History, the Mother of Truth: Borges and the Pragmatist Imagination

Abstract

In this paper I offer a new reading of some of the philosophical, social, and political,implications of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’ fiction and non-fiction work. The aimof this new reading is to show that Borges exhibited broad philosophical sympathies forthe pragmatist imagination. The paper’s first section offers a genealogy of Borges’early fiction pieces and a close reading of “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote.” It isin this text that Borges engaged William James in his fiction writing. In the secondsection, I present a broad picture of pragmatism, from its origins in the work of Peirceto its most recent revival in Richard Rorty’s tour de force. Finally, I analyze Borges’essays on James and suggest they are evidence that the Argentine’s interest in Jameswas related to something more comprehensive than a mere attraction for the James’work’s aesthetic value.