Jorge Luis Borges

Pierre Menard, Autor del Quijote

Pierre Menard, Author of the Quijote

Page 8

No hay ejercicio intelectual que no sea finalmente inútil. There is no intellectual exercise that is not ultimately pointless. Una doctrina filosófica es al principio una descripción verosímil del universo; giran los anos y es un mero capítulo -- cuando no un párrafo o un nombre -- de la historia de la filosofía. A philosophical doctrine is, at first, a plausible description of the unverse; the years go by, and it is a mere chapter -- if not a paragraph or proper noun -- in the history of philosophy. En la literatura, esa caducidad es aún más notoria. In literature, that "falling by the wayside," that loss of "relevance," is better known. El Quijote -- me dijo Menard -- fue ante todo un libro agradable; ahora es una ocasión de brindis patriótico, de soberbia gramatical, de obscenas ediciones de lujo. The Quixote, Menard remarked, was first and foremost a pleasant book; it is now an occasion for patriotic toasts, grammatical arrogance, obscene de luxe editions. La gloria es una incomprensión y quizá la peor. Fame is a form -- perhaps the worst form -- of incomprehension.

Nada tienen de nuevo esas comprobaciones nihilistas; lo singular es la decisión que de ellas derivó Pierre Menard. Those nihilistic observations were not new; what waqs remarkable was the decision that Pierre Menard derived from them. Resolvió adelantarse a la vanidad que aguarda todas las fatigas del hombre; acometió una empresa complejísima y de antemano fútil. He resolved to anticipate the vanity that awaits all the labors of mankind; he undertook a task of infinite complexity, a task futile from the outset. Dedicó sus escrúpulos y vigilias a repetir en un idioma ajeno un libro preexistente. He dedicated his scruples and his nights "lit by midnight oil" to repeating in a foreign language a book that already existed. Multiplicó los borradores; corrigió tenazmente y desgarró miles de páginas manuscritas¹. His drafts were endless; he stubbornly corrected, and he ripped up thousands of handwritten pages. No permitió que fueran examinadas por nadie y cuidó que no le sobrevivieran. He would allow no one to see them, and took care that they not survive him.³ En vano he procurado reconstruirlas. In vain have I attempted to reconstruct them.

¹Recuedo sus cuadernos cuadriculados, sus negras tachaduras, sus peculiares símbolos tipográficos y su letra de insecto. En los atardeceres le gustaba salir a caminar por los arrabales de Nîmes; solía llevar consigo un cuaderno y hacer una alegre fogata.

³I recall his square -ruled notebooks, his black crossings-out, his peculiar typographical symbols, and his insect-like handwriting. In the evening, he liked to go out for walks on the outskirts of Nîmes; he would often carry along a notebook and make a cheery bonfire.

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