History Creator / JorgeLuisBorges

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: "The Immortal", in which {{Homer}} has become immortal.

* AnimalMotifs: tigers, featured or mentioned in many of his stories

* MeaningfulName: Plenty, often combined with ShoutOut. For example, Carlos Argentino Daneri in "The Aleph" is a play on ''Dan''te Alighi''eri'' (his sister is called Beatriz), and Pedro Damián in "The Other Death" references medieval philosopher Pier Damiani, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the story itself.

* MortalityEnsues: The protagonist of "The Immortal" finds a river that makes anyone who drinks from it immortal; after around a thousand years he gets bored and goes off in an ultimately successful search for a hypothetical sister river that will make him mortal again.

The '''other''' half of his stories are about South Americans knife fighting, such as "The South". He also wrote poetry.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Lönrott in "Death and the Compass"]], [[spoiler: Every Babylon citizen (except those in TheConspiracy]] at ''The Lottery in Babylon''

* WeAreEverywhere: Deconstructed at ''The Lottery in Babylon:'' [[TheConspiracy The Company ]]is [[NebulousEvilOrganization continually trying to introduce chaos at Babylon]], and everyone knows they have infiltrated all the city. Given anyone could work for them, those who aren’t working for them are ProperlyParanoid about being manipulated into being their [[UnwittingPawn]]s:

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Lönrott in "Death and the Compass"]]

The '''other''' half of his stories are about South Americans knife fighting, such as "The South".

* MeaningfulName: Plenty, often combined with ShoutOut. For example, Carlos Argentino Daneri in "The Aleph" is a play on Dante Alighieri (his sister is called Beatriz), and Pedro Damián in "The Other Death" references medieval philosopher Pier Damiani, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the story itself.

* ''"The Aleph"'': A mediocre poet has found in his basement an Aleph, a point that reflects every other point in the universe and from which everything can be seen simultaneously and together.

* ''"The Garden of Forking Paths"'': The FramingDevice is a spy story set at World War I where TheProtagonist visiting MrExposition who explains TheProtagonist SecretLegacy by exploring the idea of time branching forwards into [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]] [[hottip:*:this story is famous for anticipating the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], TheProtagonist is also [[spoiler: a {{Determinator}} who will make sure [[YouCantFightFate there is ''only one'' possible universe]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog whatever it takes.]] ]].

* AncientConspiracy: ''"Literature/TlonUqbarOrbisTertius"''; played with in ''"The Cult of the Phoenix"''. Invoked at ''"Death and the Compass"''. Deconstructed in ''"The Lottery in Babylon"'': The conspiracy is so secretive, nobody could be sure is ancient or not.

* AncientConspiracy: "Literature/TlonUqbarOrbisTertius"; played with in "The Cult of the Phoenix". Invoked at "Death and the Compass".

* PoesLaw: His prologue to Thorstein Veblen's ''Theory Of The Leisure Class'' (The reader can find more about this book at ConspicuousConsumption, RealLife):
-->''When, many years ago, I was given this book, I thought it was a satire. I learned later that it was the first work of a distinguished sociologist. Otherwise, when we look closely enough into a society, we know is not {{Utopia}} and its [[CrapsackWorld fair description]] runs the risk of border on satire.''

* PoesLaw: His prologue to Thorstein Veblen's ''Theory Of The Leisure Class'' (The reader can find more about this book at ConspicuousConsumption, RealLife:

''When, many years ago, I was given this book, I thought it was a satire. I learned later that it was the first work of a distinguished sociologist. Otherwise, when we look closely enough into a society, we know is not {{Utopia}} and its [[CrapsackWorld fair description]] runs the risk of border on satire. ''

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have achieved CompleteImmortality. The story develops the ExpositionOfImmortality by [[ImmortalityImmorality exploring the ethics]] in a SocietyOfImmortals really facing the TimeAbyss. The exploration includes typical tropes under the ThisIndexWillLiveForever, [[note]] WhoWantsToLiveForever, ImmortalityHurts, ImmortalLifeIsCheap [[/note]] but also some others completely original. [[note]] YouWillBeBeethoven, GoldenMeanFallacy and BystanderSyndrome. [[/note]] TheFogOfAges makes the Immortal an UnreliableNarrator, and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that the {{Diary}} is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have achieved CompleteImmortality. The story develops the ExpositionOfImmortality by [[ImmortalityImmorality exploring the ethics]] in a SocietyOfImmortals really facing the TimeAbyss. The exploration includes typical tropes under the ThisIndexWillLiveForever, [[note]] WhoWantsToLiveForever, ImmortalityHurts, ImmortalLifeIsCheap [[/note]] but also some others completely original [[note]] YouWillBeBeethoven, GoldenMeanFallacy and BystanderSyndrome. [[/note]] TheFogOfAges makes the Immortal an UnreliableNarrator, and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that the {{Diary}} is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss [[note]] (even when the immortals lived ''only'' some few millennia)[[/note]] and the inevitable WhoWantsToLiveForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the YouWillBeBeethoven, TrueNeutral and TheFogOfAges. That last part makes the Immortal an UnreliableNarrator, and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that the {{Diary}} is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Garden of Forking Paths"'': The FramingDevice is a spy story set at World War I where TheProtagonist visiting MrExposition who explains TheProtagonist SecretLegacy by exploring the idea of time branching forwards into [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]] [[hottip:*:this story is famous for anticipating the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], TheProtagonist is also [[spoiler: a {{Determinator}} who will make sure [[YouCantFightFate there is only one possible universe]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog by any means.]] ]].

