Borges as weird fiction author

[nomadman]

I've recently been reading the complete fictions of Jorge Luis Borges, and it's struck me more than ever that I'm reading the works of a weird fiction writer.

Now Borges is of course more well known as a magical realist or general fantasist, but I think a large body of his work falls firmly into the weird fiction genre. The Zahir, The Immortal, The Book of Sand, The Circular Ruins etc all have quite common weird fiction elements; in The Immortal, a man seeks out a nameless and forbidden city in the deserts of Arabia said to contain the fountain of immortality; in The Zahir, a man (Borges himself in fact) comes across a strange coin with the ability to endlessly replicate itself in your memory until it becomes all you see; in Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius a vast and secret society plots to supplant the world we know with an imaginary world no less hellish...

Of course, these elements alone don't necessarily mean much, but aside from a more heightened literary flavor and depth of ideas, Borges's handling of these elements and the emotional and intellectual response he elicits is much the same as many classical weird writers. In The Book of Sand, for instance, the narrator, greedy for knowledge and a satiation of his curiosity, purchases a strange book from a nameless traveller, a book that appears to be infinite in extent and filled with obscure secrets. The book comes to fill his days and nights until he realizes that its very existence curses him; he then attempts to get rid of it. This theme, or variations on it, recur in a number of his other stories. There is, in all cases, a "malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature", a feeling that nature has been broached in some way, and the resulting horror that springs from that.

Anyway, I don't want to make too big a deal of this. Just something I thought might be interesting to ponder and perhaps discuss.

[VideoChrist]

"...and we discovered, with the inevitability of discoveries made late at night, that mirrors have something grotesque about them. Then Bioy Cesares recalled that one of the heresiarchs of Uqbar had stated that mirrors and copulation are abominable, since they both multiply the numbers of man."

[Connavar]

I have not read much Borges but its clear from the little i have read he had weird stories.

This reminds how me and my realism literary class teacher agreed on what the mainstream critics call Magic Realism is really literary fantasy. Marquez,Borges,Angel Carter and co has more in common with Lord Dunsany type literary fantasy author.

Didnt Gene Wolfe say similar thing?

Also Borges wrote in an era you could write any type of stories. He has written classic detective Poe like stories that i have read. Wouldnt call him detective writer. So called mainstream authors can write in type genre if they are acclaimed authors.

[Extollager]

I want to pursue the reading of Borges this year. My favorite college teacher introduced me to his work over 35 years ago and I read quite a bit back then... and then pretty much stopped reading him much. I've read some of his best stories more than once, but I'm sure that I have missed some enjoyable ones. At the moment, I suppose "The Aleph" is my favorite of the ones I've read -- just a wonderful idea with a very clever way of handling it; a perfect story in its way.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Extollager

I want to pursue the reading of Borges this year. My favorite college teacher introduced me to his work over 35 years ago and I read quite a bit back then... and then pretty much stopped reading him much. I've read some of his best stories more than once, but I'm sure that I have missed some enjoyable ones. At the moment, I suppose "The Aleph" is my favorite of the ones I've read -- just a wonderful idea with a very clever way of handling it; a perfect story in its way.

I have read only "Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari, Murdered in His Labryinth" in Aleph for a book club meeting for Borges that was arranged by my Uni literary society. Simple but fascinating weird, mysterious story.

Borges seems like a fountain of wonderful stories that i hope to read more outside college lit classes. In classes people overanalyze the author and his themes more than his stories.

[Fried Egg]

Some of his stories definitely stray into the reams of weird or strange but I never felt, upon reading the collection "Labyrinths", that this was ever the predominant emphasis of his work, they being more concerned with turning over difficult philosophical concepts and contemplating the often bizarre implications.

But there is definitely an overlap there, enough to interest anyone who is a fan of weird fiction.

[Extollager]

Just reread his story dedicated to Lovecraft's memory, "There Are More Things." Is it pastiche, homage, or parody? Everything that happens in the story is Lovecraftian enough, except that HPL would have worked out some explanation for how the first-person narrator managed to write his account, and would have spent a lot more time working up atmosphere. Since Borges makes no attempt to do that, this reader is inclined to see the story as pastiche, homage, and parody. I suppose some would say it is a meta-fiction. Gotta hand it to Lovecraft, he played the game seriously (unless you take JDW's view that on rare occasions he consciously parodied himself).

Just a few quick & tentative words on the story.

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

Some of his stories definitely stray into the reams of weird or strange but I never felt, upon reading the collection "Labyrinths", that this was ever the predominant emphasis of his work, they being more concerned with turning over difficult philosophical concepts and contemplating the often bizarre implications.

I can certainly see that. I suppose I might have a slightly looser definition than most of what I see as weird fiction, but I do feel that in a number of his works he manages to achieve a level of hinted awe and strangeness that is very reminiscent of the best weird writings. It's not so marked in Labyrinths, but certainly in his later collections The Book of Sand, Shakespeare's Memory and to a lesser extent Doctor Brodie's Report, the stories tend to be more straightforwardly weird, involving more traditional elements like the doppelganger, the cursed book, the haunted house etc, albeit given Borges's rather unique take on these themes.

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by Extollager

Just reread his story dedicated to Lovecraft's memory, "There Are More Things." Is it pastiche, homage, or parody? Everything that happens in the story is Lovecraftian enough, except that HPL would have worked out some explanation for how the first-person narrator managed to write his account, and would have spent a lot more time working up atmosphere. Since Borges makes no attempt to do that, this reader is inclined to see the story as pastiche, homage, and parody. I suppose some would say it is a meta-fiction. Gotta hand it to Lovecraft, he played the game seriously (unless you take JDW's view that on rare occasions he consciously parodied himself).

Just a few quick & tentative words on the story.

It strikes me as being sincere, although Borges does mention in the afterword that he considered Lovecraft to be an "unwitting parodist of Poe" so it's hard to say if an element of that wasn't also present in Borges's mind when he wrote the story. I'm not sure if I'd say its lack of atmospheric buildup necessarily marks it out as a parody, however. A parody would tend to exaggerate these things rather than damp them down. Borges tended to be laconic by nature, and I think that's simply the case here.