1. Borges, Averroes, Aristotle: The Poetics of Poetics
Author(s): Daniel Balderston
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Hispania, Vol. 79, No. 2 (May, 1996), pp. 201-207
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
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2. 201
Borges, Averroes, Aristotle: The Poetics of Poetics
Daniel Balderston
Tulane University
Abstract: Borges'sappropriations literarytheoryaremischievous,undermining grand,universalizing
of the
claims of theory. His strategies are clearly exemplifiedin "Labusca de Averroes," which shows not only
in
Averroes'sdifficulties explicating Aristotle'sPoeticsbut also Borges'sowndifficulties depicting
in Averroes
in his othernessin twelfth-centuryIslamicSpain.Ultimately storyis a parableofthe impossibility theory,
the of
a swervefromthe generalto the particular.
KeyWords: Borges (Jorge "Busca Averroes,"
Luis),Averroes, de Aristotle, theory,Orientalism
poetics,literary
La palabracorsariascorre el albur de despertarun
recuerdovagamente inc6modo: de unadescolorida
el
zarzuela,con sus teoriasde evidentesmucamas,que
haciande piratascoreogrificasen mares de notable
cart6n.
Borges, Obrascompletas(306)1
As reminds intheopen- frequentedby "theory," andlow, pure
Borges us high
ing sentence of "Laviuda Ching, andapplied.InwhatfollowsI willbe mostly
kpirata" (in Historiauniversalde la concernedwith the presence of the found-
in
infamia,1935),theory Greekmeant"fes- ing text of literarytheory,Aristotle'sPoet-
tival"or "procession." Dariouses the word ics,in the 1947story"La buscade Averroes,"
"teoria" the same unusual sense in "El
in hopingto suggest new ways to readthe re-
reino interior"(1896):"Porel lado derecho lationbetween "Borges" "theory."
and
del camino adelante, / el paso leve, una From Genette and Foucaultto de Man
adorable teoria / virginal. Siete blancas and Bloom,fromPierreMachereyto John
doncellas, semejantes / a siete blancas Frow,Borges is invokedat any numberof
rosas de graciay de armonia/ que el alba key momentsin the theoretical discussions
constelara de perlas y diamantes" (67). of the last thirty years. Borges has been
Borges's use of the word is considerably subjectedto all types of readings:structur-
more transgressivethan Dario'sin that he alist, Bakhtinian, Derridean, Marxist,
shoves the wordfroma "high" culturalcon- Lacanian, feministandqueer,philosophical,
text to a "low"one. By carnivalizingthis scientific,new historicistandculturalstud-
solemn philosophical word,by turningthe ies, postcolonial,religious,etc. etc. In fact,
Greek word from religious procession to the MLAbibliography lists "applicationsof
can-can, Borges, as is often his wont, the theories of' the following to Borges:
deflates the notion of high seriousness or Barthes, Lacan,Derrida, Spitzer, Girard,
pure abstraction,here with a grotesque, Bakhtin, Peirce, Eco, Robbe-Grillet,
even a pathetic image: the "evidentes Genette, Amado Alonso, Jung, de Man,
mucamas"are domestic servantswho as- Eliade, MarioValdes, Ricoeur,Berkeley,
pire to be vaudeville dancers but do not Carlyle,Propp,Greimas,Benjamin,Said,
quite succeed. But if "Laviuda Ching, Cassirer,Steiner,andothers,as well as the
pirata" ends up as a vindicationof the life applicationsof such other kinds of theory
of a female pirate,movingfrom the ridicu- as chaos theory, game theory, semiotics,
lous to the sublime,so Borges is-at least quantumtheory,translation theory and so
forourtime-one of the worldauthorsmost forth. It seems from this astonishingcata-

3. 202 HISPANIA 79 MAY 1996
logue thatwe are only lackinga Buddhist- cade), only to reveal at the end that the
Leninistreading of El librode arena with phrase is by Aeschylus, and as such is as-
applications the theoriesof Eve Kosofsky
of sociated with remote antiquityand its se-
Sedgwick and Joseph Campbell, but no vere beauty(Elidiomadelosargentinos 90-
doubt someone, somewhere is writing a 91). This stunt of interpretation greatly
is
dissertationor an articlealong those lines. extended in "PierreMenard,"apropos of
Borges's writings show his great famil- Menard'srewriting,underthe influenceof
iaritywithliterary criticism: JohnLivingston William James, of the phrase from
Lowes's TheRoad to Xanadu, Dante criti- Cervantes "Laverdad, cuya madre es la
cism, OldNorse andOldEnglishcriticism, historia,emula del tiempo,dep6sitode las
Valery, Eliot, Stuart Gilbert's book on acciones, testigo de lo pasado, ejemplo y
Ulysses (praisedas being worthreadingin- aviso de lo presente, advertencia lo por
de
stead of the Joyce novel itself [232]), criti- venir"(449).
