Borges, Language and Reality: The Transcendence of the Word

Introduction: Borges, or the Geography of Sentience Alfonso J. García-Osuna .- Borges and the Third Man: Toward an Interpretation of ‘Unánime noche’ in “The Circular Ruins” .- José Luis Fernández.- Borges and Nietzschean Ethics: Another Branch of Fantastic Literature? .- Cesar Rivera .- Ireneo Funes: Superman or Failure? A Husserlian Analysis .- Ethan Rubin Contradictory Rhetoric: Disassembling “Pierre Menard, autordel Quijote” .- Patricia Reagan.- Meetings of Anger: Borges on Metaphor  David Ben-Merre.- Borges, Lorca and Jung as Labyrinth Makers Salvatore Poeta.- The Tlönian Cone.- Fredy R. Zypman Incomplete Works: Borges’ Literary Idealism.- Alejandro Riberi.- Borges, Ethics, and Evil.- Donald Shaw.- Jorge Luis Borges Index.

Alfonso J. García-Osuna (Ph.D. 1989, The City University of New York, USA) is the author of several books and articles on Spanish and Latin American Literature. An avid cyclist, he has completed the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago seven times.

This book brings together the work of several scholars to shed light on the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges' complex relationship with language and reality. A critical assumption driving the work is that there is, as Jaime Alazraki has put it, 'a genuine effort to overcome the narrowness that Western tradition has imposed as a master and measure of reality' in Borges' writing. That narrowness is in large measure a consequence of the chronic influence of positivist approaches to reality that rely on empirical evidence for any authentication of what is 'real'. This study shows that, in opposition to such restrictions, Borges saw in fiction, in literature, the most viable means of discussing reality in a pragmatic manner. Moreover, by scrutinising several of the author's works, it establishes signposts for considering the truly complicated relationship that Borges had with reality, one that intimately associates the 'real' with human perception, insight and language.

Takes a unique and innovative new perspective on one of Latin America’s most widely-read authors Provides multidisciplinary approaches, covering a range of topics from philosophy to physics, in addition to literature Features contributions from Borges experts and established scholars in addition to up-and-coming scholars