How could I have possibly been so naive, so egotistical, so smug?
One thing that Borges has not mentioned, and yet I considered in my reading, was the theory of Jesus having arranged with Judas for his betrayal and crucifixion. Traitor and Hero implies that history is both arranged and rewritten for the benefit of itself; the line between reality and fiction then becomes blurred, leaving us with…what?
And so slow. I was one page into this next story before I realized what I was reading:
To Runeberg, they were the key with which to decipher a central mystery of theology; they were a matter of meditation and analysis, of historic and philologic controversy, of loftiness, of jubilation, and of terror. They justified, and destroyed, his life. (p. 152)
The title of this story is: Three Versions of Judas.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology