29 Mar 2006
Since the World Was a World.
So I was reading today about this woman, who has a near-perfect memory. When I say “near-perfect,” I mean, ask her what happened on May 2, 1987 and she will tell you what day of the week it was, what news stories happened that day, what she ate for dinner and watched on tv, etc. That is at once a gift and a burden.
It reminded me of the Jorge Luis Borges story “Funes, the Memorious.” From the story:
We, in a glance, perceive three wine glasses on the table; Funes saw all the shoots, clusters, and grapes of the vine. He remembered the shapes of the clouds in the south at dawn on the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised in the Rio Negro on the eve of the battle of the Quebracho. These recollections were not simple; each visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, etc. He could reconstruct all his dreams, all his fancies. Two or three times he had reconstructed an entire day. He told me: I have more memories in myself alone than all men have had since the world was a world. And again: My dreams are like your vigils. And again, toward dawn: My memory, sir, is like a garbage disposal.
March 30th, 2006 at 16:48
It definitely sounds like a burden to me, although the excerpt from the story is really lovely. How would you have room for new stuff in your brain if it was so crowded with all the memories?
April 1st, 2006 at 10:07
ha, synchronicity happens…
was sitting at a bar with a cohort of pro fury just yesterday and a copy of that story fell out of my notebook…not sure who i’d printed it for and never given it to…def my favorite borges yarn…
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:21
meant to post a link to this book, which was on npr the other day…i’ve put it on my summer reading list and it falls under the ‘memorius’ category…
http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0786867787