7 - The absolute memories of Funes and Sherashevsky

Summary

In one of his labyrinthine stories, the Argentine short-story writer, essayist and poet Jorge Luis Borges (1900–1986) introduces his readers to one Ireneo Funes, whose name translates as ‘out of the dark’. One evening in 1884, the narrator and his cousin get caught up in a storm in Uruguay. The south wind is driving along an enormous slate-coloured storm cloud that has covered the sky. Out of the darkness, a boy suddenly appears. The cousin shouts, ‘What's the time, Ireneo?’ Without looking at a watch or consulting the sky, Ireneo calls back, ‘Four minutes till eight, young Bernardo Juan Francisco.’ ‘Chronometric Funes’ seems to have an infallible sense of time.

When the narrator returns to Uruguay a few years later, he hears that Funes has been thrown from an unbroken horse and been left a hopeless cripple confined to a camp bed. After the fall he appears to have at his disposal two astounding gifts: infinitely detailed powers of observation and an absolute memory. Funes sees, hears and senses everything and forgets nothing. His fall has changed his memory into a perfect register. The narrator decides to call on Funes. While walking across the tiled patio to Funes's room, he hears someone reciting a Latin text. It is Ireneo Funes. The disabled boy has no Latin but has learned the text by heart while lying on his camp bed.