Books Quote by Jorge Luis Borges
““It is generally understood that a modern-day book may honorably be based upon an older one, especially since, as Dr. Johnson observed, no man likes owing anything to his contemporaries. The repeated but irrelevant points of congruence between Joyce's Ulysses and Homer's Odyssey continue to attract (though I shall never understand why) the dazzled admiration of critics.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: "The Modern Book and Its Sources", 1947
Modern authors often borrow from older texts, but critics sometimes overemphasize these links.
In simple terms: Writers reuse old ideas, critics may overplay it.
Key Takeaway
Read with awareness of influence.
Themes
literature
intertextuality
criticism
Mood
analytical
thoughtful
Type
critical
theoretical
When to use this quote
- academic study
- creative writing
- book clubs
Key Concepts
adaptation
originality
analysis
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you balance homage and innovation?
- When is influence a strength?
A Different Perspective
Originality can be obscured by excessive comparison.
![“A man [Joyce] whose earliest stories appeared next to the manure prices in the Irish Homestead knew that columns of prose, like columns of shit, could both recultivate the earth.” quote by Declan Kiberd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cfe/declan-kiberd-65721_fiction_a-man-joyce-whose-earliest-stories-appea_615934.jpg)
![“It [Joyce's "Ulysses"] plays on the reader's sympathies to his own undoing unless sleep kindly intervenes and puts a stop to this drain of energy. Arrived at page 135, after making several heroic efforts to get at the book, to "do it justice", as the phrase goes, I fell at last into profound…” quote by C.G. Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/094/c-g-jung-2163_books_it-joyce-s-ulysses-plays-on-the-reader-s_2131160.jpg)