* AdaptationExpansion: The movie version of ''Death and the Compass''; the added material actually makes the the story ''more'' of a MindScrew. "Days of Hate", a screenplay adaptation of "Emma Zunz"

* {{Determinator}}: Deconstructed at ''"The Garden of Forking Paths"'', ''The Shape of the Sword'' and ''"Emma Zunz story"''. Both protagonists had a goal and they will cross the MoralEventHorizon and the DespairEventHorizon to achieve it, only to ask themselves if WasItReallyWorthIt for the rest of their lives. ''"The other death"'' protagonist will achieve his goal, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath but just at the time of his death after trying it for all his life]]. The narrator [[EsotericHappyEnding thinks nobody could be happier than him]].

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss (even when those were ''only'' some few millennia) and the inevitable WhoWantsToLiveForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the YouWillBeBeethoven, TrueNeutral and TheFogOfAges. That last part makes the Immortal an UnreliableNarrator, and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that the {{Diary}} is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss (even when those were ''only'' some few millennia) and the inevitable WhoWantsToLiveForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the TheFogOfAges that makes the Immortal an UnreliableNarrator, and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss (even when those were ''only'' some few millennia) and the inevitable WhoWantsToLiveForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the fact that the immortal becomes an UnreliableNarrator and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that is BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss (even when those were ''only'' some few millennia) and the inevitable WhoWantsToLiveForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the fact that the immortal becomes an UnreliableNarrator and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that is truly BasedOnATrueStory]]

* ''"The Immortal:"'' The FramingDevice has [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] announcing the discovery of an {{ImmortalitySeeker}}’s {{Diary}} that claims to have found an ImmortalityInducer that conceded him CompleteImmortality. The story does the ExpositionOfImmortality by the immortal’s exploration of the concept of ImmortalityImmorality in a SocietyOfImmortals, the consequences of a mere human suffering the TimeAbyss (even when those were ''only'' some few millennia) and the inevitable WhoWantsToBeForever conclusion. Between those consequences there is the fact that the immortal becomes an UnreliableNarrator and his narration is denounced as {{plagiarism}} by a CausticCritic. However, [[spoiler: the [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis a literary agent]] reflects that the fact that the immortal’s {{Diary}} is a ClicheStorm is the evidence that is truly BasedOnATrueStory]]

* "Literature/TlonUqbarOrbisTertius": An AncientConspiracy to create a complete fictional universe is discovered by the [[AuthorStandIn narrator]] in the form of an encyclopedia describing the nation of Uqbar and its mythology about the land of Tlön. Its plan is to [[RewritingReality recreate]] Earth in the form of Tlön by subconsciously persuading everyone that it is true. [[spoiler: They succeed.]]

* "The Garden of Forking Paths": The FramingDevice is a spy story set at World War I where TheProtagonist visiting MrExposition who explains TheProtagonist SecretLegacy by exploring the idea of time branching forwards into [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]] [[hottip:*:this story is famous for anticipating the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], TheProtagonist is also [[spoiler: a {{Determinator}} who will make sure [[YouCantFightFate there is only one possible universe]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog by any means.]] ]].
* "Death and the Compass": A GenreDeconstruction of the DetectiveFiction that seems to follow a ConnectTheDeaths plot -- but with a twist at the end.
* "Funes the Memorious": After being concussed and paralyzed from the waist down in a riding accident, a young man suddenly finds that he has a literally photographic memory -- he can remember ''everything'' that he has experienced, ''every'' second of ''every'' day of his life, down to the minutest possible detail... and as he goes on living, the number of things he remembers continue piling up. This has a very strange effect on the way he sees the world, and after meeting him, Borges' narrator cannot decide whether Funes is CursedWithAwesome or BlessedWithSuck.
* "The Aleph": A mediocre poet has found in his basement an Aleph, a point that reflects every other point in the universe and from which everything can be seen simultaneously and together.
* "The Cult of the Phoenix": A group of madmen, outcasts, women, children, and urchins founds a philosophical school that lasts for thousands of years and secretly manipulates all other religions behind the scenes. [[spoiler:And they're the good guys.]]
* '' "Averroes's Search" '' An exploration of the TragicDream in the character of Averroes, Islamic Philosophers dreamed to explain Creator/{{Aristotle}}’s works to the Islamic culture. [[PopCultureIsolation His problem was that Averroes didn’t understand the terms “Tragedy” and “Comedy” that constantly pop up in Aristotle’s canon]] [[CultureClash because he was confined to the Islamic orb]]. Suddenly there is a NoEnding and the MindScrew begins: [[spoiler: Borges is BreakingTheFourthWall to inform that he realized that he had a TragicDream himself, because as a twenty century author, he has no better chances to imagine the 12th century Averroes’s character with only some literary references. This realization forces him to recognize the RecursiveReality of literature, and conduces Borges to a CreatorBreakdown and his story to a NoEnding because a minor case of AuthorExistenceFailure.]]