Discovering the Infinite: Borges's 'The Aleph' and its Implications for Argentine Literature

Abstract

In perhaps his most famous short story “The Aleph,” Argentine Jorge Luis Borges presents a captivating narrative spectacle: through a magical, shining square on a basement staircase one experiences the infinite universe. While previous scholarly analysis has focused on the story’s literary references, concepts of spatiality, and connection with the mathematical infinity, the story’s implications for Borges's attitude towards Argentine literature and cultural traditions have been overlooked. This paper argues that through curating the “Aleph” ---a symbolic reflection of infinity, Borges stages two contrasting views on writing about the world and understanding its entirety. Borges suggests that rather than reining experience with established forms, writers (not only Argentine writers) ought to seek their own consciousness and imagination as a means to understand the infinitely diverse and ever-changing world.