Dialogue in the Library: Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Circular Ruins” and His Re-reading of Gnostic Myths

Abstract

Abstract Taking Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “The Circular Ruins” as a starting point, the current article assesses the presence of gnostic ideas in the work of the Argentinian author. After pondering the context and sources for Borges’s knowledge of gnosticism, and providing an overview of different Borgesian short stories that include gnostic motifs, it focuses on an analysis of several central notions in “The Circular Ruins.” A comparison between ancient and modern interpretations serves to evaluate the new meaning that gnostic motifs acquire in the literary framework created by the Argentinian writer. It concludes that Borges’s reception and re-elaboration of gnostic thought helps him both to express some of his central philosophical preoccupations and to update these ancient myths, making them accessible for modern readers.