“Comics & Labyrinths” - Dunraven Comics
JORGE LUIS BORGES
THE ESSENTIALS OF THE ART OF BORGES’ FICTIONS: LANGUAGE, TIME AND THE
CENTRE OF THE LABYRINTH
Danielle Vorster (G11V2819)
Modern Fiction
Mr. T. Huisamen
Word Count:
Due date: 15 May 2015
I am aware of the University's policy on plagiarism. I hereby declare that this essay is my own work
and that all resources that were used have been fully acknowledged.
Signed:
, THE ESSENTIALS OF THE ART OF BORGES’ FICTIONS: LANGUAGE, TIME AND THE
CENTRE OF THE LABYRINTH
The c on of Jorge Luis Borges can be considered a search for the basic and the essen al, through
the process of careful selec on and combina on. The ‘essen al’ referred to here is Borges’
implementa on of the concise use of language. This essay will consider how the ‘essen al’ of the art
in Borges’ c ons are implemented in order to achieve the project of his wri ng, which is o en a
comment on the meless universality of the human mind. It also ques ons the interpreta ons the
reader impose on reality – such as language and percep on (Tranter 1998:183). Through this
economic use of language, he tries to eliminate “intervening sentences” and tries to “condense the
universe in a narra ve abbrevia on” (Christ 1969: 9, 11).
According to Borges in his essay “A New Refuta on of Time” the no on of me is circular, rather than
linear. Through the execu on of literary allusion and events ltered through memory, Borges’
concept of me as a dura on comes to the foreground in c ons such as “Emma Zunz”, “The Sect of
the Phoenix”, “The Immortal” and “The Garden of the Forking Paths”. The main idea of each of
these c ons are never described, but rather transformed into the ac on of the plot. “Tlӧn, Uqbar,
Orbis Ter us” is the discovery of an elaborate hoax, sugges ng that our ideas and ideals could all be
lies as they are all based on language – a human construct. The most elaborate metaphor apparent
in Borges’ c ons is the ‘labyrinth’. It can be considered to be both a symbol and a structural device
(Bowman 1987: 7).
“A New Refuta on of Time” consists of a prologue and two ar cles (respec vely wri en in 1944 and
1946), of which the la er is a rework of the rst. In this essay (which runs parallel with Berkeley’s1
principles of idealism), Borges argues that the nega ons of idealism may be extended to me. Just
like Berkeley’s denial of the fact that an object can exist independently of our percep on of it, and
like Hume’s2 denial that a subject can exist apart from the memory of sensa on (Christ 1969: 22).
Borges now proceeds on the assump on that if man is reduced, in the way Hume implies, only to a
collec on of sensa ons (or even one percep on) then one can conclude that the linear concept of
me
1George Berkeley was a philosopher whose primary achievement was the theory called ‘immaterialism’ or
‘idealism’. This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects
like tables and chairs, for example, are only ideas in the minds of perceivers and as a result cannot exist
without being perceived.
2David Hume was a philosopher best known for his radical philosophical empiricism and according to him,
humans have no actual concep on of the self – only a bundle of sensa ons associated with the self.
JORGE LUIS BORGES
THE ESSENTIALS OF THE ART OF BORGES’ FICTIONS: LANGUAGE, TIME AND THE
CENTRE OF THE LABYRINTH
Danielle Vorster (G11V2819)
Modern Fiction
Mr. T. Huisamen
Word Count:
Due date: 15 May 2015
I am aware of the University's policy on plagiarism. I hereby declare that this essay is my own work
and that all resources that were used have been fully acknowledged.
Signed:
, THE ESSENTIALS OF THE ART OF BORGES’ FICTIONS: LANGUAGE, TIME AND THE
CENTRE OF THE LABYRINTH
The c on of Jorge Luis Borges can be considered a search for the basic and the essen al, through
the process of careful selec on and combina on. The ‘essen al’ referred to here is Borges’
implementa on of the concise use of language. This essay will consider how the ‘essen al’ of the art
in Borges’ c ons are implemented in order to achieve the project of his wri ng, which is o en a
comment on the meless universality of the human mind. It also ques ons the interpreta ons the
reader impose on reality – such as language and percep on (Tranter 1998:183). Through this
economic use of language, he tries to eliminate “intervening sentences” and tries to “condense the
universe in a narra ve abbrevia on” (Christ 1969: 9, 11).
According to Borges in his essay “A New Refuta on of Time” the no on of me is circular, rather than
linear. Through the execu on of literary allusion and events ltered through memory, Borges’
concept of me as a dura on comes to the foreground in c ons such as “Emma Zunz”, “The Sect of
the Phoenix”, “The Immortal” and “The Garden of the Forking Paths”. The main idea of each of
these c ons are never described, but rather transformed into the ac on of the plot. “Tlӧn, Uqbar,
Orbis Ter us” is the discovery of an elaborate hoax, sugges ng that our ideas and ideals could all be
lies as they are all based on language – a human construct. The most elaborate metaphor apparent
in Borges’ c ons is the ‘labyrinth’. It can be considered to be both a symbol and a structural device
(Bowman 1987: 7).
“A New Refuta on of Time” consists of a prologue and two ar cles (respec vely wri en in 1944 and
1946), of which the la er is a rework of the rst. In this essay (which runs parallel with Berkeley’s1
principles of idealism), Borges argues that the nega ons of idealism may be extended to me. Just
like Berkeley’s denial of the fact that an object can exist independently of our percep on of it, and
like Hume’s2 denial that a subject can exist apart from the memory of sensa on (Christ 1969: 22).
Borges now proceeds on the assump on that if man is reduced, in the way Hume implies, only to a
collec on of sensa ons (or even one percep on) then one can conclude that the linear concept of
me
1George Berkeley was a philosopher whose primary achievement was the theory called ‘immaterialism’ or
‘idealism’. This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects
like tables and chairs, for example, are only ideas in the minds of perceivers and as a result cannot exist
without being perceived.
2David Hume was a philosopher best known for his radical philosophical empiricism and according to him,
humans have no actual concep on of the self – only a bundle of sensa ons associated with the self.
