Monday, June 18, 2012

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Borges and Public Literati

I remember how even those unfamiliar with his poetry knew who Allen Ginsberg was. How he would appear in other than literary publications and on video. How the auditorium at the University of Pittsburgh overflowed with people for his reading in 1991.  How Ginsburg had security bring people up onto the stage with him rather than turn them away.  I remember John Updike on the networks.  Their presence in the media and during public appearances confirmed to me that poets and writers held a venerated and important place in American life.  Watching this interview with Borges on what would have been his 112th birthday, I find myself hungry for the presence of such literary elders not just in my private life but in public life.  Find myself wondering how the media, beyond Oprah perhaps, can ignore the great poets and writers of our day and why their views are not valued among the various pundits and talking heads of the day.

Thanks to Mariana Soto for the following interview with Borges from late in his life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo2Eo-G-1sE