cism of gauchesque poetry,etc. He seems It is noteasy to accomodate Borges'sdis-
less interested in literary theory per se. parate ideas into a system or coherent
There are two key referencesto Aristotle's theory,as Shumway Santhave pointed
and
Poetics-in "Labusca de Averroes"and in out. Some have argued, for instance, that
"Elpudorde la historia"(583,754), the lat- Otrasinquisiciones advocatesa literaryhis-
ter to remarkthatAeschylusincreasedthe torywithoutauthors' names,butthe essays
numberof actors from one to two-and a on Wildeand Valkryundercutthis idea by
few scattered references to Croce, arguingthatthese authorscanbe valuedfor
Coleridge,Arnold, Eliot, and the James/ their sincerity (a word seldom associated
Stevenson debates on narrative theory. withWilde)or personality(notviewed as a
Borges makes no direct reference to the virtue by Valkry). Borges uses paradox
Russianformalists,Burke,the New Critics, throughouthis criticalwritingsas a way of
even to Forster'sAspectsof theNovel,or- resisting generalizations; can be seen
this
perhaps becauseofblindness,perhaps from in "PierreMenard"itself. CarlaCordua's
disinterest-to more recent schools of insightintoBorges'suses of metaphysics is
theory. germane here: Borges does not "do"phi-
But the theory/criticism distinction is losophy-or theory-but does not just re-
underminedin Borges because "theoreti- fer to it either. By "doing"theory differ-
cal" arguments may be embedded in fic- ently-by resistingthe impulseto general-
tional plots, in criticalessays, even in the ize, by contradicting himselffromone text
short prose pieces of El hacedor.For in- to another,by thinkingthroughparadoxin
stance, the central theoretical insight in much of his work-Borges proves exem-
"Pierre Menard,autordel Quijote"-that a plaryas a criticattentiveto the particulars
text comes to be when readandrewritten- of the text he comments,and can be used
first appears in an essay, "La fruici6n productively almosteveryturnof contem-
at
literaria,"in El idioma de los argentinos porary theoretical work, although one
(1928), and predates the Konstanzschool wouldhaveto say thathe is in butnotofthat
of the "aestheticsof reception" Stanley
and textualuniverse.Corduanotes:
Fish's "readerresponse theory"by some
Los frutosde la teoria [de la metafisica]son tratados
fortyyears.In "La fruici6n literaria,"
Borges porBorges,antesquenada,comoproductos la fan- de
proposesa conundrum: the meaningof
that tasia y a los cultivadoreshist6ricosde la filosofialos
a text varies greatlydependingon its attri- tiene poramablesilusos encandilados la quimera
por
bution. Working with a phrase "Elincendio, de la verdad.ParaBorges la teoriafue siempreuna
con feroces mandibula[s], devora el campo," actividad otros que trae al mundociertos objetos
de
en extremo raros y sugerentes. Esta perspectiva,
he inquires what this would mean if written
completamente inusual,si lo pensamosbien, puede
by a fire survivor, by a Chinese poet, by an ser ilamada,creo, una interpretaci6n est6tica de la
avant garde poet (of the kind he had been filosofia.(630)
himself at the beginning of the same de-

4. BORGES, AVERROES, ARISTOTLE:THE POETICS OF POETICS 203
If Borges chooses (in "La viuda Ching" know it), the consensus among his listen-
andelsewhere)to returnto the Greek-out ers is that it is unnecessaryto use numer-
of an interest in etymology, calling in his ous people to tell a story when one would
essay "Elidiomainfinito" a returnto the
for in
suffice.The issue arisesin the Poetics, the
"primordial meaning" a word (El tamahio
of passage cited by Borges in "Elpudorde la
de mi esperanza 2-so his story"La
41) busca historia," when Aristotle recalls that
de Averroes" shapedby anotherkind of
is Aeschylus increasedthe numberof actors
