The Fiction of Borges

I will now discuss a few of Borges' stories and how they predict modern conditions brought about by the digital paradigm and the online world, as suggested in this introductory post.


Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is one of Borges' longer works. The narrator in this story discovers a mysterious and apparently anomalous encyclopedia article about a civilization called Uqbar, and does some research to find out if it really exists. Initially, it seems impossible to find other documentation to verify its existence. He later comes into possession of a volume that appears to be from an encyclopedia that originated in this imaginary world called Tlon. It becomes apparent that others have been scouring libraries for more information on Tlon. The content of the encyclopedia is so thorough that it must be the invention of a massive conspiracy of academics from various disciplines. The narrator describes the astounding linguistics and philosophy of Tlon in detail. A part of the description reads:

The world for them is not a concourse of objects in space; it is a heterogeneous series of independent acts. It is successive and temporal, not spatial. There are no nouns in Tlön's conjectural Ursprache, from which the "present" languages and the dialects are derived: there are impersonal verbs, modified by monosyllabic suffixes (or prefixes) with an adverbial value. For example: there is no word corresponding to the word "moon,", but there is a verb which in English would be "to moon" or "to moonate." "The moon rose above the river" is hlor u fang axaxaxas mlo, or literally: "upward behind the onstreaming it mooned."

The language of Tlon effects their epistemology and their entire understanding of the world. They reject and even have trouble understanding concepts of materialism and spatial reasoning. In Tlon, their perception of things is abstract and incompatible with the philosophies of the real world. This even effects the permanence of physical objects in Tlon. Matter is a transitive and inconsistent thing. It's difficult to summarize all of these ideas without quoting the whole description from Borges, but what they do is brilliantly convey an entirely new and foreign worldview in just a few pages.

The story ends with a postscript dated 1947 (several years after the actual story was published) which describes how the rest of the Encyclopedia of Tlon became known to the world, and it's ideas promulgated. The fantastic world of Tlon then intrudes upon reality, and the narrator sums up the results:

A scattered dynasty of solitary men has changed the face of the world. Their task continues. If our forecasts are not in error, a hundred years from now someone will discover the hundred volumes of the Second Encyclopedia of Tlön. Then English and French and mere Spanish will disappear from the globe. The world will be Tlön.

This story, published in 1940, is analogous in many ways to the the creation and proliferation of the internet. Like the creation of Tlon, the internet started with "a scattered dynasty of solitary men" and later grew exponentially to be embraced by the whole world. The internet and networking technology introduced new paradigms. Communication that was less physical and personal could be considered just as real and valid. Ideas could be shared in a manner that separated them from the physical attributes of identity and body language. Imaginary worlds like Tlon have been created online and many people inhabit them as fully as they do the real world. Jamie F. Metzl, in the World Policy Journal (2008 vol:25 iss:3),  predicts that " virtual worlds [such as Second Life] will, by 2033, have overtaken the two-dimensional Internet as the predominant system of non face-to-face human interaction. Communication that now takes place by phone or e-mail will by then be carriedout largely in these three-dimensional interactive spaces." This suggests, as did Borges decades earlier, that the world at large is able to change its understanding to embrace completely invented, abstract ideas, as an extension of reality.

The Circular Ruins

The Circular Ruins is another story that deals with accepting the non-physical as a part of reality. In this case, the topic is dreams, and their ability to affect the real world. It is important to note that the story is influenced by traditional Mayan spirituality and how it incorporates the world of dreams. I have previously discussed these connections in depth, but to summarize: The main character of the story is a magician of sorts who goes through the long and involved process of creating a man in his dreams, intending to bring him into reality. The character in the story spends a great deal of time sleeping and in his dreams he gradually constructs a man, who ultimately resembles himself, and with the help of the fire deity of the temple, is able to bring his creation into the real world.The magician then learns through supernatural events that he is also the the creation of the dreams of another. The Mayans also believed that dreams could effect reality, (and that they were in fact, real) and were an integral part of spiritual and daily life. What this story, and Mayan spirituality suggest is that it is common and even natural for humans to make something outside of the physical realm a part of reality. Therefore, integrating the digital into our lives can be a productive way to fulfill this human tendency.

