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((Short description|Fantasy short story by Jorge Luis Borges))
((Infobox short story | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->
| name          = Funes the Memorious
| title_orig    = Funes el memorioso
| translator    = 
| author        = [[Jorge Luis Borges]]
| country       = [[Argentina]] 
| language      = [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| series        = 
| genre         = [[short story]]
| published_in   = ''[[Ficciones]]''
| publisher     = Editorial Sur
| media_type    = Print
| pub_date  = 1942
| english_pub_date = 1954
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
))

"'''Funes the Memorious'''" (original [[Spanish language|Spanish]] title ''Funes el memorioso'')<ref>The title has also been translated as "Funes, His Memory." The Spanish "memorioso" means "having a vast memory," and is a fairly common((citation needed|date=August 2013)) word in both Spanish and Portuguese languages. Because "memorious" is a rare word in modern English, some translators opt for this alternate translation.</ref> is a [[fantasy]] [[short story]] by [[Argentina|Argentine]] writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]] (1899–1986). First published in ''[[La Nación]]'' of June 1942, it appeared in the 1944 anthology ''[[Ficciones]]'', part two (''Artifices''). The first English translation appeared in 1954 in ''Avon Modern Writing No. 2''.

"Funes the Memorious" is the tale of one Ireneo Funes, who, after falling off his horse and receiving a bad head injury, acquired the amazing talent—or curse—of remembering absolutely everything.<ref>((cite journal | year = 2010 | title = In Retrospect: Funes the Memorious | journal = Nature | volume = 463 | page = 611 | doi = 10.1038/463611a | doi-access = free ))</ref>

==Plot summary==
The narrator, a version of Borges himself, meets Ireneo Funes, a teenage boy who lives in [[Fray Bentos]], [[Uruguay]], in 1884. Borges's cousin asks the boy for the time, and Funes replies instantly, without the aid of a watch and accurate to the minute.

Borges returns to [[Buenos Aires]], then in 1887 comes back to Fray Bentos, intending to relax and study some [[Latin language|Latin]]. He learns that Ireneo Funes has meanwhile suffered a horseback riding accident and is now hopelessly crippled. Soon enough, Borges receives a note from Funes, requesting that the visitor lend him some of his Latin books and a dictionary. Borges, disconcerted, sends Funes what he deems the most difficult works "in order fully to undeceive him".

Days later, Borges receives a [[telegram]] from Buenos Aires calling for his return due to his father's ill health. As he packs, he remembers the books and goes to Funes's house. Funes's mother escorts him to a patio where the youth usually spends his dark hours. As he enters, Borges is greeted by Funes's voice speaking perfect Latin, reciting "the first paragraph of the twenty-fourth chapter of the seventh book of the ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Historia Naturalis]]''" (by [[Pliny the Elder]]).

Funes enumerates to Borges the cases of prodigious memory cited in the ''Historia Naturalis'', and adds that he marvels that those are considered marvellous. He reveals that, since his fall from the horse, he perceives everything in full detail and remembers it all. He remembers, for example, the shape of clouds at all given moments, as well as the associated perceptions (muscular, thermal, etc.) of each moment. Funes has an immediate intuition of the mane of a horse or the form of a constantly changing flame that is comparable to our (normal people's) intuition of a simple geometric shape such as a triangle or square.

In order to pass the time, Funes has engaged in projects such as reconstructing a full day's worth of past memories (an effort which, he finds, takes him another full day), and constructing a "system of enumeration" that gives each number a different, arbitrary name. Borges correctly points out to him that this is precisely the opposite of a system of enumeration, but Funes might be incapable of such understanding. A poor, ignorant young boy in the outskirts of a small town, he is hopelessly limited in his possibilities, but (says Borges) his absurd projects reveal "a certain stammering greatness". Funes, we are told, is incapable of Platonic ideas, of generalities, of abstraction; his world is one of intolerably uncountable details. He finds it very difficult to sleep, since he recalls "every crevice and every moulding of the various houses which [surround] him".

Borges spends the whole night talking to Funes in the dark. When dawn reveals Funes's face, only 19 years old, Borges sees him "as monumental as bronze, more ancient than Egypt, anterior to the prophecies and the pyramids".

Borges later finds out that Funes died from "congestion of the lungs".

==Major themes==
((more citations needed section|date=May 2015))
Borges explores a variety of topics in the text, such as the need of generalization and abstraction to thought and science.

===Savants===
Funes may be compared to an [[autistic savant]], in that he has acquired an extraordinary ability, [[eidetic memory|memory]], without the obvious need for study or practice. The story raises the unresolved question of how much unfulfilled potential the human [[brain]] truly contains.

The very existence of [[Eidetic memory|eidetic (photographic) memory]] is controversial, although [[hyperthymesia]], now known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), the ability to recall one's past day-by-day, has been confirmed to exist by some neuroscientists (Parker et al. 2006). Even in these cases, however, the memory is not eidetic as, while exceptional, it only contains personally relevant autobiographical information<ref>((cite journal|last1=LePort|first1=AK|last2=Stark|first2=SM|last3=McGaugh|first3=JL|last4=Stark|first4=CE|title=A cognitive assessment of highly superior autobiographical memory.|journal=Memory (Hove, England)|date=16 March 2016|pages=1–13|doi=10.1080/09658211.2016.1160126|pmid=26982996|pmc=5488704))</ref>

===Wasted miracles===
The early death of Funes echoes the idea of unfulfilled potential, the wasted [[miracle]] of a plainsman with phenomenal abilities who lives and dies in obscurity. The unheeded marvel is a common theme in Borges's writing.

