Borges on enchantment
I have read almost all of Croce, and though I am not always in agreement with him, I am enchanted by him. Enchantment, as Stevenson said, is one of the special qualities a writer must have. Without enchantment, the rest is useless.
~from “The Divine Comedy,” the first lecture in Seven Nights
I love what Borges says here, by way of Stevenson. As authors we try so hard to enchant, but it is impossible to do so without being, by turns, enchanted–not only with language and narrative, but also with the complexities of human nature and the intricate mysteries of the natural world.
View all posts in this series
- Borges on enchantment - April 14, 2006
- Borges on Criticism & Compulsory Happiness - April 19, 2006
- What We Are Doing - April 21, 2006
- two links - May 30, 2006
- Teaching After the MFA – How to Get Your Foot in the Door of Academia - July 21, 2006
- selection: the memoirist’s dilemma - July 25, 2006
- graham greene on the importance of superficiality - July 26, 2006
- two new stories on the stands - August 4, 2006
- after the mfa blog - August 23, 2006
- Inside the Authors’ Studio, & Pluto’s Downfall - August 25, 2006
- economy - August 30, 2006
- chicago tribune literary prizes announced - September 7, 2006
- good advice from Frederick Barthelme - September 8, 2006
- word-coining contest - September 28, 2006
- Writers Beat - October 23, 2006
- John Gardner on detail - October 31, 2006
- interview at The Happy Booker - November 9, 2006
- Claire Messud on ambition - November 21, 2006
- title tales - November 25, 2006
- - November 28, 2006
- the feel of the pen - December 3, 2006
- The Bear Bryant Funeral Train Revisited - December 6, 2006
- David Mamet on Hollywood - February 7, 2007
- Ray Bradbury at Home - February 18, 2007
- Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje - May 3, 2007
- steve katz, + notebook nirvana - May 11, 2007
- telling stories, plus good wax - May 23, 2007
- Theresa Duncan Suicide and the Mysteries of Blogging - August 2, 2007
- A Toy and an Amusement - August 8, 2007
- On the Difficulty of Editing Well - August 10, 2007
- why you should work at Borders - August 14, 2007
- In Praise of Grace Paley - August 23, 2007
- Urban Adjunct - September 7, 2007
- Good Driver - September 12, 2007
- Stuart Dybek Named MacArthur Fellow - September 25, 2007
- Doris Lessing on Winning the Nobel in Literature - October 12, 2007
- Norman Mailer Has Died – Links to Interviews & News - November 10, 2007
- literary hot spots - May 1, 2008
- best of the bay - June 26, 2008
- What’s Borges Got to Do With It? - July 6, 2008
- The Thought Crossed My Mind That I Might Have Slept with Him - July 21, 2008
- Another One Bites the Dust - July 24, 2008
- double speak - September 4, 2008
- Death of David Foster Wallace - September 13, 2008
- Online discussion of NO ONE YOU KNOW today - October 3, 2008
- Someone please tell me… - October 11, 2008
- The Day I Became a Debutante - October 18, 2008
- Good Reads - November 25, 2008
- Fog in Hong Kong - December 22, 2008
- “A celebration of risk and failure” - January 7, 2009
- Oh, happy day - January 20, 2009
- Writers Reflect - January 30, 2009
- Yes, Christine, you can begin writing at 60! - February 13, 2009
- 2009 Northern California Book Awards - March 23, 2009
- How Much Honesty Is Too Much? - March 24, 2009
- Tragic End to Tracy Girl’s Disappearance - April 7, 2009
- Wireless Amber Alerts/Sandra Cantu - April 10, 2009
- Amazon Goes All “All” on Us - April 13, 2009
- Two From the World of Ink - April 14, 2009
- Readings for Writers - July 1, 2009
- Google Books, The New Rumpelstiltskin - August 22, 2009
- Jose Saramago quits blogging - September 2, 2009
- Flirting with Married People - April 15, 2010
- Would you read a story on your iphone? - May 26, 2010
- Joshilyn Jackson, in the carpool lane - June 1, 2010
- The Untimely Death of Manning Marable - April 3, 2011
- and all the ships at sea - July 3, 2011
- What writers can learn from late, great music man John Carter - August 12, 2011
- The Art of Rejection: Kathryn Stockett’s tale of never giving up - August 16, 2011
- Online Fiction Writing Course - September 16, 2011
- Story Starters: A Creative Writing Workbook - October 19, 2011
- Nanowrimo Day 1: Start Your Novel Now! - November 1, 2011
- Creative Fidgeting - January 27, 2012
- How to Start a Story - January 31, 2012
- How to Submit a Story for Publication - February 22, 2012
- How to Write a Novel: 10 Steps to Get You Started - March 20, 2012
- My Artist’s Way Toolkit Review - June 14, 2012
- The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black (or why you need an agent) - June 18, 2012
- Fiction Attic Press First Novel Contest - October 10, 2012
- Beautiful Gifts for Writers - October 12, 2012
- Interview with Louise Erdrich, San Francisco - October 18, 2012
- NaNoWriMo Day One – 2012 - October 30, 2012
- The Rumpus Interview with Thaisa Frank - December 6, 2012
- Better in French - December 21, 2012
- I am the Common Reader: Virginia Woolf on pleasure, reading, & the survival of literature - January 12, 2013
- Editor in Chief: How Obama Fine-tunes His Speeches - February 20, 2013
- How to End a Story - February 28, 2013
- The Copyright Problem: Three Myths That Are Killing Literary Culture - May 13, 2013
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