Jorge Luis Borges, Paulo Coelho
Der argentinische Schriftsteller Jorge Luis Borges wurde am 24. August 1899 als Sohn eines Anwalts und Psychologiedozenten in Buenos Aires geboren. 1914 übersiedelte er mit seinem zunehmend erblindenden Vater und der Mutter nach Genf, wo er als Lehrer für Deutsch, Französisch und Latein seinen Lebensunterhalt bestritt. Auf einer Reise nach Mallorca und Spanien entstanden erste, größtenteils verschollene Essays und Gedichte. 1921 kehrte Borges nach Buenos Aires zurück: Hier wurde er Beiträger zahlreicher Literaturzeitschriften und initiierte die Wandzeitung Prisma. Weitere Gründungen (Proa, 1922; Bug, 1922) folgten. Die Lyrik dieser Zeit bringt das Interesse des Dichters an der Geschichte Argentiniens und seine Liebe zu Buenos Aires zum Ausdruck.1938 begann Borges als Bibliothekar einer Vorortbücherei und übersetzte Franz Kafkas Die Verwandlung. Mit der gemeinsam mit Bioy Casares und Silvina Ocampo herausgegebenen Antología de la literatura fantástica (1941) trug er wesentlich zur Verbreitung und Etablierung der phantastischen Literatur nicht nur im spanischsprachigen Raum bei. Nebenbei entstanden erste eigene Versuche dieser Richtung.Nach dem Militärputsch 1976 feierte Borges die neuen Machthaber zunächst als Befreier, distanzierte sich aber zunehmend, nachdem Nachrichten über Menschenrechtsverletzungen bekannt geworden waren. 1985 erschien mit Los conjurados (Die Verschworenen) das letzte Werk des Schriftstellers zu Lebzeiten. Im Dezember 1985 zog Borges mit seiner Sekretärin und späteren Ehefrau Maria Kodama (telegraphische Heirat im April 1986) nach Genf, wo er am 14. Juni 1986 verstarb.
Aus: The Modesty of History (Übersetzt von Ruth L. C. Simms)
“On September 20, 1792, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (who had accompanied the Duke of Weimar on a military expedition to Paris) saw the finest army of Europe inexplicably repulsed at Valmy by some French militiamen, and said to his disconcerted friends: "In this place and on this day, a new epoch in the history of the world is beginning, and we shall be able to say that we have been present at its origin." Since that time historic days have been numerous, and one of the tasks of governments (especially in Italy, Germany, and Russia) has been to fabricate them or to simulate them with an abundance of preconditioning propaganda followed by relentless publicity. Such days, which reveal the influence of Cecil B. De Mille, are related less to history than to journalism. I have suspected that history, real history, is more modest and that its essential dates may be, for a long time, secret. A Chinese prose writer has observed that the unicorn, because of its own anomaly, will pass unnoticed. Our eyes see what they are accustomed to seeing. Tacitus did not perceive the Crucifixion, although his book recorded it.
Those thoughts came to me after a phrase happened to catch my eye as I leafed through a history of Greek literature. The phrase aroused my interest because of its enigmatic quality: "He brought in a second actor." I stopped; I found that the subject of that mysterious action was Aeschylus and that, as we read in the fourth chapter of Aristotle's Poetics, he "raised the number of actors from one to two." It is well known that the drama was an offshoot of the religion of Dionysus. Originally, a single actor, the hypokrites, elevated by the cothurnus, dressed in black or purple and with his face enlarged by a mask, shared the scene with the twelve individuals of the chorus. The drama was one of the ceremonies of the worship and, like all ritual, was in danger of remaining invariable. Aeschylus' innovation could have occurred on but one day, five hundred years before the Christian era; the Athenians saw with amazement and perhaps with shock (Victor Hugo thought the latter) the unannounced appearance of a second actor.”
