The metafictional imaginary in Jorge Luis Borges: a theoretical reading of Borgean narratives

Abstract

Borges' narratives forge a metafictional imaginary: self-reflexive, reflexive and intelectual. This paper aims to analyze some of Borges' texts, unraveling this reflective imaginary, in order to observe his intellectual genre. Firstly, it discusses Gass's ([1979]) concept of metafiction; then it enters the discussion about fiction and problematizes one of its axes; the paradigmatic. From the question about metaphors, it focuses on the description of the image. This problem is addressed through two works by Sartre: A imaginação (2008) and O imaginário (1996). Sartre, then, heads up the theory on the notion of imaginary. It proceeds to analyze some of Borges' narratives, short stories and essays, to envisage how the writer projects this metafictional imaginary. This discussion begins with the short story “El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan”, which highlights the theme of time, and, in turn, leads to the selection of some essays from “Otras Inquisiciones”. Both topics are effective to highlight Borges’ reflective imaginary. In his work, reflection inhabits images which are created through a relationship with ideas derived from non-literary texts, such as philosophical ones, disclosing an imaginary widely metafictional.