desireforreturn: returnto the veryorigins
a from one to two (Janko 6); Borges com-
of literary theory, Aristotle's Poetics.3 ments on this passagein thatessay at some
Borges'sstoryopenswithan epigraph from length, finallynoting:
Renan'sAverroeset l'averroisme endsand
with an evocationof the same author,thus ...nuncasabremossi [Esquilo]presinti6,siquierade
de
un modo imperfecto, significativo aquelpasaje
lo
suggesting that Renanis Borges's primary del uno al dos, de la unidada la pluralidad asi a lo
y
or perhapsonlysource.Borges'sAverroes, Conel segundoactorentraron didlogo las
infinito. el y
or ibn Rushd,as he is known in Arabic,is indefinidas posibilidades la reacci6nde unoscarac-
de
disturbedby a "philological" doubtrelated teres sobre otros. (754-55)
to his commentary on the Poetics at the
momenthe is penningthe eleventhchapter The same issue-showing vs. telling-,
of his TahafutAl-Tahafut (Incoherence the
of now wholly transposedinto the art of nar-
Incoherence), his attack on al-Ghazali's rative, preoccupied Henry James and his
Tahafut Al-Filasifa(Incoherence thePhi-
of followers, notably Percy Lubbock;in the
losophers), its turn an attackon philoso-
in story,Farach, scholarof the Koran,
the says
phyas an illegitimate branchof theology.(It of the Chinese theater that has been de-
should be noted that Averroeswas exiled "En
scribedby his guestAlbucasim: talcaso
near the end of his life and some of his ... no se requerian veintepersonas.Un solo
books burntin a similarbattlebetweenthe- hablista puede referircualquiercosa, por
ology andphilosophy; Borges does not say complejo que sea" (586). (John Sturrock
so, butthe stakesin this disputewerehigh.) rightlycalls attentionto the unusualword
Averroes's"philological" doubt,thatserves "hablista" instead of "hablante" "narra-
or
his
to interrupt philosophyforan afternoon dor"[284].)
andan evening,has to do withtwounknown Butthe central pointof the storyis, as the
and
words, "tragedy" "comedy." Now, any narratorstates at the end, "el proceso de
readerofAristotle's Poeticswillconcurthat una derrota[,]... el caso de un hombreque
an inability to decipher these words will se proponeun fin que no esta'vedadoa los
gravely impede an understanding of otros, pero si a 1"(587-88). For the narra-
Aristotle'stext, and Averroes shares that tor, and presumably the reader,a read-
for
preoccupation: "Esasdos palabrasarcanas ing of Aristotle'sPoeticsby someone with-
pululabanen el texto de la Poetica;impo- out knowledge and experience of the the-
sible eludirlas"(583). ater is unthinkable, such is the case of
but
Muchof the Borges storyis a discussion Averroes in twelfth-centuryAl-Andalus.
with Abulcasim al-Ashari (the name is Ironically, course,the narrator atten-
of calls
based on that of one of Averroes'sbiogra- tion to boys in the street pretendingto be
phers) aboutwhetherit is betterto show or muezzinandcongregation(playing, is, that
to tell. Al-Asharitells of his experience of at the theater), and the conversation at
having attended a theater in China- Farach'shouse, as we have seen, turns on
"Imaginemos que alguien muestra una Abulcisim's account of a visit to a theater
historiaen vez de referirla" (585)-and be- in China.4 readingof the Poeticsby some-
A
cause he does not tell of the experiencein one who thinksthattragedyis panegyricor
a way that is clearlyunderstandable (even eulogy and comedy is satire seems ludi-
to Averroes,who is hungryfor information crous, as Renanremarksin his Averroes et
aboutpreciselythis art,though he maynot l'averroisme (in the same passage from

5. 204 HISPANIA 79 MAY 1996
which Borges took the epigraph to the Middle Commentary particularrather
are
story, "S'imagininant la trag6dien'est than generalin scope.
