La Voz de Galicia – February 28, 2025 →
“Funes the Memorious” is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges that is as thrilling as it is perplexing. A story about a character, Ireneo Funes, who, after an accident, gains the ability to remember absolutely everything in intricate detail—and about what that means for a person’s existence.
It is also a story I return to often, as Borges’ writing always contains phrases that make me reflect. Like when the narrator, speaking of Funes, says: “I suspect, however, that he was not very capable of thinking. To think is to forget differences, to generalize, to abstract”, and lately, I’ve been stuck on precisely that idea—the need to forget and abstract. The overwhelming pace of news coming from the White House and its global consequences has kept me glued to the media in a way I can’t quite explain. I collect headlines (or facts) as quickly as they emerge, and without realizing it, I begin to lose my ability to think… I suppose that is part of the strategy of those leaders currently reshaping international politics: by bombarding us with the constant flow of information generated by their radical changes, they slowly erode our ability to think, to take action, and instead, we move forward as if nothing is happening.
I would not want to have Funes’ ability to remember absolutely everything, as it would make me truly unhappy. Nor would I want to forget all the atrocities taking place in this place I inhabit. But there are days when I find myself thinking that the only way we can continue existing is precisely by forgetting the things happening around us—and that is not a good thing.
