Borgesian conundrum
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The Borgesian conundrum is a concept named after the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It was coined by Guy Davenport in 1970.
It has been defined as the ontological question of "whether the writer writes the story, or it writes him." (Adam Langer).
The original concept put forward by Borges is in Kafka and His Precursors—after reviewing works that were written before Kafka's, Borges wrote:
"If I am not mistaken, the heterogeneous pieces I have enumerated resemble Kafka; if I am not mistaken, not all of them resemble each other. The second fact is the more significant. In each of these texts we find Kafka's idiosyncrasy to a greater or lesser degree, but if Kafka had never written a line, we would not perceive this quality; in other words, it would not exist. The poem 'Fears and Scruples' by Browning foretells Kafka's work, but our reading of Kafka perceptibly sharpens and deflects our reading of the poem. Browning did not read it as we do now. In the critics' vocabulary, the word 'precursor' is indispensable, but it should be cleansed of all connotation of polemics or rivalry. The fact is that every writer creates his own precursors. His work modifies our conception of the past, as it will modify the future." (tr. James E. Irby)
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See also
- Death of the author by Roland Barthes
- Intertextuality
- The Creative Act by Marcel Duchamp
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