Borges's political thought explored in new analysis

Political scientist Nicolás Freibrun posits that the political realm forms a crucial, albeit often indirect, dimension of Jorge Luis Borges's vast intellectual landscape. While Borges was publicly critical of Peronism, earning him the label "gorila," Freibrun's new book, "Borges y la política. Un desafío para el peronismo, la izquierda y la derecha," delves into how the author's literary works engage with enduring political concepts.

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I wouldn't say that Borges makes a contribution to political science or political theory in the strict sense. But yes, there are elements, lateral and less direct, perhaps displaced, that are subject to politicization and that have to do with issues related to 'the political' such as truth, history, totalitarianism, the order of the West, and civilization and barbarism which for Borges operate as forms in tension that run through 20th-century politics and Argentina.

Freibrun, who holds a doctorate in Social Sciences, reads Borges's tales and essays written between 1930 and 1970 through an original lens. He contends that while Borges may not offer direct contributions to political science, his writings contain "lateral and less direct" elements that invite political interpretation. These elements touch upon fundamental political questions such as truth, history, totalitarianism, the order of the West, and the perpetual tension between civilization and barbarism that defined 20th-century politics, particularly in Argentina.

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When Borges thinks about the relationship between the individual and the state, he intuitively says interesting things about that modern and always conflictive relationship, which we tend to see as irreconcilable.

"When Borges thinks about the relationship between the individual and the state, he intuitively says interesting things about that modern and always conflictive relationship, which we tend to see as irreconcilable," Freibrun observes. He believes Borges captures aspects of "Argentine culture" and its forms of socialization through this complex, nuanced portrayal of the individual-state dynamic.

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Fiction is a way of elaborating and problematizing, in another register, issues that in reality are not always so clear to us. In that sense, fiction is very productive for thinking about problems, imaginaries, scenes of social life that from reality are often impossible to address.

Freibrun highlights the subversive power of fiction in Borges's work. "Fiction is a way of elaborating and problematizing, in another register, issues that in reality are not always so clear to us," he explains. Borges's fictional approach allows him to displace the limits of reality, thereby questioning the political order. Even when addressing Peronism in texts like "El simulacro" or "L’illusion comique," Borges uses fiction or ellipsis to grapple with a phenomenon he found both ominous and complex, moving beyond a simple representation of political opposition.

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In Borges's fiction, there are subversive elements, in the sense that fiction allows us to displace the limits of reality and, thus, question the political order.