Abstract
Borgesian fictions have the distinctive feature of going beyond the make-believe, and they often constitute philosophical exercises whereby reality is represented and encoded by means of fantastic constructs. A key concept emerging from this critical stance is that of fiction enacting cognition. This study traces some of the many forms of philosophical idealism whose main tenets permeate Borges’s narrative fictions through and through. Borges’s literary idealism brings forth possibilities that would otherwise be excluded from our habits of thought. In this connection, the chapter examines the notion of possible worlds and the horizons d’attente which are thereby opened up.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Idealism in Borgesian narrative has been extensively discussed by most of his critics; see for example Marina Martín, “Tras el rumbo de Hume en la invención de Tlön. Versiones paródicas de ‘El otro, el mismo,’” Variaciones Borges 15, (2003): 111–124; by the same author, “Visión escéptica en ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,’” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 24, no. 1 (1990): 47–58. The present article draws on and develops more extensively some aspects of Borges’s reception of idealistic philosophies dealt with in Alejandro Riberi’s Fictions as Cognitive Artefacts: The Case of Jorge Luis Borges’ “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (Auckland: Magnolia Press, 2007).
- 2.
“La nadería de la personalidad” was first published in Proa, no. 1 (1922); and “La encrucijada de Berkeley” in Nosotros 12, no. 164 (1923). Both essays were included in Inquisiciones (1925), which was reprinted in 1994.
- 3.
Borges’s works are cited from Obras Completas (four volumes, Barcelona: Emecé, 1996) and are abbreviated as OC throughout.
- 4.
Borges’s occupation with Mauthner is well known to the critics of the Argentine writer, see for example Arturo Echevarría: Lenguay Literatura de Borges, Barcelona, Ed. Ariel, 1983; Silvia Dapía: “‘This Is Not a Universe’: An Approach to Borges’s ‘Tlön, Uqbar Orbis Tertius,’” Chasqui, 26.2, November 1997, 94–107; by the same author: “Why is there a Problem about Fictional Discourse? An Interpretation of Borges’s ‘Theme of the Traitor and the Hero’ and ‘Emma Zunz,’” Variaciones Borges, 5 (1998), 156–176.
- 5.
I follow Weiler’s distinction between: a. Artificial languages, like Esperanto and Volapuk, which were the efforts of individuals aimed at creating a language of universal use, but with the shortcoming of being just a translation of words of various national languages and therefore with all the inherited shortcomings of those languages; and b. Formalised languages, like Leibniz’s characteristica universalis, Dalgarno’s ars signorum and Wilkins’s philosophical language, which were constructed not from already existing languages but from an entirely new system of signs. For a concise exposition of Mauthner’s philosophy, see Gershon Weiler, Mauthner’s Critique of Language, Cambridge at the University Press, 1970; I have drawn from Weiler’s book in writing this section.
- 6.
John William Dunne, An Experiment with Time (London: Papermac, 1981), 158.
- 7.
Ibid., 160.
Bibliography
Borges, Jorge Luis, Obras Completas, Barcelona: Emecé, 1996.
Dapía, Silvia, ‘“This Is Not a Universe”: An Approach to Borges’s “Tlön, Uqbar Orbis Tertius.”’ Chasqui, 26.2, November 1997, 94–107.
———, “Why is there a Problem about Fictional Discourse? An Interpretation of Borges’s ‘Theme of the Traitor and the Hero’ and ‘Emma Zunz,’” Variaciones Borges, 5 (1998), 156–176.
Dunne, John William, An Experiment with Time, London: Papermac, 1981.
Echevarría, Arturo, Lengua y Literatura de Borges, Barcelona, Ed. Ariel, 1983
Martín, Marina, “Tras el rumbo de Hume en la invención de Tlön. Versiones paródicas de ‘El otro, el mismo.’” Variaciones Borges 15 (2003): 111–124.
———, “Visión escéptica en Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 24, no. 1 (1990): 47–58.
Mauthner, Fritz, Wörterbuch der Philosophie. Leipzig: Verlag von Felix Meiner, 1923.
Riberi, Alejandro, Fictions as Cognitive Artefacts: The Case of Jorge Luis Borges’s “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” Auckland: Magnolia Press, 2007.
Weiler, Gershon, Mauthner’s Critique of Language, Cambridge at the University Press, 1970.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Riberi, A. (2018). Incomplete Works: Borges’ Literary Idealism. 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_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95912-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95911-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95912-2
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)