Previous
8. The Garden of Forking Paths
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ficciones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Investigation and Knowledge
Language and Human Consciousness
Perspective, Authorship, and Subjectivity
Infinity
Reality vs. Illusion
Summary
Analysis
Borges gives an introduction to the second half of this collection. He says that the stories in this half are less dull than those in the first half. He writes that “Funes, the Memorious” is a long metaphor for insomnia. “Death and the Compass” exists in a “Buenos Aires of dreams.” In a postscript to the prologue, Borges states that he has added three stories to this part: “The South,” “The Sect of the Phoenix,” and “The End.” He specifies that some of the stories are unoriginal, and he has simply told an existing story from a different perspective or angle. In “The End,” Recabarren is the only original element.
Borges’s choice to give information about his stories rather than let them speak for themselves further defines his role as a literary critic—rather than leave everything to interpretation (though he does leave much to interpretation), he provides the reader with more information in order to help the reader come to an interpretation.
Themes
