Borges' Narrative Strategy

Abstract

There is general consensus about the meaning of most of the stories of Jorge Luis Borges, perhaps the best known and most cosmopolitan Latin American writer of the twentieth century. Professor Shaw turns to the less examined area of structure and narrative method. Over sixty tales, from all the main collections, are brought into play to illustrate such techniques as framing devices, pivotal episodes, shifting themes and inlaid details. The process reveals Borges' craftsmanship and ability to tailor form to content; in some cases, Shaw suggests, formal arrangement functions as a metaphor of Borges' ideas about reality.