ResearchGate See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323999526 Borges' Identity Crisis: An investigation of themes used in his short stories Research . October 2017 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14405.14566 CITATIONS 0 READS 5,879 1 author: Mahdia Islam Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 3 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Project Evaluating methods of reducing child marriage in Bangladesh View project All content following this page was uploaded by Mahdia Islam on 25 March 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.
Culture and Identity in Latin America Mahdia Islam Borges' Identity Crisis: An investigation of themes used in his short stories Jorge Luis Borges has left this world thousands of complicated puzzles in the form of short stories. The author wrote during most of the twentieth century but his content preserved metaphysical arguments. His stories questioned the concept of identity, time and space through history, human mind and behaviour. This paper will discuss how Borges viewed the concept of identity through stories with religious and magical realism themes. The paper will first create a short profile on Borges and his life that have influenced the content of his writing. It will then discuss the style his of writing that comprised of parables and symbolism, along with notable influences to the themes he uses. In two sections, the paper will then move on to analyse these themes of his short stories that project his interpretation of identity- one focusing on religion and the other on magic realism. The paper concludes with an observation of Borges' understanding of his own identity in relation to the stories discussed. Profile of His Life and Influences Born in 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge L. Borges' upbringing was considerably inclusive of people and events that influenced his literary career. His father, Jorge Guillermo Borges Haslam, was a lawyer and psychology professor (Woodall, 1996); mother, Leonor Acevedo Suarez, presented the value of family, religion and culture; paternal grandmother, Francis Haslam, who was protestant and would read English novels to young Borges (Woodall, 1996). Growing up, he enjoyed spending time with his sister, Norah, acting out stories from books and explored gardens and his father's labyrinthine library. As his mother notes in 1964, Borges was fascinated by tigers, spending hours in the zoo observing their movements and colour and drawing them (Woodall, 1996). Labyrinths, gardens and tigers are frequently observed in stories by Borges such as 'The Garden of Forking Paths' and 'The Writings of the God'. As Senior Borges was against state-run enterprises, young Borges started school at the age of 9, but he was ahead of his fellow classmates in his studies and was often bullied (Woodall, { 1 -
Culture and Identity in Latin America Mahdia Islam 1996). His family moved to Geneva in 1914 where he completed high school and university in addition to learning Latin, French and German. In College, Borges was drawn to Symbolist literature and was