History and allegory in Borges's "La escritura del dios"

Abstract

Like most of Borges's short stories written during the 1940s, 'La escritura del dios' displays a dense fabric of literary and historical references which are not immediately obvious to the reader. There is no question that Borges made use of several pre-Columbian elements in its composition. At the same time, it is clear that the Story's cultural and philosophical framework goes beyond the literal sense of the narrative. Now the story has traditionally been associated with Buddhist, Neoplatonic and cabalistic views of the world; less common is its interpretation from a Dantean perspective. Borges was in fact actively engaged in the reading of the Commedia during the time of its invention, leaving deep traces in his creative production. Both readings, the mystical and the historical, meet at a point that, to my knowledge, has not been indicated by either party. Furthermore, although these and other elucidations of the story do not necessarily exclude each other, we must be prepared to understand the story in its most indeterminate form. This is articulated as the perennial struggle of opposites and it dervices form the author's wider reflections on the nature of evil.