Chapter 56 Reading Notes on Borges' Novel "South"

This story is another version of Immortality.The experience of the protagonist Dahlman in the story is the experience of eternal life, an unbearable but unbearable experience.The experience is ten thousand times more terrifying than death itself, and because people can only have such unbearable experiences when they are alive, living has become a cursed thing.But after experiencing all that, what people often say "life is better than death" has become the protagonist's secret wealth in the artist's pen. From there, he entered the passage of eternal life and reached the land of pure and beautiful ideas. It can be said that he has been Turn life into beauty.The south is the hometown of people, and it is also the highest state of mind after people have experienced death. Except for eternal life, all real life in the south has become a drama in Dahlman's eyes. Abstract ideas cover everything and become eternal happiness. Living in the beauty of thinking and abstraction, every moment is a new life, and its novelty and emotion are extremely strong. For the first time, he felt that only in such moments can people truly live.In fact, isn't even immortality itself a play?Who has experienced the so-called "real" death?So eternal life is the most tragic drama.

The plot of the story is simple.A small accident caused Dahlman to suffer from sepsis. He experienced a life in the hospital that was worse than death, survived, and then went to his hometown to recuperate.The beautiful scenery of his hometown restored his desire to live, but none of that was meant to calm him down, because he soon faced death again.He was not afraid, because he had already lived like eternal life once, and nothing more terrible than that would happen.He clumsily picked up the dagger and walked towards life... "Eternal Life" emphasizes the burden of pain, and highlights the choice of life.People already know the pain of death and have experienced the pain of death, but they still have to choose a life like "die again" instead of getting rid of it once and for all.From reading this immortal book, the protagonist is placed in that immortal experience. His emotional experience is reminiscent of the symmetrical and immortal "Garden of Forking Paths". Pain is equal to happiness, sorrow and despair are equal to each other. The degree of bliss is also equal. After experiencing "life is better than death", you will appreciate "death is worse than life".To choose to live is to choose to experience death after death, with its annoyance, nausea, and fear followed by relief, wonder, and ecstasy.Human beings cannot live in instant eternity like that mysterious cat, but human beings can appreciate eternity in every moment, which cats cannot do.

When the protagonist Dahlman arrived in the south of his hometown, he saw an old man, a typical southern gaucho. A very old man was squatting on the floor with his back against the counter, as motionless as a thing.The long years have shrunk him, smoothed the corners, like a stone polished by running water or a proverb tempered by generations.He was dark, thin, and shriveled, as if out of time, in eternity. "Borges Anthology & #8226; Fiction Volume", p. 203, Hainan International Press and Publishing Center, 1996. This is another version of the immortal man.As soon as the old man saw Dahlmann, he knew what he had undertaken and what he would continue to bear.He later encouraged Dahlman to re-enter life, and he gave him the dagger to kill, allowing him to experience immortality again in a bloody duel.Dahlmann did not hesitate for three reasons: 1. This time he chose the form of death (immortality), which will be completely different from the previous experience because it is conscious. 2. Now that he has borne once an impossible pain, he can bear it a second time, and a third time. 3. The atmosphere in the south determines that Dahlman can only accept the challenge, that is, live like eternal life.If he dies, it will be relief, happiness, and joy to him; if he does not die, he can only continue to accept challenges in this way.This is the principle of the South, the cruelty of the South, and the charm of the South.The old gaucho silently conveyed the principles of the south to Dahlman, expecting him a lot.

Real life is disgusting and cannot be escaped, but only real life can provide people with the opportunity to experience eternal life, and Dahlman has no choice.His life began, and will continue like that, (or his experience in the hospital) is his magic weapon against the real life, which is the field of his artistic conception.It is entirely conceivable that Dahlmann was seriously injured in the duel (with his technique), and once again entered the pain of wanting to live and dying.It is the pain of knowing, the pain of living, the pain that the true Southerner chooses, the pain of choosing because he has no choice.This choice reaches the limit of beauty, is the pride of human beings, and is a symbol of spiritual immortality.When we stare at the clumsy but firm back of this man on the plain, we can't help sighing: Man, what kind of miracle is this earth!

The depiction of the spiritual trajectory to the south is a beautiful and tragic poem, and Borges' strong sense of artistic form will be engraved in the hearts of readers.