Fictions by J.L. Borges

Artwork by Isabella Traeger

I chose to illustrate three short stories of Borges' Fictions: Death and the compass, The Garden of the Forking Paths, and The circular ruins. As explained bellow, the three collages are based on works by M.C. Escher: I found the worlds of both artists to speak the same language and mutually enhancing:

“There is a perfect correlation between the universes depicted in Borges' Fictions and M.C. Escher's imagery. Both create surreal, labyrinthic worlds through the sheer power of imagination, challenging our rationality, immerging us in the realm of the (im)possible.” 

DEATH AND THE COMPASS _ M.C. Escher, RELATIVITY, lithograph, 1953

03 December _ Northern neighbourhood

A Rabin is found dead on the floor of his room. In his typewriter is a piece of paper reading: "The first letter of the Name has been uttered."

03 January _ Western neighbourhood

A dead man is found propped up against the door of a paint shop. On the diamond-patterned wall, a sentence is written in chalk: "The second letter of the Name has been written."

03 February _ Eastern neighbourhood

A man is abducted by two men dressed as harlequins. They drive to the harbour, where one harlequin scribbles on a shed: "The last letter of the Name has been uttered."

03 March _ Southern neighbourhood

The detective deduces where the last murder will take place: in a symmetrical and labyrinthic villa, with diamond-patterned windows. There, among "the symmetry, the mirrors, the years, my ignorance, the solitude", he will find his death.

THE GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS M.C. Escher, PROCESSION IN CRYPT, woodcut print, 1927 
"Each time a man is faced with different alternative, he opts for one of these, eliminating the others. […] He thus creates different futures, different times, which in turn proliferate and bifurcate." 

THE CIRCULAR RUINS _ M.C. Escher, ANOTHER WORLD II, woodcut print, 1947 
Amidst a temple in ruins, a wizard meticulously gives life to a [wo]man through his dreams.