The journey through the collection of short stories in Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges was nothing less than a tumultuous ride. At first, Borges’ style of writing in the opening story, “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” left me feeling disoriented, as I struggled to comprehend the theme and keep pace with his whimsical flow of thoughts. The proliferation of details only added to my confusion, making it difficult for me to stay on track with the plot, if indeed there was one.
However, as I delved deeper into the story, I gradually surrendered to the realization that it was okay not to understand everything, and that I could always revisit it later; or perhaps the confusion is intentional. By the end of “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius“, I was deeply intrigued by Borges’ playful use of labyrinthine storytelling to prompt readers to reconsider the concept of time, something we have taken for granted since we first learned to tell time from a clock on a wall. In addition, the idea that the “two imaginary regions of Mlejnas and Tlön” (5) might not be as imaginary as they seem, much like the world of Upside Down in the popular Netflix series Stranger Things, was both intriguing and thought-provoking. It raised questions about the connection between time and space and their relationship with reality and fantasy, leading me to wonder how our conventional temporal and spatial perceptions help us differentiate between reality and the imaginary.
Out of all the short stories in Labyrinths, “The Circular Ruins” was my personal favorite. Revisiting the story from the beginning after reaching the end, it was clear that the magician was nothing more than a dream, conjured by another. The cyclic nature of the story, where the magician and his son both appear in similar spatial settings, only added to its appeal. The circular ruins in which both the magician and his son were born were a temple long ago consumed by fire, and I found that reading the story linearly did not immediately reveal the spatial similarities between the two characters, as I sort of wandered off the main path from all the “playfully” created distractions along the journey.
In conclusion, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to discover this new genre of literature, one that I know I would not have known existed if not for this course. Borges’ writing has definitely challenged my preconceived notions about time and space and has encouraged me to reconsider my understanding of reality and fantasy.
Question: Personally, I quite enjoyed being lost in Borges’ words, picking up clues here and there, then reconstructing them to form themes that (sort of) make sense to me. Do you enjoy the feeling of being “lost” in Borges’ works?
I hadn’t thought of “Stranger Things” when I re-read these stories, but I’m beginning to see the connection. Indeed, we can see that Borges and Sci-FI may have elements in common, in terms of the construction of fictional worlds. What is not expected in Borges is to think that they will be “pure genres”: the contamination of mechanisms is what makes you question reality.
(I think that for the following weeks the questions can be a little more specific regarding the reading, commenting on a passage from the text).
Hello! I reallly enjoyed your interpretations and opinions on this weeks post. Personally, as I wrote on my own blog. I do not enjoy the feeling of being “lost” in Borges’ works. It makes it harder for me to follow and consequently engage with the story with inherently makes me want to put it down and read something else. Nevertheless I am glad you enjoyed them.
Montserrat Avendano
“Perhaps the confusion was intentional.” I very much enjoyed your point here as after a while I came to the same conclusion and stopped worrying so much about all the weird stuff I was reading. Also, your comments about “The Circular Ruins” has me very interested to go back and reread it with a fuller perspective of what’s going on.
Hello, I really enjoyed reading your post and to answer your question, I LOVED being “lost” in Borges’ words and way of writing. I believe it creates a whole different experience while reading his stories, as you are not only going through the words but actually want to “participate” into trying to figure out what he has to say and how the story will end. This was something that I really enjoyed about Borges’ short stories, thanks for letting me talk about this as I forgot to mention it in my blog!!
Hi Shade! Your blog post was very intriguing and to answer your question I wouldn’t say I necessarily enjoy being lost in Borges’ work, but I did find it fascinating at times at how lost I actually was. It did take me a while to understand what was going on in the story, but I guess the longer it took, the more I could appreciate the amount of work and wordplay that Borge’s included in his work.
Thanks for the great analysis on Borges’ work! I could not say if I enjoy being lost in Borges’ stories, but I completely agree with you that despite being confusing and maze-like, finding the themes and references that I recognize in Borges’ literature is enjoyable.
I completely relate to your sensation of being lost and eventually coming to enjoy it! I was surprised that the confusion and “maze” of narratives was my favorite part of the text. I also like your comparison to Stranger Things; the Upside Down requires the same suspension of disbelief and break from reality.