You Might be Able to Get There from Here: Reconsidering Borges and the PostmodernThis book details the immense impact that Jorge Luis Borges has had on the thinking and writing of the twentieth century and how many have misunderstood that impact. It highlights how his symbols, techniques, parody, irony, and artful ambiguity in his fiction, essays, and poems force us to question what we can know with certainty, what is real and what is dream, and who we are, and thus define what has become the core of the postmodern vision. The book explores Borges's distinctly Latin American postmodern pluralism. It details how this pluralism has informed the postmodern discussions of the self, love, history, feminism, and politics, and has influenced writers in the U.S. and Latin America. Throughout, it argues that the Argentine writer avoids the nihilism and chaos of a radical relativism that many have come to associate with postmodernism. Rather, his vision affirms values and a search for positive knowledge. Mark Frisch is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Duquesne University. |
Contents
| 15 | |
A Latin American Postmodernism? A Borges Perspective | 30 |
Pluralism Meaning Postmodernity and Borges | 49 |
Borges the Self and the Postmodern | 75 |
Women Feminism Postmodernity and Borges | 95 |
Borges Universal History and Historical Representation | 113 |
Borges Politics and the Postmodern | 130 |
Borges the Postmodern and the Literature of the Americas Cien anos de soledad and The Universal Baseball Association Inc J Henry Waugh Prop | 147 |
Borges in His Own Words and Some Implications for the Postmodern Debate | 166 |
Notes | 179 |
| 183 | |
| 195 | |
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic affirms Aleph Argentine argues asserts attitude Aureliano biblioteca de Babel Book of Sand Borges's Borges's writings Calinescu challenges chaos characters Circular Ruins concept Coover's create critics Dahlmann Daneri death define Dios discourse discussion divine dream El Aleph Emma Emma Zunz emphasizes essay existence expresses feminism feminist fiction García Márquez gaucho gender Glencairn Henry Waugh highlights hombre House of Asterion Hutcheon idealistic identity implications issues Jorge Luis Borges Juan Kabbalah labyrinth labyrinthine Latin American Postmodernisms Library of Babel libro limitations literary literature Marxism meaning metaphor Minotaur mirror modern modernist monistic mundo mythic narrative narrator nature notion novel Orbis Tertius pantheistic past perspective philosophical Pierre Menard pluralism pluralistic poem political postmodern debate postmodernist questions Quijote reality realizes references role ruinas circulares sense skepticism social Solitude stance subverts suggests symbol theme tiempo tiger tion totally traditional truth underscores understand universal history Western culture women Zahir