Borges’ detective fiction in five short stories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2317-9651.i31p579-610Keywords:
Detective fiction, Jorge Luis Borges, Fiction and History, Reading, Argentine LiteratureAbstract
Detective fiction is present in the works of Borges in the experience of reading, in his activities as an editor, anthologist and reviewer, in the elaboration of characterizations of the genre. Borges identified the general matrices of crime fiction, dismantled and reconstructed them, transforming the habitual clue searching and mystery deciphering in textual geometry. The enigmas assume the features of theoretical discussions on literature, of the dialogue between fiction and history. Going against the construction of literary formulas - that certain critics associate to the history of the genre - the short stories “Hombre de la esquina rosada”, “El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan”, “Emma Zunz”, “La muerte y la brújula” and “Abenjacán el Bojarí, muerto en su laberinto” don't limit themselves to the identification of a killer or the motive of the crime; they surpass the frontiers of genre and propose the theoretical comprehension of the fiction as a rereading and rational construction of the world.
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