spite of the opposition of his people, assisted Mohamed the Black, deposed king of Morocco. In spite of having an army of 13,000 Portuguese, 1,000 Spanish, 3,000 Germans, and 600 Italians, he was unable to overcome the forces of Abd-al Malik, “El Moluco,” who commanded the insurrection. Because of a series of calamities, only sixty soldiers of Don Sebastian escaped with their lives. Sebastian himself died from battle wounds, though there was a legend about his mysterious disappearance, and the hope that he could return at any moment to save his country.
10. Antônio Conselheiro (1830–97) was a peasant from the northeast of Brazil who led a group of about two hundred people in a failed rebellion against the government. Apparently Conselheiro believed he was of divine lineage and proposed the reinstatement of the monarchy in Brazil. He confronted the army, in which fought the poet Euclides da Cunha (1866–1909). Euclides da Cunha was at first against the revolutionaries, but he soon understood that the rebellion was the result of poverty, and he felt compassion for their fate. He wrote about his experiences in his work
Rebellion in the Backlands
. With difficulty, the army managed to defeat the peasants of Conselheiro in the battle of Canudos. Conselheiro and his companions who survived the battle were beheaded by the government forces and their heads were hung from posts.
11. Seventh verse of the
Chanson des Saisnes
by Jean Bodel. Following are the first lines of the poem:
“Qui d’oyr et d’entendre a loisir ne talant / Face pais, si escoute bonne chançon vaillant / Dont li livre d’estoire sont tesmoing et garant! / Jamais vilains jougleres de cesti ne se vant, / Car il n’en saroit dire ne les vers ne le chant. / N’en sont que trois materes a nul home vivant: / De France et de Bretaigne et de Romme la grant; / Ne de ces trois materes n’i a nule samblant. / Le conte de Bretaigne si sont vain et plaisant, / Et cil de Romme sage et de sens aprendant, / Cil de France sont voir chascun jour aparant. / Et de ces trois materes tieng la plus voir disant: / La coronne de France doir estre si avant / Que tout autre roi doivent estre a li apendant / De la loi crestienne, qui