Susan Stewart, in an analysis of Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Aleph,” argues that “attempts to describe the miniature threaten an infinity of detail that becomes translated
into an infinity of verbality. Language describing the miniature always displays the inadequacy of the verbal” (On Longing 2). Indeed, immediately before attempting to
describe the Aleph, the protagonist of Borges’ story says, “I come now to the ineffable center of my tale; it is here that a writer’s hopelessness begins” (282). What
do Borges and Stewart suggest about language and description? How do Borges and Julio Cortázar, the author of “A Continuity of Parks,” write that which is supposedly
impossible to write?
Your task in this essay is to analyze and draw generalized conclusions from Borges’ and Cortázar’s attempts to “write the impossible.” Your essay should consist of a
progression of analysis of specific passages and, to a lesser extent, argument; in the course of your analysis and argumentation, you should present insightful new
ideas about your subject matter; in addition, the relation between your ideas and their relation your central project should be clear. To ensure that you write a
cohesive, coherent essay, you should choose a critical concept that will serve as the core or “center” of your argument: for example, you might think about the
writers’ use of symbols, or their use of geometric figures (a Möbius strip, a “sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere”), or the ways that they
present literature within works of literature. You may select one of these examples to engage with in your essay, or you may come up with your own—but do decide on
some central critical concept and think about it in terms of Borges’ and Cortázar’s “impossible” writing.
Borges, Jorge Luis. “The Aleph.” Collected Fictions. Trans. Andrew Hurley. New York: Penguin, 1998. 274-86. PDF.
Cortázar, Julio. “A Continuity of Parks.” Trans. Paul Blackburn. Flash Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories. Ed. James Thomas, Denise Thomas, and Tom Hazuka. New York:
Norton, 1992. 137-9. PDF.
Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. 1984. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Excerpts posted on
HuskyCT. PDF.
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