The South
The South ( el sur ) is a short story by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges , which first appeared in 1953 in the daily newspaper La Nación and finally in 1956 in the second edition of the volume of short stories " Fiktionen " ( Ficciones ).
content
The librarian Juan Dahlmann has German and Argentinian roots. However, he is particularly proud of his Argentine ancestors on his mother's side. Among the various heirlooms left to him by his ancestors is a farm that Dahlmann has never visited.
In February 1939, Dahlmann bought a copy of the Arabian Nights . Keen to examine the book as quickly as possible, he runs up the stairs to his apartment and bumps his head on a freshly painted window sash. He gets blood poisoning and has to be admitted to a hospital, where he believes he is near death.
After a few days, Dahlmann was released. He decides to visit his farm to relax there. When he arrives in the country, the first thing he does is go to a restaurant, where he begins to read the “Stories from the Arabian Nights”. Across from Dahlmann are three drunken farm workers. They throw breadcrumbs at him. Dahlmann initially ignores this. But the drunk do not give up and throw at him again. Finally, Dahlmann opposes the troublemakers. When one of the farm workers draws his knife, an old gaucho throws a dagger to Dahlmann. Despite the restaurant owner's attempts to appease and knowing that he, who has never fought with a knife, has no chance, Dahlmann leaves the restaurant to fight a duel.
interpretation
As usual for Borges, the work is very surreal. One reason for this is the focalization , which changes several times. Borges plays with the very unusual method that he uses all three types of focalization alternately and thus makes the reader uncomfortable. In addition, the narrative situation of the unreliable narrator creates additional confusion. The narrative is skilfully designed to be problematic by the author, so that the story cannot have a clear solution. Accordingly, there have been several attempts to interpret this story. One says that the protagonist Dahlmann died of blood poisoning in the hospital and that any further course of action only takes place in the afterlife. Another claims that Dahlmann is only delirious and that the duel is a symbol of the struggle for life and death against his illness.
Movie
In 1990, Carlos Saura took the story as a template for a 55-minute film for the Spanish TV series Los Cuentos de Borges .
Remarks
- “The South” inspired the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño to write his story “The unbearable gaucho” ( El gaucho insufrible ).
- Borges called "The South" several times as one of his best stories.
- The manuscript of the short story “The South” was auctioned in 2002 for 193,750 euros. That was the highest price a Borges manuscript had ever achieved.
swell
Jorge Luis Borges: "The South", in: Ders. Fiktionen , Frankfurt am Main 1992, pp. 154-161.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jorge Luis Borges: "Fiktionen", Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 186.
- ↑ Record por un manuscrito de Borges