I have started a small new project to bring Folk Tales (and fairy tales) from around the world to learners at Northstar, with a particular focus on tales from India. I have, since quite a long time, felt the need to tell and hear stories that feel rooted in our…
One of the greatest of writers, for me, is Stanislaw Lem. I think that sci-fi has the most natural affinity to philosophical realm. Lem (and PKD and LeGuin) seamlessly travel between sci-fi and philosophy. I read Lem's Solaris many years ago after watching Steven Soderbergh's movie. I did not know…
Part 1 Jorge Luis Borges said: Like the discovery of love, like the discovery of the sea, the discovery of Dostoevsky marks and important date in one's life. I discovered Fyodor Dostoevsky late in my life. It took me many attempts over some years to complete The Brothers Karamazov. It…
Sometimes I wonder how I stumbled upon Borges. I remember one passage that shattered my mind. The opening paragraph of Michel Foucault's The Order of Things had these lines: This book first arose out of a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage,…
This week I led a close reading of Jorge Luis Borges's short story The Babylon Lottery. It is one of my favourite short stories.…
The greatest writer of the 20th century, if not all time, for me, is Jorge Luis Borges. And if one reads Borges, he must also read Roberto Bolaño. I haven't read Bolaño before and I am starting with 2666. A serendipitous start with this quote in the book's opening: An…