The Aleph

The narrator of The Aleph  becomes acquainted with a mediocre poet who is attempting to encompass the whole of the earth in a singular epic. His inspiration, he says, comes from The Aleph, a small sphere that enables the viewer to simultaneously view everything that currenty exists. The narrator describes his encounter with the Aleph:

I saw the Aleph from every point and angle, and in the Aleph I saw the earth and in the earth the Aleph and in the Aleph the earth; I saw my own face and my own bowels; I saw your face; and I felt dizzy and wept, for my eyes had seen that secret and conjectured object whose name is common to all men but which no man has looked upon -- the unimaginable universe.

The experience, obviously, is overwhelming.The Aleph is a powerful resource, but it is probably too much for the human mind to make sense of. The analogy to be drawn here is that, in today's ultraconnected world, people with a connection to the internet have, in a sense, their own Aleph. They have the entirety of the digital world at their fingertips, accessible from one place, with no limitations of space or distance. And although the digital experience isn't quite as universal or simultaneous as that of the Aleph, the advancement of networking technology is making it ever so much closer to it. Increasing numbers of people are becoming increasingly connected and bringing more data to the online cloud. Information and sources and becoming streamlined and aggregated with more sophisticated programs. The whole earth itself can be explored instantaneously in 3D on Google Earth, giving us a power startlingly similar in a very literal way to that of Borges' Aleph.

The Presciense of Borges

My original topic of discussion for this blog was centered on the fictional work of Jorge Luis Borges, particularly the story The Circular Ruins, so I have decided to spend some more time digging into his ideas. As a result of my efforts to connect with others online about the works of Jorge Luis Borges and his relevance in the digital age, I got a very nice response in the form of a blog post from someone interested in Borges. This insightful blogger suggested how some other Borges stories could give insight into modern conditions. For example, Tlön Uqbar, Orbis Tertius deals with a collaborative encyclopedia that recalls Wikipedia, and how it strongly effects the reality of a civilization. There is a plethora of possibilities to explore.

So I decided to check out another Borges collection from the library: The Aleph and Other Stories. The titular short story deals with a man who has in his basement an "aleph", a strange artifact which allows him to perceive everything that currently exists in the world simultaneously, and his misguided efforts to describe it all in poetry. The experience that the Aleph brings is overwhelming to the narrator in the story. And here I find another analogous idea. The way information technology is developing is giving us an experience progressively closer to that of the aleph. We are becoming increasingly connected to more information from more of the world, more easily and more instantaneously. This idea, along with the comments some of my colleages and others have made, has suggested that there is a dark side to the hyperconnected digital life. I didn't really consider these implications in my more comprehensive post on the topic, even though my own recent online experiences have hinted at them. There are many millions of people and  ideas online, and a lot of things to sift through, many of them not relevant or necessary. The digital experience can be overwhelming and time consuming, and we can lose our grasp on the smaller, more local realm of experience(as did the character in the story). In spite of my efforts to flesh out a strong argument, I find myself falling into a disempowering ambivalence.

The Digital World, the Dream World, and Reality

The advancement of networking technology over the past couple of decades has created a sort of alternate reality. The world-wide web became a sort of world in itself as it became inhabited by increasing numbers of denizens of the real world who began to utilize it in a variety of new ways.
The number of hours that the rising generation spends plugged into the digital network has increased substantially in these past years. A PBS Frontline special reports that the average young person spends almost nine hours with this technology. This drastic increase from years previous has obviously drawn concern from various critics. The traditional and most obvious perception is that more time spent online means less time spent in the real world, which is thought to be the more ideal and healthy place for interaction and activity. But this attitude towards modern technology, and the digital world created by it, must change, primarily because the distinction between the digital and the real is becoming less clear and less necessary. This paradigm shift is can be advantageous. It does not necessarily remove humans from their connection to reality, or their ability to cope with it. In fact, just the opposite is true. Many have integrated the digital with the physical to augment their educational, creative, and social lives to their advantage. This alternate, digital dimension is technologically but not conceptually new, at least not entirely. There are some compelling historical and literary examples that demonstrate that the idea of being connected to another world can be an important part of human life.



