Chapter 60 Reading Notes "Congress"--Reading Borges' Novels

A farmer's son, a passionate idealist, arrives in Buenos Aires, where he breaks into the center of the world.This is what the protagonist Ferry experienced in his youth, and later determined the spiritual baptism of his life. The Idea Model of Don Alexandria In the Congress, there is a core figure who decides the fate of all people, and this is the Chairman Don Alexander.This person is a bit like a figure in a legend, elusive and very classical.He is a manor owner, and has inherited the manor and spiritual heritage from his father's generation - one hundred books.He had tried to enter politics in order to set out to realize some ideal in the world, but he had failed.In grief and indignation, he made an extremely arrogant decision to set up a world congress with greater prospects than politics—that is, to establish a spiritual kingdom belonging to all mankind.But the spirit cannot be spoken, it can only be experienced, which determines that the activities of the Congress are also some strange activities that can only be understood but not expressed, just like the experience of the protagonist Ferry.The ambitious Alexander miraculously held the congress in his heart as scheduled. This event also reflects the essence of the spirit - if you pursue it, you will have it, if you don't pursue it, you will have nothing.Don Alejandro chooses representatives through mystical intuition, and representatives of various personalities make up his rich world.He allowed his representatives to develop themselves to the best of their abilities, allowing them to gain various unforgettable experiences, and finally led them to reach the highest state-the destination of the heart.This spiritual master is somewhat similar to a god, but he is also a real person.The Congress puts people in it without knowing it, and through the hints of the environment, people can experience it under the control of the vague subconscious. In this respect, it is another version of Kafka, and Don Alexander is a bit like Kram's. avatar.Don Alejandro was the kind of idealistic genius who set up a congress that was a model of the spirit: such an obscure mechanism of restraint; all kinds of irreconcilable conflicts; the infinite tension of the unity of the two poles; the continuous evolution of informal forms.All of this is far beyond the operation of the secular Chinese National Assembly, and non-geniuses cannot take on such an important task.What the secular National Assembly changes is the progress of external history, and what the congress changes is the progress of spiritual history.Don Alejandro's approach to leadership is also unique.He knew human nature well and could predict how it would develop, and the purpose of his congress was to liberate human nature and create the miracle of time.As long as he sits at home and does not move, the world revolves around him, and all kinds of conflicts will push the contradictions to the peak, and the realm of his subordinates will also improve step by step.He never speaks empty words, because words are fragile, and what determines the direction of development is action, that is, the impulse of desire.His conference mobilized everyone's actions, made everyone indulge in the experience of life (both evil and good), and in the end, led everyone to the same goal, entering the eternal ascension of "nothing".That wily foresight, acquired by Don Alejandro in his long intellectual life, was the glue that unified the representatives.No matter how high or how daring a person jumps, it is always within his expectation and within his grasp, because his ability as a fabler is closely connected with the rhythm of life.

