Borges, Language and Reality [electronic resource] : The Transcendence of the Word /
García-Osuna, Alfonso J.editor.
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.
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.
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.
Literature, Modern—20th century.
Postmodernism (Literature).
Philology.
Linguistics.
Twentieth-Century Literature.
Postmodern Literature.
Language and Literature.