Jorge Luis Borges (24. August 1899 – 14. Juni 1986)
Der brasilianische Schriftsteller Paulo Coelho wurde am 24. August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro aus Sohn einer gutbürgerlichen Familie geboren. In der Jesuitenschule, die er besuchte, lehnte er sich gegen die Einschränkung seiner Freiheit auf. In dieser Zeit keimte bei ihm der Wunsch, Schriftsteller zu werden. Im Alter von dreißig Jahren zog Paulo Coelho mit seiner ersten Ehefrau nach London und fing dort zu schreiben an. 1978 kehrte er nach Brasilien zurück, arbeitete ein Vierteljahr als leitender Angestellter bei einer Plattenfirma und trennte sich von seiner Frau.Im Jahr darauf traf er eine frühere Freundin wieder: Christina Oiticica. Mit ihr – sie wurde schließlich seine zweite Ehefrau – bereiste er Europa. 1986 pilgerte er auf dem Jakobsweg nach Santiago de Compostela. Darüber schrieb er sein erstes Buch: "Auf dem Jakobsweg. Tagebuch einer Pilgerreise nach Santiago de Compostela". Von Paulo Coelhos zweitem Buch, "Der Alchimist", wurden zunächst nur ein paar hundert Exemplare verkauft, doch als ein anderer Verlag (Editora Rocco) seinen nächsten Roman – "Brida" – 1990 erfolgreich verlegte, wurde der Verlag Harper Collins in den USA auf Paulo Coelho aufmerksam und brachte 1993 eine amerikanische Übersetzung von "Der Alchimist" mit einer Startauflage von 50 000 Exemplaren heraus. Noch im gleichen Jahr erwarb Warner Bros die Filmrechte von "Der Alchimist". Inzwischen gilt der Roman als einer der meistverkauften überhaupt. Die Gesamtauflage der Bücher von Paulo Coelho soll bis 2005 auf 65 Millionen Exemplare angewachsen sein.
Aus: Eleven Minutes
Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. "Once upon a time" is how all the best children's stories begin and "prostitute" is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning.
Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria.
Like all prostitutes, she was born both innocent and a virgin, and, as an adolescent, she dreamed of meeting the man of her life (rich, handsome, intelligent), of getting married (in a wedding dress), having two children (who would grow up to be famous) and living in a lovely house (with a sea view). Her father was a travelling salesman, her mother a seamstress, and her hometown, in the interior of Brazil, had only one cinema, one nightclub and one bank, which was why Maria was always hoping that one day, without warning, her Prince Charming would arrive, sweep her off her feet and take her away with him so that they could conquer the world together.
While she was waiting for her Prince Charming to appear, all she could do was dream. She fell in love for the first time when she was eleven, en route from her house to school. On the first day of term, she discovered that she was not alone on her way to school: making the same journey was a boy who lived in her neighborhood and who shared the same timetable. They never exchanged a single word, but gradually Maria became aware that, for her, the best part of the day were those moments spent going to school: moments of dust, thirst and weariness, with the sun beating down, the boy walking fast, and with her trying her hardest to keep up.”
Paulo Coelho (Rio de Janeiro, 24. August 1947)
Aus: The Modesty of History (Übersetzt von Ruth L. C. Simms)
“On September 20, 1792, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (who had accompanied the Duke of Weimar on a military expedition to Paris) saw the finest army of Europe inexplicably repulsed at Valmy by some French militiamen, and said to his disconcerted friends: "In this place and on this day, a new epoch in the history of the world is beginning, and we shall be able to say that we have been present at its origin." Since that time historic days have been numerous, and one of the tasks of governments (especially in Italy, Germany, and Russia) has been to fabricate them or to simulate them with an abundance of preconditioning propaganda followed by relentless publicity. Such days, which reveal the influence of Cecil B. De Mille, are related less to history than to journalism. I have suspected that history, real history, is more modest and that its essential dates may be, for a long time, secret. A Chinese prose writer has observed that the unicorn, because of its own anomaly, will pass unnoticed. Our eyes see what they are accustomed to seeing. Tacitus did not perceive the Crucifixion, although his book recorded it.
