NEB - TLON

Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertiu by the Argentinan writer Jorge Luis Borges relates part of his life and can be really confusing because of the many philosophy concepts involved such as Berkeley’s subjectivism. The binary between reality and fantasy is probably the most important.

For starters, in Tlon everything is a dream that slowly switch to reality. With the idea that every man is actually two men; who would be the real one and who would be the one created by the dream? Later on Borges founds an encyclopedia that demonstrate Tlon existence making it seem more real or less ‘’imaginary’’. To then again make Tlon be a simply illusion created by the Orbis Tertius as a way to prove that they can play God and create their own world. Furthermore, adding to this idea of dream vs. reality comes the philosophical controversy of existence. The majority of the people mentioned are real, but the events in which they are involved are fictitious. Adding to this idea there are missing pages that refer to Uqbar essense in the second duplicate of the book questioning the existence of Uqbar. This lead us to the idea that maybe the curiosity of these two men have transform their reality in order for them to perceive a new imaginary world.

The timing used in this history is an important characteristic of Magical Realism because the present vague and the future does not exist, quoting Borges: ‘’……the present is undefined and indefinite, the future has no reality except as present hope, and the past has no reality except as present recollection’’ (Borges, 74).

Borges analyzes the concept of language and how it can influence the way we perceive the world. Adding, to this idea the concept of the ‘’Mirrors’’ is introduced, what this term means is that a mirror shows a fake notion from one individual to another that is passed through time from generation to generation.

To sum up, I believe that this story is intertwine in three worlds, the real world, Tlon, and the world of the stories of Borges. This entanglement leads to the question: which of these worlds is the real one? Giving us the change to draw our own conclusion as another important characteristic of Magic Realism.

The Aleph- SK

In Borges's story, the Aleph is a point in space that contains all other points. Anyone who gazes into it can see everything in the universe from every angle simultaneously, without distortion, overlapping or confusion. The story continues the theme of Infinity found in several of Borges's other works. At the beginning of the story, he is mourning the recent death of a woman whom he loved, named Beatriz Viterbo, and resolves to stop by the house of her family to pay his respects. Over time, he comes to know her first cousin, Carlos Argentino Daneri, a mediocre poet with a vastly exaggerated view of his own talent who has made it his lifelong quest to write an epic poem that describes every single location on the planet in excruciatingly fine detail. Later, a business on the same street attempts to tear down Daneri's house in the course of its expansion. Daneri becomes enraged, explaining to the narrator that he must keep the house in order to finish his poem, because the cellar contains an Aleph, which he is using to write it. Though by now he believes Daneri to be quite insane, the narrator proposes without waiting for an answer to come to the house and see the Aleph for himself. Left alone in the darkness of the cellar, the narrator begins to fear that Daneri is conspiring to kill him, and then he sees the Aleph for himself. Though staggered by the experience of seeing the Aleph, the narrator pretends to have seen nothing in order to get revenge on Daneri, whom he hates, by giving him reason to doubt his own sanity.

The Library of Babel- SK

In the The Library of Babel, Borges presents a number of magical realist devices. The concept of a cyclical time, the existence of parallel worlds, and the discussion of God are all presented throughout the text. Also, the binary of infinity and finite space are presented. The library appears to be a metaphor for the world, and the books a metaphor for all of the people and elements of this world. In Borges' closing line, "the same volumes are repeated in the same disorder- which, repeated, becomes order: the Order," this is essentially saying that time is a cycle and the same events happen over again. The existence of parallel worlds is evident in Borges' discussion of the many galleries of the library "each identical to the first" and the many floors of the library that follow the same plan. Religion plays a significant role in this text, as there are many references to God and a supreme being. However, this does present a less traditional view, saying that God is just like a librarian who stumbled upon the right book and does not necessarily have any unique qualities, thus it is mentioned as a God rather than the God. This could be viewed as a criticism of many religions. Borges confronts the binary of finite and infinite, and claims that even though the number of books is finite, he explains that the library is not and that the books eventually reiterate, as does the cycle of time. This helps us to understand how the concepts of a finite world and infinite world can exist in Borges' work.