===Counting systems===
Funes claims to have invented a [[numeral system|system of enumeration]] which gives every numeral (up to at least 24,000) its own arbitrary name. The narrator argues that a [[positional number system]] is a better tool for abstraction.

===Artificial languages===
The narrator mentions that [[John Locke|Locke]] postulated then rejected an [[artificial language|impossible idiom]] "in which each individual thing, each stone, each bird and each branch would have its own name; Funes once projected an analogous language, but discarded it because it seemed too general to him, too ambiguous"<ref>Borges, Jorge Luis (2000). ''Labyrinths''. Trans. James E. Irby. London: Penguin Classics. p. 93.</ref> since it did not take ''time'' into account: given that physical objects are constantly changing in subtle ways, Funes insisted that in order to refer to an object unambiguously one must specify a time.

===Generalization===
Because Funes can distinguish every physical object at every distinct time of viewing, he has no clear need of [[generalization]] (or detail-suppression) for the management of sense impressions. The narrator claims that this prevents abstract thought, given that [[inductive reasoning|induction]] and [[Deductive reasoning|deduction]] rely on this ability. This is stated in the line "To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the overly replete world of Funes, there were nothing but details."

===Insomnia===

Funes sits in a dark room and goes over the events in his past. As narrative, this can be seen as an extended version of insomnia. It is a fantastical presentation of a common human complaint. Borges himself states the tale is a metaphor for this in the prologue to ''Artifices''.

==Actual persons with similar conditions==

[[Solomon Shereshevsky]], a stage memory-artist ([[mnemonist]]) with a condition known as "hypermnesia",<ref name=med>((cite journal|title=Borges, Luria and hypermnesia--a note|author=T. Verberne|publisher=Aust N Z J Psychiatry|date=September 1976|pmid=1071003|volume=10|issue=3|pages=253–5|journal=The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry|doi=10.3109/00048677609159507))</ref> is described by the Russian neuropsychologist [[Alexander Luria]] in his book, ''The Mind of a Mnemonist'',<ref>[http://www.psy.msu.ru/science/public/luria/small.htm ''Маленькая Книжка О большой Пяти'']((dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes )) by Alexander Luria ((in lang|ru))</ref> which some speculate was the inspiration for Borges's story.<ref name=med/> Luria discusses explicitly some of the trade-offs&mdash;hinted at by Borges&mdash;that come with supernormal memory power. (Further [https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Foundations.Cognition/0027.html Skywriting] on this topic.) British-American [[neurologist]] and writer [[Oliver Sacks]] cites Luria's book as the inspiration for his own book ''[[Awakenings (book)|Awakenings]]'', which is dedicated to Luria.<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/dn13708-lifechanging-books-the-mind-of-a-mnemonist.html|title=Life-changing books: The Mind of a Mnemonist|date=2008-04-16|author=Oliver Sacks|publisher=New Scientist))</ref>  Sacks also mentions Borges's Funes in his book, ''The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,'' at the end of Chapter 13 entitled, "Yes, Father-Sister" and in other chapters. The neuroscience aspects of Funes are also discussed in detail by Rodrigo Quian Quiroga in his book ''Borges and Memory: Encounters with the Human Brain.''

[[Jill Price]], and ten others, can remember with great accuracy most days of their lives starting from the average age of eleven. The scientific term for their unique condition is "[[Hyperthymesia|hyperthymestic syndrome]]", more recently known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM). Price has stated that she, like Funes, views her memory as a curse.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080510193033/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1940420/The-woman-who-can-remember-everything.html "The woman who can remember everything"] The Telegraph, 9 May 2008</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090205124521/http://today.uci.edu/pdf/AJ_2006.pdf "A Case of Unusual Autobiographical Remembering"] Psychology Press, 2006</ref>

==Cultural references==
*[[Christopher Doyle|Chris Doyle]]'s film ''[[Away with Words]]'' (1999) is largely inspired by the story of Funes (as well as [[Alexander Luria|Luria]]'s account of [[Solomon Shereshevskii|Shereshevskii]]'s life and psychology).
*[[David Mitchell (author)|David Mitchell]]'s novel ''[[Cloud Atlas (novel)|Cloud Atlas]]'' (2004) alludes to this story; the character Sonmi-451 is said, as part of her intellectual development, to have read "Ireneo Funes's ''Remembrances''".
*[[Umberto Eco|Umberto Eco's]] novel ''[[The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana]]'' (2004) alludes to this story.

==Notes==
((Reflist))

==References==
* [https://archive.today/20050620080426/http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/borges12288-des-.html Summary and analysis] - From the ''Literature, Arts, & Medicine Database'', an annotated bibliography of prose, poetry, film, video and art.

((Jorge Luis Borges))
((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Funes The Memorious))
[[Category:Short stories by Jorge Luis Borges]]
[[Category:1942 short stories]]
[[Category:Fictional Argentine people]]
[[Category:Fray Bentos in fiction]]

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