Borges and Kafka
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Abstract
Abstract This study provides a detailed investigation of Jorge Luis Borges’s development as an author in light of (1) Franz Kafka’s influence on Borges’s writing and (2) Borges’s relationship with his father, Jorge Guillermo Borges (Borges père, a failed author). Reading Borges’s stories with respect to the influence of these literary and familial precursors explains some of his aims as a writer. Borges believed that much of Kafka’s writing derived from his personal experiences, particularly his relationship with his father. Following Borges’s lead, this book looks at how reading Kafka helped Borges mediate and make productive use of his relationship with Borges père. It offers an analysis of Borges père’s writing, Borges’s critical and creative writing on Kafka, and the short stories that Borges modelled on Kafka—both openly and indirectly. Particular attention is paid to the concepts that Borges identified as Kafka’s obsessions: subordination, infinity, and hierarchical relationships, which Borges referred to as the ‘patria potestad’. Kafka’s influence is evident not only in the stories in which Borges was intentionally imitating Kafka—‘La lotería en Babilonia’ (1941), ‘La biblioteca de Babel’ (1941), and ‘El Congreso’ (1971)—but also in many other pieces, especially those in Ficciones. Reading Borges’s writing with respect to Kafkian themes demonstrates the degree to which Borges was focused not just on the individual’s subordinate place in an infinite hierarchy, but also on the repercussions these circumstances had for a struggling author who was seeking to define himself through his writing.