The Aleph- ERK

In the short story the Aleph by Borges, the main aspects of magical realism include the concept of time as one, and the theme of a God-like level of omniscience. There is also a bizarre nature to the interactions between characters and some potential political/societal commentary is expressed subtly at times.
The first theme to strike me was that of time. The narrator greives the loss of a loved one and wishes to keep the world exactly as it was when she left it however, he notes disappointedly that only a day later, "the vast unceasing universe was already growing away from her, and that this change was but the first in an infinite series." This first mention of time describes it as infinite then, as the aleph is mentioned, the narrator sees time and space as a single point just as many cultures have describe God's view of the world. This may be a symbolic jab at religion that a common man in the story is able to view the world through God's eyes just by finding the right spot.
It seemed strange to me that Borges even took Mr. Argentino seriously at all, because he called Borges with a crazy and unrealistic story and then locked him in his basement. This is clearly a magic realist element to the story. Also, the fact that Borges chose to name the character Carlos Argentino may shed some light on a potential commentary on Argentine society. Mr. Argentino is bullied by wealthy businessmen into giving up his house as his city booms and develops around him. This also may relate to the concept of land ownership which has always been a popular theme in Latin American history.

The Lottery in Babylon RC

Jorge Luis Borges has a very interesting way of incorporating magical realism in his works or literature. In “The Lottery in Babylon” the most important magic realist device used is chance/fate and what seems to be an exaggerated reality to prove his point of the effects of the lottery in their society. The story begins with what seems to be the description of a normal everyday lottery. At first there was really no great risk in playing in the lottery. As the story goes on the stakes become higher and higher to the point where the people in Babylon are willing to risk their lives and great amounts of money to play. Playing this lottery creates a dilemma for the people because if you play you are taking a huge risk, but if you don’t play you are almost considered an outcast in this society. This lottery creates chaos in this society to a point where the reader is at the point of questioning the reality of these happenings. Borges does a good job of illustrating the extreme risk that people in society are willing to take to reach some importance or status, but in the end it is just a game where people leave their fate up to chance.

The Library of Babel- PCM

The library of Babel by Borges is a masterful piece of literature that attempts to provide some light on the intricacies of the world. The library appears to be a metaphor for the world, and the books a metaphor for all of the people and elements of this world. The library is described as endless, with floors upon floors of books that contain every combination of the "twenty two orthographic symbols." The narrator of this text is best described as aging and on the verge of death. It appears that this is a reflection on a library that is representative of every possible source of knowledge attained by people in this world. The binaries of finite/infinite and reality/fantasy are depicted well in this text. Borges identifies the race of human kind as being finite and on the verge of extinction but the world and the library as being endless and infinite. It is Borges hope that a book exists that contains all other information; a book that he has been diligently searching for his entire life. He states that "there must exist a book that is cipher and perfect compendium of all other books" and that God is the "librarian must have examined this book." It appears that this book might represent a sense of ultimate self realization and the attainment of all pertinent knowledge. Religion plays a significant role in this text as there are a plethora of references to God and a supreme being. Borges does an outstanding job of providing a metaphor that constructs a picture of the nuances of the world. In his concluding statement, Borges states his desire for order. He states "the library is unlimited but periodic. If an eternal traveler should journey in any direction, he would find after untold centuries that the same volumes are repeated in the same order- which, repeated, becomes order: the Order. My solitude is cheered by that elegant hope."

The Lottery- JG

The binaries that arise in “The Lottery” involve the concepts of light and dark, chance and fate and addiction and corruption. The lottery is a metaphor for the role of chance in one’s life. The lottery started out as something fun and innocent it caught the attention of many of the townspeople. At first there was no risk to the lottery and people quickly lost interest. To reel them back in the stakes were raised and fines and jail time was imposed for “unlucky” draws. People again were drawn to the lottery with the excitement of something more, that someone would have to pay a price. This too quickly ended when people stopped playing by the rules and creating their fate by not paying the imposed fine. The lottery then went to the extreme extent where people are risking their lives on this lottery. People formed such an addiction to the lottery that they were risking their lives. The addiction even corrupts the church, “the members of the priestly class gambled heavily, and so enjoyed all the vicissitudes of terror and hope”. Here we see time cycling people are interested then become bored so the stakes are raised and they are once again intrigued then people didn’t obey the fines. So the stakes were raised yet again to the price of people’s fate, the risking of their lives. We also see the cyclical timing with light and dark. We start out with the lottery representing hopefulness and light, it was harmless. .” The lottery “determined each man’s destiny until the next drawing”. People had initially put all hope into this lottery, into this thought of chance. We then see the lottery progressively become corrupt and turn into a dark time, a time revolving around deception and corruption and people begin to question if the Company itself is too corrupt. In response to the talk of favoritism and of corruption of the company, it was “pointed out doctrinally, that the Lottery is an interpolation of chance into the order of the universe, and observed that to accept errors is to strengthen chance not contravene it.” Then the story comes full circle at the end and the last sentence gives the reader a sense of light. “Another, no less despicable, argues that it makes no difference whether one affirms or denies the reality of the shadowy corporation, because Babylon is nothing but an infinite game of chance