E-lit as a labyrinth

The topic for this week’s class discussion is Electronic Narrative: Borges and the Evolution of Cybertext. The readings assigned were El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (1941) and El Aleph (1949) by Jorge Luis Borges; Cybertext by Espen J. Aarseth. The prompt for this week’s blog entry is on the possible relations, influences or implications of Borges’s work and (global) e-lit or digital writing.

            I would like to start by stating that Borges’ literature stirs many different feelings among literary critics and literature lovers. Some however, find it intellectually challenging and there are others that might consider it superfluous. However, it is evident that Borges was very critical himself and had very defined points of view about certain ideologies. It would be safe to say then that Borges had clear intentions when he wrote his narratives and every single word, comma or period that the issued in his writing was done with a purpose in mind.

            Two of his readings, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan and El Aleph present ideas that push the reader to imagine alternate worlds; worlds that at times are beyond the simple understanding of a human being. There are moments in which they seem surreal, but that offer a realm full of possibilities. In his first work mentioned above, Borges plays with the idea of the labyrinth. In the second reading, he offers a vision of the space; a space within another space that can be observed from one point. This multiplicity of spaces allows for multiple worlds and multiple experiences connected and separated at the same time.

            This later idea serves to offer a commentary on the possible influences that Borges work had on (global) e-lit or digital writing. This type of literature as the literature of Borges offers multiple spaces that open the door to other spaces. In a way this literature resembles the labyrinth on Borges fiction. In electronic literature, as in Borges’ El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan, a path takes the character/reader to another path to another world. This reminds me of el Hotel Minotauro where the concept of the laberythn is present.  The reader here has to open many doors that lead him to explore other spaces. These other spaces/rooms might offer him some clues to solve the puzzle that he voluntarily or involuntary submerged himself in.

            J. Aarseth quotes Borges who declared “the book and the labyrinth [are] one and the same. In a similar way it can be said that electronic literature and the labyrinth is one and the same. It is not linear; it offers multiple possibilities. These possibilities present the reader with different paths that can be taken to reach his final destination. However, it is not the arrival to where ones to get, but the process that of getting there (the medium used) that makes this whole experience magical.