Borges’ Nightmare (Self-portrait in 1949), ink and digital
“I remember a certain nightmare I had. It took place, I know, on the Calle Serrano, I think at the corner of Serrano and Soler. It did not look like Serrano and Soler — the landscape was quite different — but I knew that I was on the old Calle Serrano in the Palermo district. I met a friend, a friend I do not know; I saw him, and he was much changed. I had never seen his face before, but I knew his face could not be like that. He was much changed, and very sad. His face was marked by troubles, by illness, perhaps by guilt. He had his right hand inside his jacket. I couldn’t see the hand, which he kept hidden over his heart. I embraced him and felt that I had to help him. “But, my poor so-and-so, what has happened? How changed you are!” “Yes,” he answered, “I am much changed.” Slowly, he withdrew his hand. I could see that it was the claw of a bird.”
- Jorge Luis Borges
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