‘Borges and I’, then, is about the gulf between the private self and the public persona. There are, in effect, two Borgeses: Borges the man and Borges the writer. Borges compares himself, the private Jorge Luis Borges, with ‘Borges’, the world-famous writer.

This very short piece – it can hardly be called a ‘story’ in that it doesn’t have a plot as such – condenses some of the most distinctive aspects of his work into a very short ‘narrative’. She remains true to her emotions, but parts company with the facts, in order to exact her revenge. Borges’ story is one of his most strikingly psychologically acute, in that Emma’s revenge is carried out for one reason but the reasons she publicly gives for her crimes are quite different. This story is a revenge tale, in which the titular Emma Zunz avenges the death of her father, who dies after an overdose of a drug administered in hospital. The mysterious sect of the story’s title perform just one ritual, which is how they pass on the secret of ‘the Phoenix’ to the next generation. However, there is a proposed solution which fits the story’s details well. This very short tale is a sort of extended riddle, although unlike traditional riddles, its definitive solution is never revealed. As a result, he is able to remember everything that ever happens to him. What if you never forgot anything but remembered every single detail you ever heard, saw, or experienced? This is the hypothetical question Borges explores through Funes, the main character in this short narrative, who falls off his horse and injures his head. We have analysed this classic story in more detail here. All the books are exactly 410 pages long, and every single one is different from all the rest. These books comprise every possible permutation or combination of 25 symbols: 22 letters, the comma and full stop, and the space. The story’s narrator describes the universe as a vast and virtually infinite library, comprising a great number of hexagonal rooms, with various floating staircases and long galleries, containing a huge number of books. It is also a very ‘bookish’ tale, which is another of his preoccupations.

This 1941 short story brings together a number of trademark Borgesian ideas, such as the infinite, and the paradoxical nature of the world. One of his most powerful and suggestive explorations of the nature of reality and dreams, ‘The Circular Ruins’ can variously be interpreted as a story about artistic creation or about the world, and our place in the world, as we perceive it.Ī man travels to the circular ruins of an ancient temple in order to dream another man into existence – but there’s a twist at the end of this short tale … First published in 1940, this is one of the most richly symbolic short stories by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges.

Fictions by jorge luis borges