The World of Dreams

In the act of dreaming, something common to all humanity, we conjure up images, events and places other than what we experience in waking hours. In marginal states of consciousness, it can be difficult to determine or recall what is or was real. Various cultures throughout history have created ways to make sense of this other reality created by dreams, and have made them a part of their beliefs and practices. The ancient Mayans are an example of a society to which dreams were an integral part of spiritual life.

The Mayans believed that dreams were sacred. Dreams could give personal direction and foreshadow future events. Dreams were a part of introspection and self-discovery. The Mayans believed they each had a sort of spiritual alter-ego, which they called they called a way. The word way also refers to the act of sleep. Dreaming was a way of connecting with the way.
Various anthropological studies, such as this one have shown that that these beliefs have persisted into contemporary times. Certain Mayan communities maintain very similar beliefs about spiritual identity and dreams. Each person has an adiosich, which leaves the body during dreams and travels. It can go to other communities or even other worlds. It can communicate with the adiosich of others or with deceased ancestors. This adiosich is further described as the thing that makes one human, the consciousness that makes decisions, and without which a person cannot live. It is the soul, or the essence of one's identity. A great deal of light can be shed on human understanding of the world by the Mayan idea that the soul can, though dreams, exist and act outside of the constraints of the physical world, and that its true identity can be found only when disconnected from reality. Actually, it has been said among the Maya that "dreams are real, dreams are reality.

These concepts are strongly analogous to the online life. Internet access, like dreams do for the Mayans, allows the user limitless exploration without physical travel, and allows communication with other actual people anywhere in the world in a way separate from the physical self. Also, as the Mayans have no difficulty perceiving the dream world as merely another aspect of reality, natives of the digital world can call it a real part of their lives. Perhaps having examples like this shows that the new media paradigm fulfills some desire inherent in human nature, just as numerous spiritual beliefs did in other cultures. But there is a very important difference: the digital world is actually connected to reality and has tangible uses. We can't verify that human souls can communicate in dreams, but the reality of electronic networking is unquestionable. It is based on actual physical connections that are a part of the our world and have become necessary for its operation. There are no metaphysical ideologies to cast doubt upon.

The Dream World and Borges' Reality

The fiction of Jorge Luis Borges offers some explorations of perceptions of reality that predate the digital age. Borges wrote a number of short stories, many of which deal with metaphysical elements and provoke some philosophical contemplations. A prime example is The Circular Ruins. This story appears to have some strong Mayan influence. It is apparent in the setting as well as the spiritual themes, which reflect the Mayan beliefs discussed previously. In this story, a man who appears to be a magician of sorts goes through the long and involved process of creating a man in his dreams, intending to bring him into reality. He undergoes this endeavor in a specific place: the circular ruins referenced in the title. He understands that these remains of a destroyed ancient temple are necessary for the process. The setting recalls the Mayan concept of wayib, which is the place of the way. Mayan kings would go to certain edifices designated as such, where they would go to sleep and connect with their way.

The character in the story spends a great deal of time in this spiritually significant place sleeping. In his dreams he gradually constructs a man, who ultimately resembles himself, and with the help of the fire deity of the temple, is able to bring his creation into the real world. The creation appears real in every sense, but the magician knows that he is not, and he fears that his creation will discover that he is not real, because of his unnatural immunity to fire. Ironically, the magician himself, when engulfed in flames and unharmed, realizes that he is the created from a dream in the same sense as his own creation, and this results in his own downfall.

The story raises a number of questions about reality. Is the reality of a thing only determined by our perception of it as real? The only thing that made the dream son unreal was his creator's knowledge that he was a product of dreams, although it was through dreams that he was brought into reality in the first place. The story also blurs the line between the dream world and the real world. If the magician himself was the product of dreams and magic, which can exist in this world, what's to say the world of his waking life was any more real than the dream world?
Although in our world we can more clearly distinguish(most of the time) between our physical world and that that exists digitally, we can still ask the question: what makes the digital world unreal besides our own designation of it as something less real? Technology is quickly bridging the gap between the digital and the physical (see augmented reality), making it harder to answer that question. This might sound disconcerting from the perspective of those who would decry the proliferation of new media, but it isn't something to be afraid of. As humans, we are more in control of our world than ever in the digital age. And just as much as in past societies, we are free to define or redefine it as it we deem appropriate.