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Borges, Language and Reality pp 123–131Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Borges, Ethics, and Evil

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Part of the book series: Literatures of the Americas ((LOA))

Abstract

After so many books and articles, it seems as though everything has been said about Borges’s fiction. While granting that much productive analysis has been contributed by scholars, it should also be said that the copious interpretations and presumptions have created favorable circumstances for critical errors to creep in. A case in point concerns Borges’s attitude toward ethics and evil, which has attracted the attention of a number of writers. This article aims to locate and correct them.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Carlos Cortínez, ed. Simply a Man of Letters. (Orono: University of Maine at Orono Press, 1982), pp. 225–238.

  2. 2.

    Humberto Núñez-Faraco, Borges and Dante. (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 68–113.

  3. 3.

    Jorge Luis Borges, Obras completas. (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974), p. 708.

  4. 4.

    Ana Maria Barrenechea, La expresión de la irrealidad en la obra de Jorge Luis Borges. (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1957), p. 67.

  5. 5.

    John Sturrock, Paper Tigers. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), p. 4.

  6. 6.

    Juan Nuño, La filosofía de Borges. (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1986), p. 35.

  7. 7.

    Naomi Lindstrom, Jorge Luis Borges. A Study of the Short Fiction. (Boston: Twayne, 1990), p. 12.

  8. 8.

    Alicia Jurado, Genio y figura de Jorge Luis Borges. (Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, 1964), p. 105.

  9. 9.

    Newman, Charles and Mary Kinzie, eds. Prose for Borges. (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974), p. 398.

  10. 10.

    Newman, 402.

  11. 11.

    Reina Roffé, Espejo de escritores. (Hanover, N.H.: Ediciones del Norte, 1985), p. 11.

  12. 12.

    Borges, 679.

  13. 13.

    Estela Cedola, Borges, La correspondencia de los opuestos. (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1987), p. 245.

  14. 14.

    Donald L. Shaw, Borges’ Narrative Strategy. (Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1992), p. 26.

  15. 15.

    Jaime Alazraki, La prosa narrativa de Jorge Luis Borges. (Madrid: Gredos, 1968), p. 103.

  16. 16.

    Jaime Alazraki, Jorge Luis Borges, el escritor y la crítica. (Madrid: Taurus, 1976), p. 196.

  17. 17.

    Roberto Paoli, Borges, percorsi di significato. (Messina-Florence: D’Anna, 1977).

Works Cited

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Donald Shaw

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  1. Donald Shaw
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Correspondence to Donald Shaw .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Alfonso J. García-Osuna

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Shaw, D. (2018). Borges, Ethics, and Evil. In: García-Osuna, A. (eds) Borges, Language and Reality. Literatures of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95912-2_10

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