Jorge Borges was born on August 24, 1899 and died on June 14, 1986. He was a poet, fiction writer, and essayist from Argentina. He is most famous for his short stories.
“The Circular Ruins” is a fantasy short story that explores the material of reality. The famous short story can be described as a dream within a dream. We are introduced to a man, known as “the grey man”, “the taciturn man”, “the stranger”, “the wizard” and just “the man”. The man crawls from his boat to a demolished burned temple, which will be his home for the remainder of the story. Throughout the story, he sleeps and dream. In his dreams, he is creating a man. After failed attemps, his dreams tell him that Fire can help him create man. After succeding in creating man, he released his “son” in the world. Later, man hears rumos that son can walk through fire. He knows that this is true because fire knows that this man is not real. In the end, man faces death as his temple catches flames. Yet, he is able to walk among fire, unharmed, because he too was created in a dream
Non Linear time is a constant in this short story. The story continues in an unlogical form, being broken down in reanranging moments in comparison to a normal story line. The change of durations and multiple branch offs gives the story a confusing yet dramatic feel. I learned that Time is crucial in a story such as this one. The author has to be careful with the exact Timing in order to percieve the vision of the author.