que
autrechose quel'artde louer"): "Cette para- As Averroes argues in his TahafutAl-
phrase accuse ... l'ignorance la plus com- Tahafut[orIncoherence theIncoherence]:
of
plkte de la litt6raturegrecque" (He imag-
ines thattragedyis nothingif not the artof The theory of the philosophersthat universalsexist
praising. This paraphrase reveals ... the onlyin the mind,notinthe external world,onlymeans
most complete ignorance of Greek litera- thatthe universals exist actually onlyin the mind,and
not in the externalworld,not thatthey do not exist at
ture. 48).5 all in the externalworld,forthe meaningis thatthey
Let me confess now to having read exist potentially,not actuallyin the externalworld;
Averroes's Middle Commentary on indeed,if they did not exist at all in the outsideworld
Aristotle's
Poetics,translated Englishin
into they wouldbe false. (65)
1986by CharlesE. Butterworth.6 work,
This So here with the poetics. Borges's sum-
as Butterworth notes, is almostunknown in mary of the eleventh chapterof Tahafutis
the Arabic-speakingworld, having only exact in the story: "se mantiene,contrael
been publishedin the last 125years and in asceta persa Ghazali,autordel Tahafut-ul-
scholarlyeditionsthathave apparently cir- falasifa (Destrucci6n de fil6sofos), que la
culated little;the two Arabicmanuscripts divinidads61oconoce las leyes generales
are preservedin librariesin Florence and del universo,lo concernientealas especies,
Leiden. Renan knew the work through no al individuo"(582).8Averroes himself
translationsof translationsof the original, writesat the end of the chapterin question:
remarkingat one point that the works of And concerningboth universalsand individuals is it
Averroes that were availableto him were true of Him that He knows them and does not know
Latin of
translations Hebrewtranslations of them. This is the conclusionto which the principles
a commentarymade upon Arabictransla- of the ancientphilosophersled;but those who make
tions of Syriactranslationsof Greek origi- a distinction,and say that Godknows universalsbut
nals (52); Averroes's inability to read does notknowparticulars, notfullygraspedtheir
have
Aristotledirectlyis morethancompensated theory, and this is not a consequence of their prin-
ciples. For all humansciences are passivitiesandim-
by his readers' inability (from Thomas pressionsfromthe existents,andthe existentsoperate
Aquinasto Borges) to read him directly.If on them. But the knowledgeof the Creatoroperates
it were not for Butterworth's notes, on existents, and the existents receivethe activities
Averroes'squotationsfromandreflections of His knowledge.(269)
on Arabic poetry and poetics would be Knowingand not knowing:in this paradox
nearly incomprehensiblefor the Western resides one of Averroes'sfundamental in-
non-Arabist reader (as they were for one of sights.
his medieval translators, Hermann In one of his essays on Dante, Borges
Alemann),just as Averroescouldnotmake writes:"Laprecisi6nque acabo de indicar
much sense of Aristotle's references to no es un artificioret6rico;es afirmaci6n
de
Greek poetry. But this is not entirely the la probidad,de la plenitud, con que cada
point.Averroesacknowledgesat the outset incidente del poema ha sido imaginado"
that Aristotle comments on aspects of (Nueveensayos dantescos Inthe case of
88).
Greekpoetrythat do not have readyanalo- Borges'sAverroes,whatis at stakein argu-
gies in Arabic poetry, or in the poetry of is
ing for "precisi6n" not the minimalrefer-
"most or all nations,"to use his frequent ences to the local colorof MoslemSpain-
phrase; he sets as his task the adaptation of the fountain, the harem, and so forth-but
Aristotle'sargumentto Arabicpoetry,a di- the intellectual rigor with which Averroes's
mension Stavans does not explore in this mental world has been recreated: the right
article on the story. Thus, he argues chapter of the Tahafut is mentioned, the
through his commentary that Aristotle did names of the Arabic translators of Aristotle
not set out the rules for all poetry and that are correctly cited, the Hellenistic commen-
he will not do so either; the Poetics and the tator on Aristotle (Alexanderof Aphrodisias)

6. BORGES, AVERROES, ARISTOTLE:THE POETICS OF POETICS 205
is consulted at the right moment. John rance with a sense of superiority. (One
Sturrock gets it profoundly wrongwhen he problem with the casting of this story as
calls Borges'seruditionintoquestionhere, tragedyis its genre:the short storyis a nar-
doubting the existence of Alexander of ration,withoutthe independent existenceof
Aphrodisias (279)andstatingof the Ghazali characters, or theirpresenceon the stage.)
Tahafut and of Averroes'sreply:"Whether Forundertaking translation the Poetics
a of
these are real works of early Arabic without a sense of what theater is (much
thought,orwhetherBorgeshas madethem less the distinction between tragedy and
up, I do not know.Their existence is, so to comedy) is surely an act of hubris.'0
speak,immaterial" (280). On the contrary: Averroes'sfailure("quisenarrar proceso
el
Borges may not have known how to read de una derrota"[587]) is mirroredin the
Arabicor Hebrew but he made excellent narrator's failure, Averroes'sdisappearance
use of the Latinand modernmaterial(not, before the mirrorsignallingthe failureof
as the ineffableMr.Sturrock wouldhave it, the narrator's imagination.
