As you read Ficciones, try to identify recurrent themes and techniques across the stories.
What does the title of the story suggest, linguistically?
Who is the narrator? Are we to identify the "I" with Borges?
In addition, what the scheme for a first-person novel referred to by Bioy Casares?
What is the doctrine of Uqbar passed on by Bioy Casares?
Can you summarize the problem of the Uqbar documentary sources?
What does the narrator find after Herbert Ashe's death? How many pages does it have?
Describe the Ursprache of Tlön. What does it mean to say that their language "presupposes idealism"?
Why does their monism invalidate science?
What are the metaphysicians of Tlön NOT looking for?
What are some their views of time?
What is the felicitous supposition referred to on page 27, and what were its consequences?
What is Tlön's approach to literary matters?
What is the point of the hronir anecdote?
When is the Postscript dated, and what do we learn here?
What does the narrator mean by the "intrusion of the fantastic world into the real one" (32)?
Why is the collective memory a "concave basin" (33)?
What does the narrator conclude about the discovery of the volumes of the encyclopedia, and its "omissions"?
What has been the result of contact with Tlön?
Why does the narrator say, "The world will be Tlön" (35).
What is the effect of Borges' mixture of a great deal of "real" personal, geographic, historical, and textual reference with the invented?
As in the first story, who is the narrator? Is this "I" a version of Borges as in Tlön or some other kind of character?
What can be deduced from "Menard's visible work" on pages 46-7?
If Menard's other work is not visible, what is it?
What was Menard's plan? How did it differ from affiliated approaches?
What does the narrator say at the top of page 50 regarding his reading of Don Quixote?
What does the narrator suggest about the reasons for Menard choosing Don Quixote?
To accomplish his task, what methods does Menard reject? What method does he adopt?
Why is Menard's version "more subtle," "infinitely richer" than Cervantes'?
What is Menard's view of history?
What does the narrator mean when referring to Menard's Don Quixote as a palimpsest?
What does the narrator conclude about Menard's endeavor?
Why might Borges have chosen, of all books for Menard to rewrite, Don Quixote?
Review the Book of Genesis. What might Borges' title suggest?
What is the significance of the epigraph from Burton?
Can you conceive of, or visualize, the library described in the opening pages?
What does it mean to say the Library has existed ab aeterno?
What is the "fundamental law" of the Library? When was it discovered?
What were the primary and secondary reactions to this revelation?
What is the "superstition" of the Man of the Book? How does the narrator feel about this belief?
Comment on the statement, "But the certainty that everything has been already written nullifies or makes phantoms of us all" (87).
Does the narrator believe that the Library is infinite?
What is the function of the concluding footnote?
What is the relationship between individuals, and individuality per se, and the Library?
What is the general tone of the story, particularly as it relates to intellectual pursuits?
What is the function of the opening paragraph?
Identify and discuss the main characters of the story--who are they, what are they doing, and why are they doing it?
What do we learn about Yu Tsun's statement/deposition?
What does the "editor"'s note say about Yu Tsun's claim that Runeberg was murdered?
Where is Yu Tsun going and how does get there?
Who is Ts'ui Pên and what did he create? According to Albert, what is the key to the problem, or the solution to the riddle?
Discuss the ways in which coincidences, analogies between characters, and reverberations of ideas play a central role in this story.
Many have referred to this story as a detective story. What are the various puzzles and problems to be solved? Who solves? What is the relationship between these solutions and death? Who kills and who dies?
What is the significance of the allusions (references to other texts and writers) Borges uses in this story?
What kinds of questions does Borges raise about the nature of time in this story? About the relationship between fiction and reality?
Assess Yu Tsun's comments at the end of the story: "What remains is unreal and unimportant," and "He does not know, for no one can, of my infinite penitence and sickness of heart."
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