Those thoughts came to me after a phrase happened to catch my eye as I leafed through a history of Greek literature. The phrase aroused my interest because of its enigmatic quality: "He brought in a second actor." I stopped; I found that the subject of that mysterious action was Aeschylus and that, as we read in the fourth chapter of Aristotle's Poetics, he "raised the number of actors from one to two." It is well known that the drama was an offshoot of the religion of Dionysus. Originally, a single actor, the hypokrites, elevated by the cothurnus, dressed in black or purple and with his face enlarged by a mask, shared the scene with the twelve individuals of the chorus. The drama was one of the ceremonies of the worship and, like all ritual, was in danger of remaining invariable. Aeschylus' innovation could have occurred on but one day, five hundred years before the Christian era; the Athenians saw with amazement and perhaps with shock (Victor Hugo thought the latter) the unannounced appearance of a second actor.”
Jorge Luis Borges (24. August 1899 – 14. Juni 1986)
Der brasilianische Schriftsteller Paulo Coelho wurde am 24. August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro aus Sohn einer gutbürgerlichen Familie geboren. In der Jesuitenschule, die er besuchte, lehnte er sich gegen die Einschränkung seiner Freiheit auf. In dieser Zeit keimte bei ihm der Wunsch, Schriftsteller zu werden. Im Alter von dreißig Jahren zog Paulo Coelho mit seiner ersten Ehefrau nach London und fing dort zu schreiben an. 1978 kehrte er nach Brasilien zurück, arbeitete ein Vierteljahr als leitender Angestellter bei einer Plattenfirma und trennte sich von seiner Frau.Im Jahr darauf traf er eine frühere Freundin wieder: Christina Oiticica. Mit ihr – sie wurde schließlich seine zweite Ehefrau – bereiste er Europa. 1986 pilgerte er auf dem Jakobsweg nach Santiago de Compostela. Darüber schrieb er sein erstes Buch: "Auf dem Jakobsweg. Tagebuch einer Pilgerreise nach Santiago de Compostela". Von Paulo Coelhos zweitem Buch, "Der Alchimist", wurden zunächst nur ein paar hundert Exemplare verkauft, doch als ein anderer Verlag (Editora Rocco) seinen nächsten Roman – "Brida" – 1990 erfolgreich verlegte, wurde der Verlag Harper Collins in den USA auf Paulo Coelho aufmerksam und brachte 1993 eine amerikanische Übersetzung von "Der Alchimist" mit einer Startauflage von 50 000 Exemplaren heraus. Noch im gleichen Jahr erwarb Warner Bros die Filmrechte von "Der Alchimist". Inzwischen gilt der Roman als einer der meistverkauften überhaupt. Die Gesamtauflage der Bücher von Paulo Coelho soll bis 2005 auf 65 Millionen Exemplare angewachsen sein.
Aus: Eleven Minutes
Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria. Wait a minute. "Once upon a time" is how all the best children's stories begin and "prostitute" is a word for adults. How can I start a book with this apparent contradiction? But since, at every moment of our lives, we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss, let's keep that beginning.
Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria.
Like all prostitutes, she was born both innocent and a virgin, and, as an adolescent, she dreamed of meeting the man of her life (rich, handsome, intelligent), of getting married (in a wedding dress), having two children (who would grow up to be famous) and living in a lovely house (with a sea view). Her father was a travelling salesman, her mother a seamstress, and her hometown, in the interior of Brazil, had only one cinema, one nightclub and one bank, which was why Maria was always hoping that one day, without warning, her Prince Charming would arrive, sweep her off her feet and take her away with him so that they could conquer the world together.
While she was waiting for her Prince Charming to appear, all she could do was dream. She fell in love for the first time when she was eleven, en route from her house to school. On the first day of term, she discovered that she was not alone on her way to school: making the same journey was a boy who lived in her neighborhood and who shared the same timetable. They never exchanged a single word, but gradually Maria became aware that, for her, the best part of the day were those moments spent going to school: moments of dust, thirst and weariness, with the sun beating down, the boy walking fast, and with her trying her hardest to keep up.”
Paulo Coelho (Rio de Janeiro, 24. August 1947)
froumen - 24. Aug, 18:26
