Reaction to: The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges
This short story is quite a doozy. I had to re-read around three to four times to finally understand the different meanings presented within it. It’s truly amazing in my opinion how Borges, in 1941, could write such a piece that broke barriers, a piece that can be seen as a precursor to the hypertext genre of Electronic Literature. This can be seen when Borges mentions “”a labyrinth that folds back onto itself upon regression” and “become aware of all the possible choices one might take”. Here we have clear examples on how Borges, way back in 41’, predicted how hypertext literature is today. Works that jump on succession and take you from one place to another, and also shows us that there are different types of choices offered to us, but it is in our hands to decide which choice is the right one. The story basically shows us that we can make choices without having to remove the other choices, the same way an internet website offers you more than one choice but doesn’t force you to remove the others. Ts’ui Pen’s book is the labyrynth, not two completely different things. One leads to another. The title is a reference to that same labyrynth and also a reference to the possibility of more than one way to read a story, just like hypertext.
- 01.23.12