Borgean Theory of Fiction
Metafiction as a Creative Principle in Jorge Luis Borges’ Narratives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2025.54323Keywords:
Borges, theory, metafiction, literary forms, fantastic literatureAbstract
Commencing from the analysis of the essay “Cuando la ficción vive en la ficción” (1939), it provides a reflection on the theory that underlies Jorge Luis Borges’ narratives to unveil his handling of literary forms. The concept of metafiction (Gass, 1979) presents itself as a reading key to much of his fictional work, given its productivity in unraveling one procedure of what the writer claims as fantastic literature: the artwork within itself. Considering the concept of fantastic literature as relevant to understand his most complex narratives, it attempts to combine it with the concept of metafiction to elucidate Borgean poetics. Ultimately, it argues that Borges gives the idea of fiction a new meaning, by the metafictional gesture of crossing the limits between genres, when it bursts in a type of critical analysis within his fictional universe.
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