"immaterial") available him.
to Vander Bergh states in his introduction
As alreadynoted, "PierreMenard," like to the Tahafut: "Averroes the last great
was
"La fruici6nliteraria" beforeit, complicates philosopher in Islamin the twelfthcentury,
the matterof literaryinterpretation in-by and is the most scholarlyand scrupulous
sisting that the meaningof a text depends commentatorof Aristotle.He is far better
not only on the conditionsof its production known in Europethan in the Orient [sic],
(who wrote it, when, and under what cir- where few of his worksarestillin existence
cumstances)butalso of its reception. this
In andwherehe hadno influence, beingthe
he
story the same idea is broachedin the dis- last great philosopherof his culture"(xii).
cussion of whether a metaphorin a classic Yet he is knowablehere only throughhis
Arabic poem (destinyseen as a blindcamel) otherness.As FloydMerrellhas arguedin
has become a mere cliche;Averroesargues his briefdiscussion of the story:
to the contrary thatan imagepennedin the
The conceptsof tragedyandcomedyexist withinthe
Arabian desertacquiresnewlayersof mean-
culturalmilieuof the West, and hence the pairis for
ing centuries later in Al-Andalus:"Dos Borges adequatelyintelligible,but not for Averroes.
terminosteniala figuray hoy tiene cuatro" Borges, on the otherhand, endeavorsto constructa
(587). The two new terms added to the narrative that lies withinAverroes'sIslamicform of
figure (whichinitiallyconsisted of "camel" life, a task equallyas impossibleas thatof Averroes.
The self-reflectiveinjunctionboth men give them-
and"destiny") "Zuhair,"' Arabic
are the poet selves is tantamount to the paradoxical Socratic
who composed the image, and "nuestros knowledge paradox[sic], which pragmatically puts
pesares," the sufferings and sorrows of one in an untenablesituation,for to know that one
Zuhair'sSpanish readers, so distantfrom knows, one must alreadyknow, and if one already
the Arabian desert. By the same token, knows, then one cannot conscientiously set out to
Aristotle's is enrichedon being readby
text obeythe injunction. in a manner speaking,
Yet, of both
tasks are possible,for Borges doescompletehis nar-
Averroes, andAverroes'son being readby rative,howeverinadequate mayclaimit to be, and
he
Borges, althoughthe "difference" between Averroesdid somehowsolve his problem,forhis an-
one and anothermaybe as invisibleas that swervaguelycorrespondsto Aristotle's Poetics.... In
between Menard's and Cervantes's ver- this manner, paradox in a sense been resolved,
the has
sions of "la verdad, cuya madre es la yet it has notbeen trulyresolved,since bothAverroes
andthe narrator apparentlymerelymuddled theirway
historia"(449). throughto an answer;there is no way of theirknow-
"La buscade Averroes," then,is the story ing absolutelyhow they stumbleduponit or whether
of the founding text of literary theory, as or not it was correct.(75-76)
misunderstood-or better still, as reimag-
ined-in a different cultural context. The Knowing and not knowing again: in
story is cast as a tragedy in Aristotle's terms: Merrell's formulation, an insight into the
the philosopher's quest is undone by his particular, gained by "mere muddling
ignorance, and by his masking of his igno- through," by "vague correspondences," is

7. 206 HISPANIA 79 MAY 1996
not sufficientknowledgeof the whole, but ing "Labuscade Averroes": focuseshis discussion
he
it is knowledgeof some sort. (less productively, my view) on "Laescrituradel
in
notes thatAverroes dios,"a storythatis set in post-Conquest Guatemala,
(like as I have arguedin Outof Context (69-80).
Corbin afterhim,in the letterto Can
Dante
Grandediscussed Borgesandso
4Cf.Aristotle:"what possibleis believable; do
is we
by not believethatwhathas neverhappenedis possible,
manyothers) arguesfor the coexistence of but things which have happenedare obviouslypos-
exoteric (zahir)meaningsandone or more sible-they would not have happened,if they were
esoteric (batin) meanings (245);the next impossible"(Janko trans.,12).
