In reading /Jorge Luis Borges Conversations /[with]/Osvaldo Ferrari/ I
ran across the following exchange:
*Ferrari*. I think that while your memory and imagination transcend
Argentina and soar to different latitudes – the history and mythology of
other countries and races – the style in which you narrate your stories
is a particularly sober one, peculiar to the Argentinian spirit
*Borges*. Yes, I’d say that the difference, or one of the differences,
between the Spanish of Spain and the Spanish of Buenos Aires or
Montevideo is that Spaniards tend to use interjections, exclamations.
We speak, say things, explain, but we do not agree or disagree like the
Spaniards. Spanish conversation is full of interjections. Ours is not
– ours is a conversation in a more lowered voice.
Borges description struck me as fitting Speranza. Years ago Speranza
and I were being attacked. I can’t recall whether it was on Phil-Lit or
Lit-Ideas, but he was being attacked for writing too many notes and I
was being attacked for writing notes that were too long. We got
together off line and discussed the matter. My inclination, being much
younger is those days, was to “kill them all” -- metaphorically of
course. His was not, and I hadn’t been able to put a name to what his
inclination was until I read the Borges’ “conversation in a more lowered
voice.”
I’ll have to give that some more thought, but I can’t recall Speranza
ever arguing with anyone, and if it weren’t’ for his regularly exceeding
the three note limit we might want to call him Saint Speranza. In my
case I learned not to have my notes rejected by the software program by
using Rich Text rather than HTML. Those who objected to their length
have perhaps all died. I remember one particularly (verbally) violent
person who thought I cut and pasted my long notes, offending me by
severely underestimating my typing ability. Besides, the books I quoted
from weren’t digitized so cutting and pasting wasn’t even an option.
And in me, I suppose, we have an example of someone who is much closer
to the Spanish than the Argentine.
Lawrence
