Finder's Guide

sprite in Shakespeare's Tempest

angel in Hebrew Bible

one-eyed monsters mentioned by Herodotus and Pliny

subject of a poem by Egil Skallagrimsson

Italian poet, 1474-1533, author of the Orlando Furioso

Aristarchus of Samothrace, Greek critic and grammarian, c.220-143, author of lost commentaries on Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and many others

Greek general, c. 530-466

Aristophanes, Greek comic playwright, c.450-388

Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384-22.

Fishburn and Hughes: "A Greek philosopher whose comprehensive system over a range of theoretical and practical questions from metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics to politics and biology has influenced Western science for more than two thousand years. Though not a philosopher whom Borges quotes extensively, Aristotle's awareness that no one system of thought can encompass the whole of being and serve for the deduction of all truths is an underlying theme in Borges. Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, found himself in disagreement with his master's idealism, according to which the observed world is only a reflection of the real world of ideas. Aristotle stressed the primacy of the particular or individual over the general. Thus in the Categories he distinguished between primary substances, such as particular men or horses, and secondary substances, such as the species or genera to which these particularities belonged. This polarity has characterised human thought through the centuries. Deutsches Requiem:When Borges, quoting an aphorism of Coleridge (TL 337), divides men into Aristotelians or Platonists, he refers to their contrasting world views. The difference between the Aristotelian concept of the particularising nature of reality and the Platonic concept of its abstract, generalising nature as manifested in language is humorously treated by Borges in Tunes the Memorious'. A link between the discussion of the mnemonic system in Aristotle's De Memoria and Borges's story is suggested by R. Sorabji (Aristotle on Memory, London 1972, ch. 2). Developing an argument used by Plato against himself (in his Parmenides), Aristotle further refutes the duality of the Platonic doctrine in his famous argument of the Third Man, who provides a necessary ideal for the combination of the First Man, the archetype, and any Second Man, its visible manifestation, and who in turn will necessitate a Fourth Man, and so on, postulating an infinite regress. This theme, much used by Borges, finds its prime example in 'The Circular Ruins'. The Other Death: the reference to Aristotle's denial that 'it is within God's power to make what once was into something that has never been' can be found in his Nicomachean Ethics (1139b) where he quotes the poet Agathon in support: 'For this alone is lacking even to God, / To make undone things that have once been done.' Averroës’ Search: Aristotle's thought was rekindled in Western Europe by the writings of his Arab commentator Averroes and, through Aquinas, became the dominant influence in medieval theology. See Politics, Rhetoric, Summa Theologiae." (16)

state in United States

perhaps Jacinto Ernesto Arizu, Argentine wine maker, b. 1910

Parodi: "‘Arizu’ es el nombre de una bodega que, desde 1901, se dedica a la producción de vinos en la provincia de Mendoza" (405).

character in the Bhagavadgita

state in United States

in the United States

municipality in Castile near Burgos

Harlequin, stock character in commedia dell' arte

Parodi: “Todo salió como una jugada del Gran Maestro ajedrecista Arlequín”: el enunciado es una variación de la expresión “una jugada maestra”, o sea, una obra excepcional en su clase. Bustos deforma el apellido del Gran Maestro Alexandre Alekhine. (1892-1946) ajedrecista ruso, conocido como el “doctor Alekhine”. En septiembre de 1927, Alekhine venció a José R. Capablanca (1888-1942) en Buenos Aires y se convirtió en campeón del mundo. El estallido de la segunda Guerra Mundial lo sorprendió en la Argentina durante un certamen; volvió a Europa y más tarde fue acusado de colaboración con el nazismo. (429)

Picasso's harlequin paintings

town in southern France

Argentine writer, 1900-1942, author of El juguete rabioso, Los siete locos and numerous other works

Collins novel, 1866