Ferry's History The soon-to-be-deceased Ferry recounted his experience, a topic reserved for those who face death. Many years ago, the young Ferri, who came to Buenos Aires alone to make a living, first heard about the Congress.It was an extremely obscure expression. It seemed that everyone knew nothing about the nature of the conference, but everyone was sure that this institution existed.Ferry's friend Ilala took him to the meeting, and President Don Alexander recognized him simply because of Ferry's name ("Ferry" means iron and knife, and probably also means inner conflict).Unfathomable and taciturn, Don Alejandro possessed a strange hold over each delegate.The atmosphere of the whole meeting is ambiguous and full of illusion, which cannot be depicted with realistic creative techniques, because what emerges at the beginning of the meeting is the essential thing, and it takes a long time to understand the essential thing, and it requires people to work tirelessly It is a unique, creative endeavor to discover, that is, to use irrational brute force to break into strange places.Although Ferry couldn't sort out how he felt about the Congress, he had a vague premonition that he had entered the center of the world that would become everything to him from now on.All representatives were burning with passion, and each was willing to sacrifice himself to this illusory cause.When they got together, an abstract artistic conception erased the secular distinctions in individuals, and everyone really felt the existence of universal humanity, and had the urge to sing praises for this humanity.One day, Fermin, the chairman's nephew, showed Ferry the ugliness of human nature. His bad performance in front of the gangsters became a question in Ferry's mind: Is such an inferior person qualified to represent human beings?The answer is left for the end.Then Ferry witnessed another machismo on Tver's behalf.Tver seemed to be using and manipulating Chairman Don Alexander.He squandered his wealth viciously, purchasing unlimited books for his own tastes, and seemed to bankrupt the Chairman.Don Alejandro, on the other hand, kept his countenance and complied with his every request.Ferry felt that Tver had bad intentions, and his actions were like the centrifugal force of an ever-increasing circle. He worried that the circle would expand infinitely, and one day the center would be out of control.Tver looked as if he had taken the chairmanship.Can Don Alexander control Tver?Why would a congress of lofty ideals tolerate intrigue?Will this conspiracy destroy the economic foundation of the business?The answers to these questions are also left till the end.Perhaps Don Alejandro felt the time had come when he decided to invite Ferry to visit his native land, the lonely, desolate, harsh-climate estate on the Brazilian frontier.The Carredo estate is actually the stern heart of Don Alessandro.The so-called manor heritage turned out to be just a row of simple brick houses. The special structure of the brick houses was only to stand the severe test of time and other aspects; They eat raw meat like savages; there are no toilets in the manor; the bedrooms are unimaginably shabby.Then Ferry visited the so-called building works of Don Alejandro, which was nothing more than an incomplete amphitheater.The distinctive, haughty workers are violent, but not mournful.Ferry watched as Don Alejandro calmly put down a confrontation between hired workers.Don Alejandro was uncharacteristically gentle at the time, behaving like a stern clan chief.Here the reader is reminded that what Don Alejandro suppressed was his own inner conflicts, which he maintained in a unity with an iron will, and developed himself in a unique and ruthless way.What Ferry got in the manor was a deepening sense of loneliness. In fact, he was also experiencing the inner loneliness of Don Alexander and his superhuman will.After returning from the Carredo Manor, Don Alejandro decided to perform a second spiritual baptism on Ferri.This time, he sent Ferry to London, the red maze full of carnival of life.There the young Ferry fell in love with the beauty Beatrice at first sight.Beatrice enlightened Ferry with the language of the body, allowing him to understand the illusory nature of life and the inevitable bearing of pain.This realization made him more determined to pursue his ideal.The final pivotal moment finally arrived, an unexpected turn, the moment where each representative's experience reached its zenith of brilliance.Don Alejandro came out from the depths of the dark cellar and ordered the people to burn the pile of books that Tver had bought in the yard and all the books in the cellar.All the people huddled happily together while the fire was burning.In the light of the fire at this moment, they felt that they were approaching the truth under the leadership of Don Alejandro, and this feeling made them so happy.Yes, the truth is not in the books, it is in the depths of everyone's heart, and now each of them is a child of the truth, whether it is the dandy Fermin, or the conspirator Tver, or the unprincipled Nerenstein.Everyone has gone through a long emotional journey, and now they are all equal and detached before this huge pile of ashes.Don Alejandro directed all this like an excellent magician, and he gave everyone a time that broke all forms at this moment.Ferry also learned that Don Alejandro had suspended construction projects in his hometown, which had the same meaning as the burning of books.This is the incomparable purity of eternity, this is the endless time, and the course of the congress is the course of man from being to nothing.This does not mean that Don Alejandro despised the worldly life, on the contrary, it was precisely because he put life above everything else that he initiated this spiritual movement to explore the meaning of life.People who have experienced the miracle will henceforth acquire a special quality that leads to a double life.Although the form of the congress has disappeared, it has become the hometown and destination in everyone's heart. People may have more introspection and less frivolity in their future lives.Perhaps there is nothing more and nothing less, the only difference being awareness, that is, awareness of the essence of life.