Ficciones, 1935-1944 (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

The imagination of Jorge Luis Borges is a place of endless proliferation. His stories are filled with images of mirrors, masks, and mazes, and they abound with allusions not only to other literary texts but also to the whole range of intellectual history. Technically, they are endlessly intricate, as identities merge and fracture, actions multiply and repeat, and texts serve as testing grounds for the metafictional enterprise.

The narrative conventions of plot, character, and setting are redefined in these stories. They may more appropriately be seen as language problems or inquiries into the nature of how fiction is created and read. For example, “Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote” parodies literary criticism, as a pedantic reviewer analyzes the superiority of a verbatim twentieth century “reinvention” of the classic novel to its original.

Other stories, such as “The Library of Babel,” “The Lottery in Babylon” and “TLON, UQBAR, ORBIS TERTIUS,” present fantasticated worlds in which the boundaries between reality and illusion are erased. Another group, highlighted by “The Garden of the Forking Paths,” “Death and the compass,” and “The Form of the Sword,” seem to turn plot into a conspiracy of form, so that the reader must double as detective, burrowing his way through layered identities and texts within texts. Or Borges will explore the possibilities opened up by impossible premises, as in “The Secret Miracle,” whose heroes create for themselves the ability to author fate. Each story is its own elaborate dream system, an elegant game with its structure exposed.

Bibliography:

Alazraki, Jaime, ed. Critical Essays on Jorge Luis Borges. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987. A collection of articles and reviews by literary critics and writers that aims at a contemporary assessment of the range and scope of Borges’ work.

Barrenechea, Ana María. Borges: The Labyrinth Maker. Translated and edited by Robert Lima. New York: New York University Press, 1965. A thorough treatment of Borges’ philosophy, covering such topics as his use of infinity, pantheism, and time.

Bell-Villada, Gene H. Borges and His Fiction: A Guide to His Mind and Art. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Focuses on Borges’ stories and essays and provides detailed discussion of a number of works. Part 1 includes introductory chapters that examine Borges’ place in Argentine and world literature. In part 2, Bell-Villada classifies Borges’ works according to theme and topic.

Rodriguez Monegal, Emir. Jorge Luis Borges: A Literary Biography. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978. A detailed account of the evolution of Borges the man and his art. Monegal draws extensively on interviews with Borges.

Stabb, Martin S. Jorge Luis Borges. New York: Twayne, 1970. A useful introductory treatment of Borges the poet, essayist, and writer of fiction. Chapter 1 is a biographical sketch that focuses on the development of Borges’ art.