Julia
5Surprisingly Kushigian does notdiscussthe
storyin ElAlephis precisely"ElZahir." The "Orientalist" tendenciesin this story,whichshe men-
in
subtlediscussionof metaphor Averroes's tions in passing in her chapter on Borges in
MiddleCommentary (fullerthan the corre- Orientalism theHispanicLiterary
in Tradition(24).
sponding discussionin Aristotle)suggests 6Oddly, Stavans
Ilan callsthe MiddleCommentary
"ahora extraviado" although
(17), Butterworth's trans-
the importancefor him of suggestion and lationof it was publishedtwo yearsbeforehis article.
connotation,a refusal of hermeneuticclo- 7SeeButterworth's to
introduction his translation
sure, as does the successionof commentar- of the MiddleCommentary andRenan(211-12).
(xii)
ies thathe wroteto Aristotle, fromthe short 8Stavans arguesthatBorgescouldnothaveknown
initialones to the later"middle" "great"
and the Tahafut because he couldnot readArabicor He-
brew (16), forgettingthat Borges was an excellent
commentaries(see Fakhry273 and Peters Latinistand could have read the book in Latin.It is
95 on the variouskinds of commentaries). worth rememberingthat Averroes,as Butterworth
He mighthaveapproved Borges'sdefinition andothers have remarked, morewidelypublished
is
of esthetics (andbeauty,andpoetics):"esta in Latinthanin Arabic.
inminencia de una revelaci6n, que no se 90n Zohair, see Butterworth's introduction,
Averroes,MiddleCommentary (61).
produce,es, quiza,el hecho estetico"(635). 100fcourse critics who do have knowledge and
In placing a resistance to closure and to experienceof the theaterhavehadmyriad otherprob-
system at the end of "Lamuralla y los lems of interpretation the Poetics,e.g. Else, Davis,
of
libros," firstessay of Otras
the inquisiciones, Janko,andthe essays in the Rortycollection.
his primary book of essays, Borges mocks "I am gratefulto GwenKirkpatrick her care-
for
ful readingandcritiqueof a draftof this article.
(in advance)the folly of those who would
tryto box him in to one or anothertheoreti- N WORKS CITED
cal approach,and by stressing the "immi-
nence"of an (endlesslypostponed)revela- Alvarez,NicolasE. "Arist6teles Plat6nen 'Laescri-
y
turadel dios' (Borges)." de
Explicaci6n Textos Li-
tion,he leaves openthe possibilityof differ- terarios9.2 (1981):99-102.
ent, andendlesslyrenewable,readings.He Aristotle.Poetics.Trans.withnotes andintro.Richard
makes the same point in the final essay of Janko.Indianapolis: Hackett,1987.
(later editions of) Otras inquisiciones, Averroes. Averroes'ThreeShort Commentaries on
"Sobre los clhasicos." Revelation itself is Aristotle's and
"Rhetorics" 'Poetics.
"Topics," "Trans.
somewhat suspect, as faith requires clo- CharlesE. Butterworth. Albany:State U of New
YorkP, 1977.
sure;the liminalis the space of poetics."n . MiddleCommentary Aristotle's
on Poetics.Trans.,
intro. and notes Charles E. Butterworth.
* NOTES Princeton: PrincetonUP, 1986.
-. Tahafut Al-Tahafut(TheIncoherence the Inco-
of
'Unless otherwise noted all quotations from herence).Trans.,intro.and notes SimonVanDer
Borgesarefromthe 1974editionofthe so-called Obras Bergh. Cambridge: Trustees of the E. J. W. Gibb
completas. Memorial,1954.Rpt.in one volume, 1987.
2Cf."Sobrelos cldsicos": "Escasasdisciplinasha- Balderston, Daniel.OutofContext: HistoricalReference
brdde mayorinternsque la etimologia; se debe a
ello and the Representation of Reality in Borges.
las imprevisibles transformaciones sentidoprimi-
del Durham: Duke UP, 1993.
tivo de las palabras, lo largodel tiempo.Dadastales
a Borges,Jorge Luis.El idiomade los argentinos. Bue-
transformaciones, puedenlindarcon lo parad6ji-
que nos Aires: Espasa-Calpe Argentina:Seix Barral,
co, de nadao de muy poco nos servirai parala aclara- 1994.
ci6n de un conceptoel origende unapalabra" (772). -.Nueve ensayos dantescos.
Madrid:Espasa-Calpe, 1982.
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Aristotle Platoin Borges,thoughwithoutdiscuss-
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-. El tamai~o mi esperanza. Buenos Aires:Proa,

8. BORGES, AVERROES, ARISTOTLE: THE POETICS OF POETICS 207
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